Love Offering/Taxable?

by Sue Smith
(Charleston, WV.USA)

If people want to donate to the Pastor, should the checks be written to the Church and then the Church write a check to the Pastor?

Comments for Love Offering/Taxable?

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love offering
by: Anonymous

Does it matter if the love offering is made by cash or check that it is considered taxable or not? I didn't think that it matter because both are the same but I'm not for sure.

Love offerings unsolicited
by: Anonymous

Thanks Vickey for your response. That helped a lot. Can you answer this one for me? What if the church doesn't ask (solicit) for the congregation to give a love offering but some people from the congregation wanted to give a love offering, how is that handled for the church, donor, and the pastor. Thanks in advance.

Must church keep a record of money?
by: Anonymous

If the church ask the congregation to give in a love offering for a preacher preaching. Must they count and record the amount given before giving the cash to the preacher?

Vickey's reply

Yes! I just read an article on that today. A pastor in North Carolina ended up in a federal prison for taking home "love offerings" without his church counting them or reporting them as income to the IRS.

Taxable Love Offerings
by: Marcus in Texas

Our church collects the offerings and deposits them into the church's general fund checking account. We then write a check to the recipient. Since the funds are being given to compensate the pastor or other recipient for services rendered, the payments are considered taxable income to the recipient, in the same way that a paid consultant would be required to pay taxes on monies received for consulting services. Another factor is that in many instances the persons making the donations will make their checks payable to the church and will then claim them as charitable deductions when they file their taxes.

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