Ministers conference expenses

Pastor would like to attend a conference/ vacation cruise with a well know Christian speaker/author/pastor. Can any of these costs be covered by the Church without going through the Pastor's payroll. The Pastor and his wife would be attending the sessions but also vacationing at the same time. Can any of these expenses be considered educational?

Comments for Ministers conference expenses

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benefit
by: Anonymous

As he is an employee all money paid to him would go on payroll. If it is income or not depends on many things.
You should check IRS pub 15 B http://www.irs.gov/publications/p15b/ix01.html
under the Fringe Benefit Overview.

Basicly if the employee can claim it on their own taxes and you use the "accountable" method it is exempt(be sure they can; not just because they say so-for example: if they have children and want to have the expense exempt they need to actually qualify using the information in pub 503)

The easiest way is to pay the employee, add it to box 1 of the W-2 and let them claim on their own taxes.

However be careful of "excess benefit" a good read is http://www.federaltaxissues.com/0300_private/0330_private_excess.php or browse through Vicki's stuff on the left.

Prayers

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