BP 11122023 129pm - Flipbook - Page 65
Clergy or Personnel Going Away Gifts Recommendations
Memo
Date: September 1, 2011
To: Parish, Mission and School Business Managers
From: Michael Warren, Controller
Re: Recommended Procedures for clergy or Personnel Going Away
Periodically when clergy members retire, or are transferred to a new assignment, or when
employees depart the Archdiocese, or A Parish, Mission or School, questions arise as to how the
handle arranging a monetary gift from the people of the organization for the departing individual.
To help ensure that any such contributions are not viewed by the IRS as taxable compensation,
we recommend the following steps be followed:
1. Have all gifts paid via check and written out the Parish, with an indication on the check
specifying the purpose of the contribution.
2. The gifts should be collected and summarized by the Parish, and then a check written to
the beneficiary out of the parish checking account, and paid via accounts payable, as a
non-taxable payment to the beneficiary.
3. The Pastor should send a standard letter of appreciation to all who offered a gift, and at
the same time, inform the contribution that the gift is not tax deductible, per the IRS
rules.
4. Gifts should not be input into ParishSoft as a charitable donation 3 the gifts are not
charitable and are not tax-deductible.
5. Tax Deduction Letters should not be generated for the gifts.
An alternative would be to have checks written out in the name of the departing individual and
sent directly to them. Such gifts would also be non-taxable compensation to the recipient, and
non-deductible to the contributor, as long as the gift amount was less than $13,000 (2011)
If there are any further questions about this recommended procedure, please contact the Finance
Department at the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Thank you for your assistance with this important
matter.
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