Posts by fulano

26

Green Handshakes - Taxable income in Australia

by Listener in

i was doing some research on the taxable status of money being gifted to co’s and travelling missionaries and was surprised with what i found.

i had assumed that it was not taxable income in australia.. it is taxable income in australia and it‘s likely that the same rules apply in some other countries.. a registered religious institution only receives tax free status on donations because they have been endorsed by the australian tax office.

travelling overseas and missionaries are not in this category.. there’s a tax ruling that goes into great detail.

fulano

@Notformer

”Would it be $100 here and there per congregation, or would it be multiple envelopes stuffed with cash?”

it all depends on when and where. In our assignment in a third world country you would get nothing at all, besides from some family abroad.

When back to an international assembly in your home country paid by the society the folks would invite you to their congregations to tell experiences. Sometimes we would leave the meeting with 200 US in the pocket.

Then we were invited to work at Brooklyn on a temporary basis. Some brothers wanted us at their meetings for talks or experiences. I felt ashamed when at a congregation with mostly African American brothers and sisters, the most kind, warm and friendly I had ever met, I went home stuffed with dollars.

26

Green Handshakes - Taxable income in Australia

by Listener in

i was doing some research on the taxable status of money being gifted to co’s and travelling missionaries and was surprised with what i found.

i had assumed that it was not taxable income in australia.. it is taxable income in australia and it‘s likely that the same rules apply in some other countries.. a registered religious institution only receives tax free status on donations because they have been endorsed by the australian tax office.

travelling overseas and missionaries are not in this category.. there’s a tax ruling that goes into great detail.

fulano

“ But the consensus in this thread seems to be that all these "gifts" end up being under the table, "black economy"”

I think you are right. In all my years in full-time service I never met a missionary, CO or bethelite that even would think of declaring gifts.

26

Green Handshakes - Taxable income in Australia

by Listener in

i was doing some research on the taxable status of money being gifted to co’s and travelling missionaries and was surprised with what i found.

i had assumed that it was not taxable income in australia.. it is taxable income in australia and it‘s likely that the same rules apply in some other countries.. a registered religious institution only receives tax free status on donations because they have been endorsed by the australian tax office.

travelling overseas and missionaries are not in this category.. there’s a tax ruling that goes into great detail.

fulano

Once you become a missionary you are supposed to officially leave your homeland. We did so in 1991 and when receiving money from brothers, which was seldom, sometimes from visitors to our missionary-home, or when back at your home-country for holidays, you didn’t even think of declaring it.

Third-world countries don’t tax people on this.

16

The Curious Case of Cameroon in Africa in the World Report

by LaFrancia in

we know that in africa warwick/watchtower is adopting a policy of more congregations with fewer publishers in each congregation.

this explains the growth of congregations in the 2024 world report.. cameroon world report 2019 vs. 2024.. with the same number of publishers the congregations grew by about 13%.. will there be many more curious cases out there?.

fulano

@Careful.

Almost every Cameroon citizen speaks French, or English. So I don’t think the other languages have much to do with it.

” French and English are the official languages of Cameroon. Eight out of the ten regions of the nation, housing 83% of the population of Cameroon, are francophones. The remaining two regions, representing 17% of Cameroon’s population are mainly anglophones. However, the proportion of anglophones in the country is gradually decreasing.”

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-languages-are-spoken-in-cameroon.html

16

The Curious Case of Cameroon in Africa in the World Report

by LaFrancia in

we know that in africa warwick/watchtower is adopting a policy of more congregations with fewer publishers in each congregation.

this explains the growth of congregations in the 2024 world report.. cameroon world report 2019 vs. 2024.. with the same number of publishers the congregations grew by about 13%.. will there be many more curious cases out there?.

fulano

One of the reasons might be transportation. In third world countries, where most people have little money, transportation is an issue.

in our assignment, in our congregation, we had only five or six families with old cars. On Tuesday nights, after the ts and service meeting some of them had to make three or more trips from the hall to surrounding villages, sometimes untill 11:00 PM, to take friends home. So as soon as possible we tried to establish groups and later small congregations in those villages. Problem was the lack of capable brothers.

18

Removed - blood card

by skin in

i overheard a discussion between two jws, they said that when someone is disfellowshipped, they are asked to hand their blood card back to the elders.

i had never heard of this before, is this correct?.

fulano

I have been on a lot of committees, also on appeals, never had that instruction. That is untill 1999.

41

My story of becoming a circuit overseer after Kin Suen visited our congregation.

by ExCircuitOverseer in

jw
friends

here is my story of becoming a missionary after having kin suen (pronounced “shin”) as my circuit overseer.

my father wanted me to go to college, but since he wasn’t a witness, i knew he just didn’t understand how close we were to the end.

i had actually become a circuit overseer!

fulano

Thanks for your experience ex-CO. I was a missionary as well for 9 years. It’s a hard life, inside the home with sometimes annoying people and on the streets…noise, heat, humidity, dirt. No money, no decent transportation. I am so glad I left at an age I could still make something of my life.

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