Summary: This comprehensive guide walks you through the entire process of preparing, generating, and distributing end-of-year tax statements to your donors. From merging duplicate profiles to customizing your cover letter and emailing the final PDFs, this article covers every step to ensure a smooth tax season.
Before You Begin
Permissions: You need Account Owner, Admin, or Limited Access (with Giving permissions) to access this feature.
Timing: We recommend waiting until January 15th to generate statements to ensure all previous year transactions have settled.
Manual Process: Tax statements are not automatically sent to donors. You must generate and distribute them using the steps below.
Data Prep: It is highly recommended to merge duplicate profiles in People before generating statements to ensure accurate totals.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Part 1: Preparing Your Data
Before generating the actual documents, ensure your data is accurate to avoid having to re-issue statements later.
Merge Duplicate Profiles. Navigate to People > Merge Duplicates. If a donor has two profiles (e.g., "Jon Doe" and "Jonathan Doe"), their giving totals will be split unless you merge them.
Note: If you merge profiles, wait 24 hours before generating statements to allow the system to fully consolidate the data.
Check Household Settings. If you plan to send one statement per family, ensure your donors are grouped into Households within the People section. You can toggle specific households to receive "Separate Statements" in the Household settings if needed (e.g., for adult children).
Part 2: Generating the Statements
Navigate to Giving > Tax Statements.
Select your Year/Date Range and Location.
Note: If you have multiple campuses, you can generate a batch for all locations or specific ones.
Choose your Statement Type: Households or Individuals.
Households: Consolidates giving for spouses/families into one document (addressed to the Primary Head of Household).
Individuals: Generates a separate statement for every single donor.
Configure your Options.
Hide Memo: Check this to keep the statement concise and remove personal notes attached to gifts.
Timezone: Crucial Step. Select the correct timezone for your church. This ensures donations made late on Dec 31st are credited to the correct year.
Customize your Cover Letter. Click the Edit options to update the Title, Body Message, Staff Name, and upload a Signature image. This is where you verify your Church Name and Tax ID are correct.
Click Generate Tax Statements. You will receive an email notification when the batch is ready (typically 1–10 minutes).
Part 3: Distributing Statements (Email & Print)
Once the batch is generated, it will appear in the "Previous" list on the Tax Statements page.
Click on the Batch you just generated to open it.
Select your distribution method:
Email All: Clicking 'Email All' will send a PDF attachment to every donor with a valid email address. The system will prompt you to add emails for those missing them.
Print All: This opens a PDF of all statements in a new window. Use this to print physical copies for donors without email addresses or for mailing.
Send to Individuals (Optional).
Click the Paper Airplane Icon next to a specific name to email just that person.
Click the Printer Icon next to a specific name to print just that statement.
Yellow Triangle Icon: This indicates a missing or invalid email. Click it to update the donor's profile immediately.
Part 4: Updating and Regenerating Statements
If a donor requires a correction (e.g., a refunded donation or a merged profile), you do not need to create a whole new batch.
Locate the original batch in the Previous section.
Click the Regenerate Tax Statements button. This overwrites the old batch with new data, reflecting any changes (refunds, merges, or contact info updates) made since the last run.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
What are the deadlines for sending statements?
USA: Must be issued by January 31st.
Canada: Must be issued by February 28th.
Australia: Recommended by June 30th.
Why is a donation from Dec 31st showing up on Jan 1st? This is usually a timezone issue. If your church is in CST but the statement was generated in UTC or EST, late-night donations may shift days. Ensure you select the specific city/region for your timezone when generating the batch.
Can I print labels for mailed statements? Tithely does not generate mailing labels from the Tax Statement area. However, if you use #9 double-window envelopes, the statements are formatted so the church address and donor address align with the windows, eliminating the need for labels.
Why is the "Merge" button missing in Tax Statements? There is currently a known limitation in the Tax Statement merge tool. Please navigate to the People tab to perform all profile merges, wait 24 hours, and then regenerate your statements.