Ward Members paying back the ward electronically?

[nathangg]

We have a situation where a member was authorized to purchase items for a youth camp, but then not all the items were used, so they were able to take many of the items back and got a refund.

They want to return those funds to the church electronically (since everything happened electronically: the original payment, the church's reimbursement to the member, and the refund all happened cashless. Also, they don't have a checkbook).

The only thing that might be an option is the "Local - Youth Camp Registration" category because:

* It is not a tax-deductible category
* We can transfer funds received in this category to the original budget category
* The items were for a Youth Camp

However, using this online category as a way for members to refund money to the church does not feel like the intent of this online donation category.

Is there any other, more approved/proper way for a member to reimburse a ward budget category electronically?

Thank you,
Nathan

[mcallaghan]

We recently ran into a similar problem. A member was reimbursed for a purchase. That purchase ended up getting returned/canceled, so now he's been overpaid by about $300. As far as I know, there is no way to "donate" to Budget electronically, so we told him we'd need to get a check to deposit. We still haven't taken care of it. It's on my ever-growing list of things to do. Best bet might be to have the member get a bank check (assuming they don't have personal checks) and deposit it that way.

[waltbristow]

Why try to find work arounds? Yes, it's a little inconvenient to write a check (or use cash) but forcing the clerks to 'fix' the online transaction just moves the inconvenience to someone else - and risks someone forgetting to do the fix.

[nathangg]

We recently ran into a similar problem. A member was reimbursed for a purchase. That purchase ended up getting returned/canceled, so now he's been overpaid by about $300. As far as I know, there is no way to "donate" to Budget electronically, so we told him we'd need to get a check to deposit.

Wow, yeah, that's rough.

An interesting thing happened this week. We had a similar situation, the member ended up deciding that they would just make a donation to the general fund through the online donations page and told me if I could please just move that to the right spot that would be great.

It was actually pretty easy to adjust their online donation. I don't think we're authorized to tell members that this is one way they can use the online system to reimburse a budget category, but since the member decided to do this on their own and tell me after the fact, it ended up working out okay (after the adjustment was made).

(Just because something's possible doesn't mean it's authorized. But as mentioned, the member decided to make the donation on their own and told me after to fix it, which we did).

[nathangg]

Why try to find work arounds? Yes, it's a little inconvenient to write a check (or use cash) but forcing the clerks to 'fix' the online transaction just moves the inconvenience to someone else - and risks someone forgetting to do the fix.

Totally true

[Jo.low.bro]

I’m a High Councilor over the Audit Committee, and our Assistant Area Auditor has given us specific guidance on how to handle this situation.

When a member needs to correct a previous contribution because it was inadvertently credited to the wrong category, the correction should not be made electronically by increasing the amount of a subsequent tithing, fast offering, or other electronic donation. Doing so can create additional transactions and make it difficult to determine exactly what occurred—particularly when more than one person is involved in processing the correction.

Instead, the correction should be handled using a paper tithing slip. The member should:

Write the correction amount in the “Other” category.
Write the appropriate designation in the description—for example, “YW” or “Primary.”
Include cash or a check for the amount of the correction.
Leave the member’s name blank at the top of the slip.

The reason for leaving the name blank is that this is not a new tax-deductible donation. It is simply a correction of a previous transaction. The intent is to move the amount to the appropriate category without creating a new charitable contribution for the member or altering their year-to-date donation records.

[garystroble]

Leaving the name blank on the tithing slip is not necessary as anything coming back into budget does not become an official donation to the Church anyway. Plus by not having a name you have stopped the ability to have a clear audit trail back to the overpayment. And how in the world can you put it in LCR, as anonymous? Lastly, the person over the audit committee should be a Stake Presidency Counselor. See the General Handbook, 34.7.1

[eblood66]

Lastly, the person over the audit committee should be a Stake Presidency Counselor. See the General Handbook, 34.7.1

Definitely agree about using the person's name. But I'm sure the OP didn't mean he is the Audit Committee Chairman but instead he is the High Councilor who is on the audit committee and who manages the administrative aspects. That's how we do it. The Stake Presidency member is the chairman but a high councilor takes care of things like scheduling audit meetings, proposing auditor assignments, etc. The chairman has the final say on decisions but the high councilor takes care of details.

[waltbristow]

Just out of interest, why do you use a high councilor? Couldn't any member of the stake audit committee do these administrative tasks?

[eblood66]

Just out of interest, why do you use a high councilor? Couldn't any member of the stake audit committee do these administrative tasks?

They certainly could. That's just the pattern our stake presidency has gone with. That started before I was an auditor or stake finance clerk so I don't know if there was any particular reasoning behind it.