Calculating cycle-to-date numbers for “Schedule A” contribution entries.

Question: Why are my “Schedule A” cycle-to-date totals not reflecting refunds made on my FEC report?

We drew from the specific published instructions for Form 3 Schedule A, the Federal Election Commission Campaign Guide, and the underlying FEC regulations 100.12, 104.3, and 104.8.  Throughout the documentation, transactions are classified as receipts and disbursements.  A receipt is defined as a transaction where value (monetary or otherwise) is received by the committee and a disbursement is defined as a transaction where value (monetary or otherwise) is disbursed or transmitted by the committee.  The contribution and the contribution refund are reported and treated as two separate transactions, one as a receipt and the other as a disbursement, on two separate schedules. Regulation 104.3 classifies contribution refunds as disbursements.  The refunds are reported as disbursements on Schedule B, and importantly are not reported on Schedule A as a negative receipt.

From page 89 of the Congressional campaign guide, the aggregate number reported is the "Aggregate election-cycle-to-date total of all receipts (within the same category) from the same source."  Since the refund is categorized as a disbursement and not a negative receipt, according to this instruction, it would not be considered in the aggregate number. We could find no reference in the documentation which qualify this explicit and precise instruction such that refunds would be subtracted from the aggregate contribution total.


Please feel free to share this with the FEC if you have further questions.


Thanks,                           
James Gibson                      
Trail Blazer Campaign Services, Inc


Last reviewed: 7/09/2012