Taking Tax Deductions for Church Giving

Christian ethics and theology with an Anabaptist perspective
RZehr
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Re: Taking Tax Deductions for Church Giving

Post by RZehr »

Looks to me that the article is primarily coming from an IRS perspective.
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ohio jones
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Re: Taking Tax Deductions for Church Giving

Post by ohio jones »

Neto wrote:Is this being "too picky" to say that you cannot request that a donation to a mission organization be used to support a specific missionary family?
I don't think the article addressed quite all of the possible scenarios. It's my understanding, and our CPA agrees, that if the church initiates the decision to support a specific missions family, or a recipient of alms, contributions toward that support should be considered deductible.

So for example if Martin Groff has an allergic reaction to the sprouts and is off work for six weeks, whoever oversees the alms fund (I hope it's not just one person) could announce that contributions to the fund during a specific offering would be used for that need. Or the mission board could adopt a policy that a field worker would receive a monthly amount plus whatever comes in designated for their support (and generally that would be sent through a missions organization anyway).

The key difference is that the decisions are made in advance by those authorized to make them on behalf of the church, even if the amount is not finalized until the contributions come in.

In the absence of that sort of authorization, if someone hands me an envelope with cash, requesting that it go to the Groffs, I would hand it to Martin without counting or recording the contents. And if it's a check payable to the church, I would politely inform them it doesn't work that way, and direct them to the alms fund committee.
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lesterb
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Re: Taking Tax Deductions for Church Giving

Post by lesterb »

ohio jones wrote:
Neto wrote:Is this being "too picky" to say that you cannot request that a donation to a mission organization be used to support a specific missionary family?
I don't think the article addressed quite all of the possible scenarios. It's my understanding, and our CPA agrees, that if the church initiates the decision to support a specific missions family, or a recipient of alms, contributions toward that support should be considered deductible.

So for example if Martin Groff has an allergic reaction to the sprouts and is off work for six weeks, whoever oversees the alms fund (I hope it's not just one person) could announce that contributions to the fund during a specific offering would be used for that need. Or the mission board could adopt a policy that a field worker would receive a monthly amount plus whatever comes in designated for their support (and generally that would be sent through a missions organization anyway).

The key difference is that the decisions are made in advance by those authorized to make them on behalf of the church, even if the amount is not finalized until the contributions come in.

In the absence of that sort of authorization, if someone hands me an envelope with cash, requesting that it go to the Groffs, I would hand it to Martin without counting or recording the contents. And if it's a check payable to the church, I would politely inform them it doesn't work that way, and direct them to the alms fund committee.
That's more or less how our deacon explained it to me about 25 years ago when I wanted to give him a donation for a certain family.
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electro-wiz
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Re: Taking Tax Deductions for Church Giving

Post by electro-wiz »

In the US with the standard deduction doubling this year, it will probably greatly reduce the number of people that will get any benefit by itemizing.
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ohio jones
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Re: Taking Tax Deductions for Church Giving

Post by ohio jones »

electro-wiz wrote:In the US with the standard deduction doubling this year, it will probably greatly reduce the number of people that will get any benefit by itemizing.
Among those with a little spare cash, I think it will probably greatly increase the number of people who have a donor-advised fund. The money you put into the fund is deductible when you put it in, rather than when the fund distributes it according to your instructions.

Year 1: Make your regular contributions, and also put a year's worth of contributions in the fund. Itemize.
Year 2: Make no contributions, but the fund distributes what you put in the year before. Take the standard deduction.
Year 3: Repeat Year 1.
Year 4: Repeat Year 2.

This is not investment advice, it's not for everyone, I've just started researching it myself, and all that. But it sounds good so far.
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I am a Christian and my name is Pilgram; I'm on a journey, but I'm not alone -- NewSong, slightly edited
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