Housing allowance only?

by DrP
(Wentzville, MO)

Can a minister elect to collect an $80,000 housing allowance and no salary and not pay any taxes whatsoever?
If this handled directly with the treasurer but not recorded in the minutes, is this "legal?"

Comments for Housing allowance only?

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Jan 13, 2014

who decides benefits
by: Sandi

you and your church need to read http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf
and the 15 series

prayers

Jan 13, 2014

Housing allowance only???
by: Anonymous in NC

Sandi is giving you a good resource for your questions.

Most likely you will need to pay Self-employment (Social Security taxes) on the housing allowance that you receive in lieu of salary.

In a high rent/high housing cost location (like LA or New York City) it would be possible to embody all the pastor's benefits/pay into his/her housing allowance; however, it would be wrong for the treasurer of the church to arrange this. It needs to be through actions of the admin. board and in writing. The resource that Sandi referenced will explain all this.

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

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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