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Pay Your Tithing Online
Since I don't have a fixed income or pay schedule, the following method makes...
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Simplifying LDS life.
UPDATE: PLEASE READ
We’ve been contacted by the Church Donations Department and asked to remove the links to the Electronic Donation Information form, among other things. This method of payment apparently wasn’t intended to be used by the general membership of the Church. We’ll be posting a new article with more information shortly. Please check back here for a link and more details.
If you are currently or are interested in paying your tithing through this method, please contact the Church Donations Department by calling 801-240-2554 or emailing donations@ldschurch.org to see if you can continue/start using this method.
Thanks,
The MLH Team
Since I don’t have a fixed income or pay schedule, the following method makes things really easy for me to pay tithing and other offerings, and billpay deducts the amount from my account, the day it is sent. For those with a fixed income and paycheck schedule, you can setup your billpay to make these payments automatically for you, without any effort. Just make sure you schedule the payment for a day or two after your check is direct deposited.
4 Easy Steps To Paying Your Tithing Online:
1. Download the official church Electronic Donation Information form (link removed, see above update), fill it out (make sure to get your membership number right), save it and attach it to an email addressed to donations@ldschurch.org. I just put a short note in the email saying “here’s our electronic donation information form, so we can pay via billpay.” After a few days you’ll get an email back that says essentially “you’re now ready to make Church donations electronically through Billpay,” and will probably include a very long version of what follows.
Click above image to see an example
2. Now all you need to do is setup your Billpay for payment. You’ll need to follow these instructions precisely or your donations may not get attributed to you. You have to setup a new payee for each different type of donation you’d like to do. Put the payee or “biller” name for each new entry, as follows (according to what you want to pay for):
- LDS-Tithing
- LDS-Fast Offering
- LDS-Missionary (General)
- LDS-Book of Mormon
- LDS-PEF
- LDS-Other
3. For each of the above, you’ll need to put in several key items that are the same for each:
- Address:
50 East North Temple Street
Room 1521
Salt Lake City, UT 84150
- Phone: 801-240-2554
- Account Number: your Membership Number in this format: 123-4567-8910
4. Once you have it setup, go ahead and make a payment. After several days, email the church donations people again and have them confirm that they received the payment and that it was attributed to you. If it worked, you’re good to go!
Note: You cannot contribute to local fast offerings or missionary funds through this method. You’ll still need to give those donations directly to your bishop.
Update: When I added this to my Wells Fargo billpay, all I had to do was put in “LDS – Tithing” (with spaces around the dash) and the zip code in the “Pay a Company” section at the bottom of the billpay homescreen. It recognized it and offered the payee information for me. All I had to do was put in my membership number and save the payee.
Popularity: 100%
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- About LDS
About the author
Tevya Washburn
Job: Partner at FiddlerStudios web services, instructor at Start WordPress
Calling: Sunday School Teacher 14-15yr olds
Designer & creator of the new 'Mormon Life Hacker'. Tevya keeps a personal blog, & another called Sacred Symbolic, about learning through symbolism.
Connect: Twitter, Google+, Mormon.orgJob: Partner at FiddlerStudios web services, instructor at Start WordPress
Calling: Sunday School Teacher 14-15yr olds
37 Comments for Pay Your Tithing Online
sergio Orozco
I just found out this through another website, why you never let us know about this option, I will try, how is everything in Saint George, we miss you, if there is anything we can do do, don't hesitate to let us know, take care, Sergio
Tevya Washburn
Sergio,
Well, I just recently learned that either the Church never intended this for the general membership, or they changed their policy. Apparently too many Billpay checks were coming in as paper checks, rather than electronically, and it's overwhelmed the donations department, since they have to process all paper checks by hand, unlike when it's delivered electronically.
Thanks to @Paul and others who have mentioned this. I'll be updating this post shortly, and possibly posting another with more information.
TWiM
awesome. Can't wait to try this out. Probably mention it on next weeks ThisWeekinMormons.com show if it works 
Glad we found you man, keep the good posts coming
Tevya
We're glad you found us too. We'll try to keep providing good stuff. We're always happy to be mentioned!
nchell
Members in the UK can also make donations electronically, either as one-offs or by using a Standing Order for regular payments. All categories except 'Other' can be paid electronically, and if your donating tax efficiently, Gift Aid payments can be made this way too. Contact the Area Office in Solihull for the low down…
Tevya
Thanks for that info. Hopefully that will be helpful for any Mormon Life Hacker's in the UK, and perhaps other places in Europe can figure out similar solutions.
Kori Fisher
This is just what I've been looking for ! thank you!
Micah
Wells Fargo asked for a 13-digit account number but membership records are only 11.
Tevya
Hi Micah. I use Wells Fargo myself. So I just tried it. Not sure why it thinks its supposed to be 13 (maybe put the hyphens in?), but I just did 11 and the next screen asked if I wanted to proceed with the number I entered, or enter a new number with the full 13 digits? Just tell it to continue with the 11 digit number and you should be good to go. Its the Church, not Wells Fargo that must recognize the number.
Megan
Micah, with the dashes in your membership record (which my email from the Church says must be included), your number will total 13 characters. Wells Fargo accepted mine just fine when I did it this way.
Kevin
Will this information be downloaded to your local unit's MLS? When I go in for my tithing settlement, what will show up on the statement?
Tevya
I don\’t believe it downloads to your local ward. However, the church will email you a statement each month, as well as an official one (I assume the same thing they\’d print in your ward) at the end of the year. You can take that with you to tithing settlement.
Mike
The Church is working on putting an electronic donation system in place for the US (it is already in place for many countries that don't use checks). Until that happens, the donations received at church headquarters are processed MANUALLY by church employees; similar to what a ward clerk goes through each Sunday, only on a much larger scale. For this reason, they have asked not to use this system, unless there is no other way to make your donations, at least until such time they announce they can process these automatically.
I pay electronically by sending a 'billpay' check from my bank, made out to my ward, but sent to my own address each month. I then hand it in along with a filled out donation slip. Problem solved.
Tevya
Oh really? That's great they're working on that. Thanks for letting us know.
I'm fairly certain that the billpay stuff is not being processed manually (at least not when sent from Wells Fargo, and therefore probably any other large bank or credit union). As somebody who used to work for Wells Fargo, I know that they can't have a 1 day expected payment time, unless the receiving party is setup to receive the billpay electronically. They can't grantee a printed check will go through the mail in 1 day. So maybe the church used to process manually, but now the bulk of it (all the larger banks/cu's) is electronic.
Mike
By "manual", I mean they must look at each incoming donation and manually match it to the appropriate membership number. It doesn't matter if the donation arrived via electronic means, or by a real check, the process still needs manual intervention to credit the right person.
Tevya
Ah, yeah. That makes sense.
GJJ
Members in the US are welcome to use the electronic system, but It has some drawbacks (like temple donations.) As of right now the monthly statements aren't coming out, but the computer system is being worked on. The tax statement has been sent (at the last minute.) All donations are done through billpay. Most go out electronically. Some have to be done through a "Billpay" check. The church staff are working on the other categories.
theferrisoneofall
Love that idea of sending it to myself! Already set it up! Thank you!
celeste
Yes, I also always send my tithing to myself! Thank you!
Guest
I've done electronic bill pay tithing from my bank (B of A) for 3 years now. I just have the mailing address as my local Bishop's, and he's okay with it. Easy breezy, automated, and no need to remember to bring the checkbook to church.
miztrniceguy
It seems to me the church does not have an issue with accepting tithing payments this way from anyone anywhere that chooses to. If they did, wouldn't they ask someone why they wanted to pay this way instead of traditional ways? I followed the instructions and within 24 hours got a confirmation email with all the instructions, just like in the example above.
No questions asked. I guess they figure it's better than not paying.
FAUX
I AM STOKED!! I've been searching for this information and here you all are talking about having done this for years?? I'm excited!
And it's true… To pay this for me is better than not paying at all =) SO WHY NOT!? YAYY
miztrniceguy
On a related note, if both husband and wife names are on the paper slip (example John and Mary Jones) how is it applied?
@ihenpecked
I've been doing this for more than two years and love it. People are constantly asking me for the link to the church billpay form so glad to have it here again.
Lorin Lund
When I first heard of on-line donations there was information posted that said it was only for people with special needs.
Later I heard that many people were doing it and that it was OK.
I wrote to Donations@ldschurch.org to inquire if it was in fact, intended to be limited to only people with special needs. I clearly stated that I had no reason other than personal convenience to apply but that I was interested in paying on-line. I received an e-mail saying that I didn't have to have a special need. That I was welcome to sign up and participate.
In the rumor mill I heard that they were ramping up a technical solution. The rumor was that they thought they were ready for going public but wanted to ramp-up gradually and prove-out the whole system.
So I signed up and used it twice.
But since then I have been told at "Tech Friday"s that on-line payment processes has reverted to completely manual processing. The person (church employee) who told me that also mentioned that he had chosen to stop using on-line donation because of the work-load it created.
So I sent an e-mail to Donations@ldschurch.org to inquire of the status. I stated that I had heard that things weren't going well and that I therefore had chosen to revert to local donations on paper. The reply I received said 'thank you' for reverting to paper payment. The whole thing can be seen at: http://www.parowansoftware.com/by_hand.html
Marlies
I knew I could find out this information online, but I didn't expect to find it from my good friend Tevya. We need to do a get together! Thanks for the help!
mbatemantx
Can you mix and match your tithing donations? In my case I have come into a large sum of money and would prefer the tithing on it not be processed at the ward level, so I am thinking of doing this one donation on line and my regular tithing through the ward. Will I get 2 end of year statements for taxes?
Also wanted to let you know I just found this site, I am a regular lifehacker reader and was really excited to find the Mormon version!!!!!
Tevya
By mix and match you mean pay some to your bishop, and some to Church headquarters through this method: yes, you certainly can. And yes, you'll probably receive 2 different statements at the end of the year. One will be emailed to you from HQ, while the other your ward clerk will print. If it's going to be a sizable donation, I recommend making one smaller one first, just to ensure everything is setup properly. You'll know when you receive a statement for the month showing donations made.
Glad you're excited about our site. Hope you'll come back and participate frequently. We'd love to hear any ideas for hacks that you have!
Sherry Payne Terry
Yes, you can "mix & match"….pay thru the ward & pay electronically. You will have 2 end of year receipts.
Sherry Payne Terry
Just wanted to comment on paying tithing online. We have been doing it for almost 4-5 years with great success!! I can't tell you if it is done electronically or manually but all I care about is for ME, it is done electronically. We use BOAmerica; my husband is retired & thus "his" income is fixed. We have set "his" tithing payment to pay automatically every month (day #5 of the month to make sure his military pay has deposited). My income varies from pay to pay so my tithing is set up so I enter the amount each pay day. It has been absolutely seamless. I love it & have shared the phone # & link with many. The ward clerks, etc get all freaked out over it…but so what….why would they want to sit & count tithing every Sunday??? The days of forgetting our checkbook & then paying tithing "late" because of it are over……
Sherry Payne Terry
BTW, failed to add to the above..we are located in the States….
Paul W.
@Tevya: I wrote about this on my blog ldsfriends.com and was contacted by the Church Intellectual Property department. They asked to not have this information in the public domain. I took it down at their request. Just thought I would let you know. Great site, btw!
Kerry McMullin
Does the church mail the year end statement for tax purposes? If yes, do you know when we should plan on receiving this?
Tevya
I believe they're supposed to, but I haven't received mine yet either. So its probably a good idea to email them and ask for it at this point.
Tevya
Correction: I did receive mine. Just hadn't noticed it. Hope you have as well.
Online tithing | Ponderandpray
[...] Pay Your Tithing Online | Mormon Life HackerJul 22, 2010 … Since I don’t have a fixed income or pay schedule, the following method makes things really easy for me to pay tithing and other offerings, and … [...]
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Another Update: I've been using this method for several months now and its great! At the end of each month the church emails me with a report of all the contributions they've received for myself & my wife. It also includes the assurance that an official contributions document will be sent at the end of the year for tax purposes.