News You (Individuals) Can Use (and that we may use to serve our clients better)

1. Employees get a 2% raise with their first 2011 payroll checks. The Tax Relief Act of 2010 reduces the employee-share of the FICA tax by 2%

2. Provisions set to expire on December 31, 2010, related to sales tax, educator, tuition, contributions, mortgage insurance premiums, and student loan interest deductions, and some related to the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits were extended by the Tax Relief Act. An energy credit for individuals was also reinstated, but at a lower rate.

3. Updated mileage rate deductions for 2011: business-51 cents/mile; charitable-14 cents/mile; moving and medical-19 cents/mile.

4. While it received a lot of negative press, the Health Care Reform Act of 2010 contained provisions that may benefit individuals including tax credits and increased benefits for employees' adult children.

5. The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 increased some business write-offs and created additional Roth Account conversion opportunities for individuals.

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Rental of a Church Parsonage to a Non-Minister

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...

How can my ministry expenses be covered by the church?

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...

What is the best retirement account for a Minister?

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...

MinistryCPA - Corey A. Pfaffe, CPA, LLC

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