Most ministers are required to pay quarterly estimated taxes if you have fourth-quarter income, get them postmarked by January 16, 2018, tax deadline. Generally, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires you to make quarterly estimated tax payments for the calendar year 2017 if any of the following apply: you expect to owe at least $1,000…

President Trump recently signed the tax reform bill into law, and it makes major changes to the U.S. tax code for both individuals and corporations. In fact, the bill represents the most significant tax changes in the United States in more than 30 years. While many deductions are remaining under the new tax law, there…

The IRS requires churches to report wage and salary information for employees on Form W-2. Your W-2 also reports the amount of your housing, federal, and state withholdings. As a non-clergy or clergy employee, the information on your W-2 is extremely important when preparing your tax return. To insure you have it in time, the IRS…

Give To Charity If you are a charitably inclined person and itemize your tax returns, consider making another gift by the end of the year.  A lot of deductions are going away in 2018, which will make it harder for many people to take advantage of itemized tax returns. In addition, with the standard deduction nearly…

Tax reform will be capping your state and local tax deductions at $10,000 beginning in 2018. To prevent taxpayers from navigating around the $10,000 deduction cap that will take effect in 2018, Congress wrote right into the tax bill that taxpayers will not be able to prepay their 2018 state income taxes and take the…

The Internal Revenue Service has issued its 2018 optional standard mileage rates. Effective January 1st, 2018, the IRS standard rate will be 54.5 cents per mile driven for ministry or business purposes (The new rate is up from 53.5 cents per mile for 2017 because of higher gas prices ). Use of this rate is…

As the holidays approach, many people look for ways of combining their desire to help the causes they believe in with their desire to save on taxes. For the charitably inclined, there are strategic ways of giving that can accomplish both goals. However, if Congress passes a tax reform bill this year, it could include…

For most business professionals, there is a societal assumption that the person will work at least 40 hours per week, on a somewhat predictable schedule (that the person will be in the office most weekdays- 5 days from 8 am to 5 pm, for example). But most pastors do not fit this assumption and will work more…

Researching a clergy issue on your own takes time and can leave you wondering if you’ve got the right answer. Turn to Clergy Financial Resources to save time while getting the correct answers. Most callers want answers to specific questions on tax returns, interpretations of new laws or maybe you don’t have time to find the answer…

A housing allowance is a portion of clergy income that may be excluded from income for federal income tax purposes (W-2 “Box 1” wages) under Section 107 of the Internal Revenue Code. To be eligible, the pastor/clergy must be a “minister of the gospel” and be ordained, licensed, or commissioned by a church, convention or…