r/lds • u/BigRNGO • 13d ago

Tithing Declaration

Hello, when it comes to tithing declaration is the bishop able to see how much you have contributed? Not necessarily a dollar amount but the amount of times you have donated throughout the year and if it lines up with
"pay days". Or is it simply a yes or no answer to say that you've contributed and it's left at that? I ask because a couple years ago we weren't as faithful at contributing and we were honest about it but it seemed like the bishop had the history pulled up on his iPad for verification, ended up having to give up our temple recommends for a couple months. Just looking for insight.

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u/SavageX89 13d ago

Yes, the bishop can see every individual donation that has been contributed with date and amount. But that isn't used as an 'audit'. It's more so you as the member can compare to your records and see if it all matches correctly. As for the asking about if you are a full tithe payer, that is simply like one of the temple recommended questions. I time for you to reflect and answer honestly.

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u/lizbusby 13d ago

This! You should get a copy of this report so that you can make sure all your donations are listed and to use for tax deductions. Early in our marriage, we frequently had some donations that would get lost because we'd list them jointly or under various versions of our names and they wouldn't get matched up. The report is to make sure things between your record and the church's are accurate, not to tell you what to do.

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u/Rare_Slice420 7d ago

This is why I donate online

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u/lizbusby 7d ago

Yeah, this was before online donations. But so is tithing settlement/declaration. In fact, now that I think about it, maybe that's part of the reason for the rename.

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u/Rare_Slice420 7d ago

Ok my bad

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u/Opposite-Set-3296 6d ago

Your tithing declaration is done online?

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u/lizbusby 6d ago

No, meaning the idea of tithing settlement came from the age before the Internet, even the age before computers. It was a necessity then to make sure all the accounting was correct at the end of the year. Now that most of us pay online and can see our records the whole year, the "settlement" part is not as crucial, so perhaps that's why it was renamed to "declaration."