Contributions received in new year

[stmarys]

A parishioner gave me a check in January 2017 and asked that it be posted against his 2016 pledge. I haven't closed the books yet, but I'm not sure how to enter this in Contributions.

[NeilZ]

A parishioner gave me a check in January 2017 and asked that it be posted against his 2016 pledge. I haven't closed the books yet, but I'm not sure how to enter this in Contributions.

Frankly, if you received it in 2017, you have to report it on a 2017 statement, you can't 'retroactively' make it a 2016 contribution and report it on a 2016 statement; unless you want to be in violation of Federal law.

However, if he's worried that his 2016 pledge was not fulfilled, you can go into his 2016 pledge, and add the amount of the check to the block on the Pledge Screen that says Pledge start balance. This will show that the pledge was 'fulfilled', and if you have not sent out 2016 statements, it will show that the pledge is in full (I'm guessing), but the actual amount given in 2016 will not reflect that check.

That said, you will need to make sure that its not added to the contributions that are picked up for this year's pledge.

What I'd do ... is tell the contributor that the 2016 contributions are closed, and that you'll assign these funds to his 2017 pledge. If he has a problem with that, what I usually tell people is that a pledge is between the donor and God. You can give extra this year, and fulfill last year's.

[stmarys]

Thanks. Very helpful.

[CRPC]

Due to a similar question I received from one of our bookkeepers - what happens when the money comes in at the end of 2016 but it is for 2017, I found this to be an interesting question. In a backup copy that can not be used for the live system again, I tested this question. If you enter a contribution in 2017 and post it against last year's pledges, here is what happens.

1 - The 2016 statement will still show an outstanding pledge balance regardless.
2 - Without a memo, the 2017 statement will show the contribution in the correct year of receipt (2017) but not reflect the contribution against the specific year (2016), therefore, add a memo if it is meaningful for that individual, or the church.
3 - The pledged to actual comparison for the year 2016 will show as being fulfilled.

In other words, the contribution shows up on the right statement year 2017, and shows up in contribution as fulfilling 2016 even though it was late. Whether you want to show the memo line, or a designation "late contributions", is up to you.

To round out your question with what I tested before, here's what happens if you enter a contribution early:
1 - The 2016 statement will reflect the contribution, with or without designation/memo, as discussed above, and depending on how the report is run.
2 - The 2017 statement will show no contribution for the year, but will show the pledge amount decremented by the early contribution.

Since I redid this test just now, the other thing to note is that when you try to make a contribution for a prior year, PC+ will give an error pop-up that lets you know you are playing with IRS rules.

In any event, PC+ shows correct year money transactions for the sake of IRS reporting, and also shows pledge clearing as applied.

Bern
Admin CRPC Monroeville

[NeilZ]

Due to a similar question I received from one of our bookkeepers - what happens when the money comes in at the end of 2016 but it is for 2017, I found this to be an interesting question. In a backup copy that can not be used for the live system again, I tested this question. If you enter a contribution in 2017 and post it against last year's pledges, here is what happens.

When you receive money in a prior year for the next year's pledge, you have to manually add that amount to the Maintain Pledges record for that next year in the 'Pledge Start Balance. It has to be recorded in the prior year for tax purposes.

Money received in 2017 can be shown in 2016 the same way.