Church Employees and Unemployment Compensation

Churches are exempt from federal unemployment regulations under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA).Churches may choose to provide unemployment coverage for their employees but most do not. If you do not provide unemployment benefits for your church staff, please notify all employees and pastors of this fact and give reminders to staff on a regular basis.  When you hire new staff, please inform them of this fact prior to hiring. Some ways to do this are to include it on your employment application form or state it when interviewing for open positions.