NEWS & UPDATES

Clergy face one of the most complicated tax situations of any profession. Ministers are employees for income tax purposes but self-employed for Social Security. Add housing allowances, parsonages, reimbursements, love offerings, weddings, funerals, and guest speaking, and it becomes clear—this is not a job for a general tax preparer.

Churches have often found it easy to simply deem employees as salaried and pay them a flat amount, however this may not be correct and can put the church at compliance risk. As churches are subject to Department of Labor (DOL) regulations regarding correct classification of employees this is important for churches to understand.

Peter Lynch once said, “If you spend 13 minutes a year on economics, you’ve wasted 10 minutes.” That sounds strange until you remember who Peter Lynch is. He wasn’t guessing. He was one of the most successful investors of his generation. His point wasn’t that money doesn’t matter—it was that obsessing over the economy usually doesn’t help.