YM Camp cancelled: refund to prepaid families?

[gpolson]

Our stake YM Camp has been cancelled due to low signup numbers. Some families have already paid local units for their sons. Those monies have not yet been forwarded to the stake. Is it proper for the units to write the families a refund check on the particular budget fund the units put those payments into?

Similarly, if some of the unit funds are transferred to the stake in the next few days, should the stake refund them to the unit and then the unit refund them to the families? We used to do that from the OTHER account with youth camps when individuals told us well in advance that something came up and they were not going to be able to attend.

[russellhltn]

Off hand, I can't think of a reason why not.

Unlike donations like tithing or fast offering, this payment for camp participation and it wouldn't appear on the year-end tax statement.

[eblood66]

Previously when we had the Other:AFMA accounts, the policy explicitly said that money should be refunded if a participant couldn't go. I don't know of any statement since the discontinuation of the Other accounts that says one way or the other. But given the previous policy and (as russelhltn said) payments into budget don't show up on the tax statement, I also assume it is allowed. Another point supporting this is that the church will refund FSY payments if someone doesn't go (assuming the registration is appropriately cancelled).

Of course, you need documentation for any expense. In this case, I would write a note which includes the batch date and number where the original payment was made and an explanation of why the payment is being refunded.

[gpolson]

Thank you very much for the guidance.

We will proceed.

gary

[bballrob]

Is it just me, or does it seem odd that payments for this can be refunded, but a missionary who “prepays” for all or part of a mission and then ends up returning home early for some reason, those “prepayments” can’t be refunded?

[gpolson]

Reply to bballrob - Refunds can be made for camp payments because when the payments were made, they were made to the budget category. Budget category payments by individuals are no longer considered a donation. They are treated like payments to the old "OTHER" account categories. These payments do not show up as non-taxable donations on the member's year end statement.

Meanwhile, payments to the Ward Missionary account and to Ward Missionary accounts for specific missionaries show up on year end summaries as taxable donations. Therefore they cannot be refunded, The handbook now includes a statement saying they (monthly missionary payments) should not be prepaid beyond the current month because they are not refundable (see section 24.3.4.1).

Thus camp payments can be refunded to no-shows in certain situations, but missionary payments are not refundable.