If you’re a new church treasurer, and, after three months, you finally are feeling comfortable cutting paychecks for your pastor and lay employees. Then the IRS comes in demanding information on the Form 941. Does a church really have to fill out this form? That depends. The short answer is, if you just have a…
Category: 10-Minute Treasurer
Paying a Lay Employee…manually
Like I said in a previous post, payroll is the most intimidating part of being a church treasurer. What makes it worse is that most churches just a handful of employees…maybe a part-time custodian and secretary. It just doesn’t make financial sense to shell out much for payroll software when your payroll is minimal. Without…
How do you pay your Pastor?
When I became a church treasurer, the scariest part of the job was payroll. I was a CPA. I worked as an auditor for the State of North Dakotas. I knew about taxes and payroll liabilities and all that fun stuff, but I’d never actually cut a payroll check before. To make matters worse, no…
Are Pastors covered by Workers’ Compensation?
A lot of churches have tight budgets so they cut Worker’s Comp coverage. Can they do this legally in North or South Dakota? Should they do this? Honestly, I’m a little murky on the North Dakota answer. I read in the Century Code how they do not consider church work to be “Hazardous Employment.” They…
Independent Contractor or Employee…does it matter?
Are there other organizations the have troubles telling the difference between employees and independent contractors? I think this is primarily a church problem. Churches often have a lot of very part-time people paid small amounts. Maybe this used to be a volunteer position that is now paid. When does that person turn into an employee?…
How do I prepare my pastor’s W-2?
I’m not trying to dissuade you from having a tax professional prepare your W-2’s, but, if you are up to the challenge, here’s how to do it. This is mainly aimed at clergy in the Dakotas UMC, but I bet you could translate this into Lutheran or Presbyterian or Baptist or even Non-Denominational. Here’s the…
Learning to say “Thank you” with the IRS in mind
What’s the worst thing that could happen if I don’t keep the IRS in mind when issuing Giving Statements or something to acknowledge gifts? Well…the IRS could disallow the donors charitable tax deduction which would lead them to have to pay more taxes. This would probably lead to a ticked off donor who will likely…
JCT Accounting Co 