In both of the cases I'm looking at today the member either didn't include the full amount of the portion of the tax that was for the reimbursable item, or calculated it based on an incorrect tax rate (I think they increased the sales tax rate in the last few years and the member used the old rate).
My question is, when a member does this and the portion of the tax for the reimbursable items on the receipt is other than what the member put on their reimbursement form, how should I handle it? The store will round up (I'm assuming) to the nearest cent, but In most cases calculating the tax on one item out of several will not come out even and I'd hate to either rob the Lord (even if it's less than a penny) or rob the member. In whose favor should I round, and if the member did their own calculating/rounding and ended up with a difference of a penny (or several if there were multiple receipts) from what I calculate, do I still cut them a check for the amount they wrote? I know it's splitting hairs, but in finances I'd rather be exact especially if there's a church policy of what to do in such cases, rather than just be 'pretty close'. We all know how accountants love their zeros
