Browsing Category Taxes

Tax season is just around the corner and that means I’m about to be inundated with tax-related questions. Today, I’m going to try to get ahead of the game and start answering the questions before you ask them. Up first, when is a pastor an employee or self-employed? Pastors Are Always Self-Employed For Social Security Taxes We’ll start with the easy part. When it comes to Social Security and Medicare taxes, also known as payroll taxes, you are always considered self-employed. Pastors ...

Back in 2017, the president timed things just right so that I spent the first day of my family’s Christmas vacation researching the tax reform bill and how it affects pastors. Now, almost two years to the day, he signed into law another sweeping financial reform just in time for me to fly down to visit my family for Christmas. Thanks, Congress, I really appreciate your timing. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act was signed into law ...

Every year, my church used to do a special offering in December as a Christmas gift for our senior pastor. As they said, why should he get a bunch of $10 gifts that he doesn’t even need when we can pool our resources so that he can buy something bigger that he really does want? It’s a good approach for everyone involved, even the IRS. You see, just because you and I call something a gift doesn’t mean the IRS doesn’t ...

It was 25 degrees Fahrenheit when I took my kids to the bus stop this morning. That’s freezing! Even though there were kids there in shorts and without jackets, for someone from Southern California like me, that’s a bit too much for my body to handle. My nose has already started running from subjecting myself to such unbearable temperatures.  Runny noses are one of those annoying yet inevitable parts of life. Kind of like taxes. One of those things you know ...

Growing up, there was one thing that I was always confused about. I would hear people mention April 15 as tax day, but it never made sense to me. You see, in my house, October was tax season. And that’s about as far away from April 15 as you can get.  My dad was a self-employed entrepreneur who was always behind on his “office work.” As such, he would file an extension for his tax return every year. You see, the ...

You’ve done it! You’ve fought the good fight, run the race with perseverance, and now the time has come to retire from your post. You did a good job and your church loves you. They want to bless you in this new season of life, so they write you a big check. While you’re thrilled and grateful, there’s one important question you need to answer before you start spending it: Do you have to pay taxes on your retirement gift?  Most ...

Today’s post was inspired by one of my loyal readers who had a very frustrating time trying to figure out the answer to that simple question. Unfortunately, I’m too late to come to his rescue, but my hope is that others of you may find this useful. It Doesn’t Work Like The Housing Allowance I think this subject may actually be harder for pastors than for others. Why? Because of the clergy housing allowance. The housing allowance is exempt from taxation. IRA ...

So, you’re entering the ministry and you’re excited. You’re excited to devote your life to God’s work. You’re excited to make an eternal impact on the world. And you’re excited to do your taxes in a completely new way. No, not really. If that kind of thing excited you, you would be a CPA instead of a pastor. Even though you’re new to pastoral ministry, you’ve probably already heard a thing or two about clergy taxes from seasoned veterans. And there’s ...

Thanks to the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, people are paying a whole lot more attention to their tax withholdings this year. Employers had a hard time calculating withholdings with all the changes in the law and the result was far fewer people getting big tax returns (which I think is actually a good thing!) and more people owing. (Don’t get mad at the employers, though, no one really knew how it would all play out.) So, with this renewed interest ...

All pastors are subject to dual status taxation. What does that mean and how does it look when you file your taxes?