Many churches are preparing budgets and plans for 2024. A big part of that budget and plan is usually the pastor. I put together some tools to help set the pastor’s compensation in the Global Methodist denomination.
Does your church need a new Tax ID? The IRS makes this super easy. I give you a walkthrough in the video.
Maybe your church has found out that they aren’t using the correct Tax ID. What do you do? There are three things you can try before you need to get a new EIN.
Each June the United Methodists celebrate pastors that are retiring. I always love hearing the words of wisdom they share with us at Annual Conference.
My gift back to these retirees is a reminder of how the Housing Exclusion works in retirement. Retirees can save thousands in taxes if they understand this. Actives should know about this as well for their own tax planning.
When a parsonage is not provided, most churches provide a cash housing allowance in lieu of the parsonage. Did you know that you can still designate a Housing Exclusion?
In this post, I go over the difference between the Exclusion and the Allowance and how they can work together.
This probably isn’t the most timely of posts, but it fits with the theme for the month in looking into housing and taxes for clergy.
For nearly twenty years, I didn’t have a good answer for how to estimate the value of the parsonage for tax purposes. I finally have a good answer.
If there’s any question I get more often than any other (at least relating to the Housing Exclusion), it’s this: “Does the IRS have a list of housing expenses I can write off?”
The answer is No. In all my reading, the IRS doesn’t even give an example. So, that has led some clergy tax experts to put together their own list which I share with you here.
When setting a Housing Exclusion, there are three things to pay attention to if you want to avoid overpaying taxes: 1)the amount, 2)the timing, and 3) the approval.
This is especially important for any pastors making midyear changes.