Q: I'm having an accountant do my taxes who I believe hasn't done taxes for pastors before. This is my first year in full-time ministry. My accountant is under the impression from Form 4361 that I have to be in ministry for 2 years before I can file for tax exemption. My understanding is that I just need to file this form within 2 years of claiming exemption. Can you help clarify? A: You are correct. You can file Form 4361 the day you become a licensed minister if you want to. After 2 years, you have missed your opportunity and will be a part of the Social Security system permanently. Until you have an approved Form 4361 from the IRS you will have to pay Social Security taxes, but they can be refunded once you have an approved exemption. Q: My husband is on staff at a local church as a ...

Thanks to COVID-19 and the containment efforts, our country and most of the world are in a financial crisis. In times like these, you need to be even more alert to guard your financial life. You don’t only have to guard your income and spending, but your records and good standing. Financial crises elicit scammers and fraudulent activity just as the scent of blood draws sharks. One of your best preventive tools in this fight is your credit report.  What Is A Credit Report? Your credit report is a historical record of how you have borrowed and repaid debts. It contains personal identifying information such as your Social Security number, birth date, current and former addresses, and employers. The information regarding debt that it reports include: Address and telephone number for the creditorBasic account information (the date it was opened and the type of account it is)If the account is open or closedThe ...

When is the last time you saw anything positive on the news? Even social media seems to have devolved into a giant whining match between the “stay home and live” and “live free or die” camps. We’re not going to get into that today. We’re going to take the Pollyanna approach. What good has come of this coronavirus crisis? For me personally, I enjoy having my husband home an extra day each week. I’m really enjoying that my son’s karate has gone virtual so I no longer have to pack up the kids and sit on a wooden bench through every practice. Not having to rush the kids in the morning to make the bus has been really nice. I’m glad that I was already working and doing school virtually so I didn’t have any disruptions with that. And I’m also thankful that people will no longer think it strange that ...

Someone wrote to me recently with some questions about Form 4361 that is used by clergy to opt out of Social Security. One of the questions was, how hard is it to get Form 2031 approved to revoke Form 4361 and opt back into Social Security? That is a very important question, so today we are going to address it.  What Is IRS Form 2031? Let me start by explaining these forms. Form 4361 is what pastors use to opt out of participating in the Social Security system. Click on that sentence to learn more about it.  IRS Form 2031 is used to revoke Form 4361 and opt back into Social Security. It is an irrevocable election that makes you liable for self-employment tax and includes your ministerial earnings in Social Security and Medicare coverage.  Can You Use IRS Form 2031 Right Now? I have heard from a number of pastors that opted out of ...

With businesses shutting down and church services closed, you may find yourself reassessing your financial situation. Which expenses are mandatory and which can you do without? What resources do you have available to you that you don’t usually access? As you’re taking stock of your situation, I’d like to let you know about a few changes that the CARES Act stimulus bill makes to the rules about your retirement savings. 2020 Required Minimum Distributions Waived This is one that really only helps those who already have more than enough to live on. Required minimum distributions (RMDs) from traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) plans are waived for the year 2020. The waiver applies to beneficiary account owners in addition to original account owners. Basically, no one has to take RMDs for 2020.  If you’ve already taken an RMD that you really don’t need, the law allows you ...

By law, a minister’s housing allowance must be designated by a church or church denomination. But what does that mean? Surely a mosque or synagogue would count since the government isn’t allowed to discriminate between religions. The IRS uses a different meaning for church than most of us do in our everyday language. Church for them has more to do with an organization’s religious purpose than their actual religion or common vocabulary. The truth is, Section 107 of the Internal Revenue Code that lays out the clergy housing allowance does not actually define the term church.  How The IRS Identifies A Church  Since the law doesn’t spell things out, there have been disagreements that have led to court cases throughout the years. The decisions in those court cases are what the IRS has used to develop a list of characteristics that they attribute to churches. This is what the IRS looks for to ...

On Friday afternoon, President Trump signed into law our nation’s largest-ever economic stimulus package, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The bill will cost around $2 trillion and includes nearly $500 billion for rebate checks for individuals and families, another $500 billion to support severely damaged industries, nearly $400 billion dollars to provide tax credits for wages and payroll tax relief, over $300 billion to assist state and local governments, and almost $150 billion to support hospitals and the healthcare system.  This article will only look at the rebate checks, but you can read a full run-down of how the entire bill affects individuals and families here. The rebate checks are perhaps the most eagerly anticipated part of the bill for individuals, so today we are going to answer all of your questions about them. Who Gets Rebate Checks? Basically, there are only three kinds of people who are not ...

I’m pleased to announce that my first book is now available for sale on Amazon! The Pastor’s Wallet Complete Guide To The Clergy Housing Allowance is a comprehensive look at all things housing allowance.  The Story Behind The Book Last February, I sat down to put together a downloadable resource about the housing allowance since it is a common topic of reader questions. As I started my research, I thought to myself, you could write a whole book about this stuff!  And so I did.  I spent hours in research, reading through IRS documents, tax court cases, and the Internal Revenue Code. If you think that sounds incredibly boring, you’re right. I would much rather read a John Grisham novel than anything put out by the IRS.  But I’ve met too many pastors who are paying taxes unnecessarily because they don’t understand how the housing allowance works. And I’ve heard from too many financial professionals ...

As you have likely noticed recently, our world is currently in an upheaval. We just had our worst week in the stock market since 2008. The historic bull market that we have been enjoying for the past 11 years is now officially over. Gatherings of over 250 people are being banned all over the country and schools are closing left and right.  Things just aren’t normal right now. You are likely being inundated with messages about the coronavirus. Some are saying just calm down and stop buying toilet paper while others are saying go into hibernation, the world as we know it is over. It’s hard to sift through the messages to find the truth. And it’s even harder to find actionable advice that will make a practical difference in your life.  Today I’d like to offer you some practical action steps that will be of great help to you if the coronavirus ...

This is an excerpt from The Pastor’s Wallet Complete Guide to the Clergy Housing Allowance, now available for purchase on Amazon. Everyone wants a clear list of what is permissible and what is not allowed for the housing allowance. Unfortunately, that is still being figured out. Right now it just allows “expenses directly related to providing a home” and only specifically prohibits food and servants. That clear-cut list that everyone wants is still out there somewhere with unicorns and the Easter bunny. Good luck finding it. The specifics that we do have come from IRS rulings and case law. There are a few things that have been decided for sure qualify or don’t, but the thousands of other possibilities out there simply have not been addressed by the IRS yet.  How To Determine What Qualifies For The Clergy Housing Allowance There are only three ways to find out for sure if something qualifies. You ...