Clergy Tax Facts
Clergy W-2 Form
Ministers working for a church or church agency should receive a Form W-2 by January 31, 2010. Ministers who report their federal income taxes as self-employed on Form 1099, may face a significant risk of additional taxes and penalties, if they are audited and reclassified as employees by the IRS.
While the majority of ministers are employees for federal income tax purposes, they all are self-employed for social security purposes. This means that ministers are exempt from social security and Medicare withholdings, even though they report their income taxes as employees and receive a W-2 from their church. Rather, they pay the self-employment tax on Schedule SE when filing their return.
Determining a taxpayer's correct reporting status under the common law employee test is often difficult. The IRS has developed a list of 20 factors to be used as an aid in determining whether an individual is an employee as defined by the IRS. For more information on the correct filing status, please feel free to contact us.
Download the worksheet
- 2005 Form W-2
- 2005 Form W-2 Illustration
- 2006 Form W-2 instructions for clergy
- 2006 Form W-2 interactive worksheet for clergy
- 2007changes to the Form W-2
- 2007 Clergy W-2 Illustration
- 2008 Clergy W-2 Illustration
- 2008 Form W-2 interactive worksheet for clergy
- New - IRS Clergy W-2 information
- New -2009 Clergy W-2 Illustration
- New -2009 Form W-2 interactive worksheet for clergy