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100% of church pay is housing allowance. So how do I report mileage?

by Avery S.
(Michigan)

My church is very small. Both my pastor and I (assistant) are paid housing allowances, but no salary.

Our housing allowances are less than our annual housing expenses, so both of us do not receive taxable payments from the church.

My question is about mileage driven to and from church functions, clean-up days, study time, etc..

Would we report our mileage as volunteer mileage and receive the lower mileage rate (ex. .14 in 2019 for charitable miles) or as a standard mileage as business mileage (.58 in 2019)?

Would we have to set up a schedule C for claiming it if as business mileage, and would that be an issue if it resulted in a "loss" every year?

Thanks for the great article by the way! I intend to share it with other church planters I know.

Comments for 100% of church pay is housing allowance. So how do I report mileage?

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Mar 31, 2022
 Mileage
by: Laurie

We have an accountable spending plan, so we allow our clergy to turn in an expense for mileage and we use IRS standard mileage rate for the reimbursement.

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Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Designating Housing Allowance.

If you want to DIY your payroll, I highly recommend you look at using Gusto! It is very user friendly and their support is awesome! Plus they know how to set up and maintain payrolls for churches and nonprofit organizations.

Note: I am a "partner" of Gusto, but as I have told you before ... I never recommend anything that we or our clients have not tried and love =)



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