Skip to main content

Two Residences for Housing Allowance Purposes?

By
Questions:

 A minister temporarily commutes 100 miles from his principal residence to serve in a Christian ministry, also renting an apartment near the ministry while away from home. Can he claim a housing allowance on this second dwelling as well as his principal residence?

 And what about the commute from home to the ministry--is it deductible? Can the ministry reimburse him on a tax-free basis?

 Answers:

 A housing allowance is available for only one principal residence. Plus, commuting from a minister's home to his place of business is non-deductible. Hence, reimbursements by a church for non-deductible expenses, while certainly appreciated, will be taxable income.

 An exception may be important to consider. It relates to the Internal Revenue Code definition of Tax Home. Travel and lodging expenses while away from one's Tax Home for business purposes may be deductible (and reimbursements non-taxable). According to IRS Publication 463, "if you do not have a regular or a main place of business because of the nature of your work, then your tax home may be the place where you regularly live" (IRS Pub. 463, 2/4/2009, p. 3). It's important to carefully consider the "factors used to determine tax home" that are spelled out by the IRS. Some ministers who serve multiple ministries from one central location (their homes) may deduct mileage to travel to those ministries and lodging & meals while out-of-town, overnight to conduct their ministries. However, "itinerant" status ministers do not qualify for these deductions.

 Ministers employed by a single ministry even if it requires significant travel and overnight lodging do not qualify for these deductions.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rental of a Church Parsonage to a Non-Minister

By
Question: A church owns a parsonage, but the pastor does not use it as he owns his own home. The church rents the parsonage to a tenant other than a minister or employee of the church. Will the church be responsible for paying income tax on these monies as Unrelated Business Income (filing a Form 990-T) even if the money is used to carry on the business of the church? Answer: Whether the money is used for church purposes is irrelevant.  IRS Publication 598  states: "If an exempt organization regularly carries on a trade or business not substantially related to its exempt purpose, except that it provides funds to carry out that purpose, the organization is subject to tax on its income from that unrelated trade or business." Fortunately, in the case of rental income from real property, such income is "excluded in computing unrelated business taxable income" (Publication 598). Caution: see content below regarding debt-financed property.  However, a second concern not a...
Post a Comment
Read more

How can my ministry expenses be covered by the church?

By
     How can my ministry expenses be covered?                            Many ministers use their personal autos for ministry purposes. Their employers can reimburse these costs using a standard mileage rate published by the IRS. The per mile rate represents employees’ entire reimbursable cost other than highway tolls and parking tabs. If not covered by use of the ministries’ credit card, other costs can be reimbursed as well—business and travel meals, lodging, office supplies, and professional library purchases among them. Some ministries reimburse travel costs using per-diems published by the IRS. If employee business expenses are not reimbursed, the personal tax deduction benefit to the individual minister is severely limited. Non-taxable reimbursements after documentation is provided to the employer follows IRS rules for accountable plans. Non-taxable cash advances before expenses are in...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is the best retirement account for a Minister?

By
       What are my options for retirement savings?                  Regardless of options, start now! You probably have learned about traditional and Roth IRAs. We have often found them well short of the benefits we will share here regarding Internal Revenue Code section 403(b) plans. These plans must be established by your employer (although you might need to be the initiator). They are funded in two ways—withholding from your paycheck at your option (called “elective deferrals”) and as initiated by the employer (matching or non-elective contributions). These contributions not only save income tax, but they also reduce the income you must report as subject to the 15.3% SECA tax. Further, at retirement with the cooperation of your church or Christian ministry the distributions to you can be tax-free to the extent of your qualified housing expenses. Many ministries also adopt what are often called “FICA alternative” be...
Post a Comment
Read more