Example of place of worship statement

[JenMO]

Many of my EIC clients attend church. What should be in the statement to make it good documentation?

[Roland Slugg]

What should be in the statement to make it good documentation?

Just all the normal things should be fine.

[Gary2]

Many of my EIC clients attend church. What should be in the statement to make it good documentation?

Documentation of what? Attending church is neither a requirement for getting EIC nor an advantage.

[JenMO]

Not sure what normal things would be. Most statements I see are givings statements and very seldom are the children listed.

[David1980]

I believe this question is "What would need to be on a place of worship statement to prove residency of a qualifying child for EIC?" - not charitable contributions. It's one of the items you can check on form 8867 line 26. I'd guess a statement from someone indicating the family regularly attends with the child in question present? Ultimately it'll be "What satisfies an IRS audit" but I don't know what that is.

[Gary2]

I believe this question is "What would need to be on a place of worship statement to prove residency of a qualifying child for EIC?" - not charitable contributions.

Then the statement should explain how the authority signing the statement knows where the children reside.

[taxxcpa]

If the minister indicates that he sees the parents and children in church together regularly, that might help to establish that the children actually live with their parents rather than with their rich uncle.

[Snaggletooth]

Weak Substantiation

JenMo, if this kid really does live with your client, is this the best evidence that can be produced that the kid resides there?

Just think. School records. Medical records. Neighbor statements. Social Services records, etc. etc. And the client says something about church? God knows the heart - IRS needs more.

[JohnH]

Many churches have well-organized youth programs and keep very detailed records of emergency contacts, etc. This is especially true if the church sponsors off-site activities such as camps, field trips, mission trips, mothers morning out programs, home-school co-ops, or sports activities. It's a matter of responsible care and also to address potential liability issues.

So I wouldn't discount church records as a source of validation - it depends upon the degree of involvement of the family and how diligent the church is in keeping their records.

[David1980]

Neighbor statements.

I think church records have some benefit over neighbor statements. If I was going to try and claim a kid lived with me that did not live with me, and my preparer wanted documentation, I'd have some buddies vouch for me. Like Seinfield and Vandelay Industries. Might be neighbors are my buddies. Might be my buddies claim to be my neighbors. And then if it's hard to get a hold of my "neighbors" should the documentation ever come to question, well, people can be hard to get a hold of. Where as if the statement is from a church it'd be easier to verify a statement is from who it claims to be.

Though, in questionable situations, it's probably a combination of documents that are relied upon instead of any one thing.

[Uncle Sam]

EIC Documentation

Don't you think that the place the child(ren) attend school attesting to the address of record would be more
appropriate to establish a child's living place?

[David1980]

Don't you think that the place the child(ren) attend school attesting to the address of record would be more
appropriate to establish a child's living place?

Use the best you can get. If we were talking about a 3 year old, I'd wonder why school records existed.

[JohnH]

I'm not implying that church records are the best source of information, just making the point that they might be more reliable than it first appears. I'd certainly want the more reliable info if I actually prepared any EIC returns, but I wouldn't rule out church records altogether. Perhaps as a supplement to the other items you mentioned.

[RitaB]

Good Question

Many of my EIC clients attend church. What should be in the statement to make it good documentation?

This is a fantastic question, it's on the stinkin list on that stinkin form, and asking the question does not indicate that a church statement is better or worse than any other available evidence now that we are CSI's. I have been wondering about it myself. If you have a four-year-old who hasn't been to a doctor in three years you might have to use it.

If I ask how many calories are in a Sonic Burrito, don't assume I am sitting here eating one, and tell me I am going to have a heart attack in 3.6 years.

I have noticed people do a lot of extrapolating on here, (and not necessarily this thread, the worst offender has not made an appearance on this one), and it scares some of us to the point where we don't ask questions. And, sometimes it feels like the extrapolating is not really intended to be helpful, but to be a smarty pants. Sorry, I'm a little grouchy.

Mmmm, this is really good burrito, BTW.

[DexEA]

There are so many divorced/single parents with "joint" custody. If the parents are in the same town the school has contact records for more than one parent which can make it difficult too. Medical records to the insured, which is not always the primary. Divorce decrees/placement records that have scheduled days for each parent - that in the real world don't always follow schedule as someone usually ends up taking someone extra time for vacation, holidays, whatever.

In a perfect world it would be so easy to determine "custody", in our real world not so.

RitaB - I very much agree with you!