MinistryCPA - Corey A. Pfaffe, CPA, LLC

New ministers frequently have several questions as they enter a new field that has significantly different rules than the standard employee of a business has. We have assembled a list of some of the most important questions that a new minister should investigate when starting their new job.  1. How can I live within my means? You need a budget. Enjoying a long-term ministry in Christian service requires an ability to live within your means. Lots of tools are available: Christian authors with “how to” instructions and online apps, to name a couple. Try You Need a Budget (www.ynab.com), if you need an idea. 2. What does it mean to be a dual status employee? A minister, per IRS regulations, is both an employee and self-employed—dual status. As an employee, a minister is eligible for all fringe benefits offered to non-minister employees — health coverage, retirement plans and so on. The exception lies in social security and Medicare tax. Non-minister employees must have 7.65% of thei...

  This is another posting in the MinistryCPA Top 10 series: When integrating new employees into a church, leaders can become overwhelmed with the onboarding process. In churches, several different factors need to be considered on the first day of work, as well as some information that should be communicated to the employee. We have compiled a list of some of the factors that a church should consider when hiring and onboarding a new employee.   1. Clear communication about job expectations When onboarding new employees it is vital that they understand their responsibilities and learn about the church. Giving the employee a job description can be a great help to them. Having clear information about their job responsibilities as well as clear descriptions of their co-workers' jobs can help the new employee understand who to go to in different situations. For example, a new church bookkeeper may not know if he or she is supposed to collect information for payroll. The pastoral rol...

This is another posting in the MinistryCPA Top 10 series: Understanding what to offer a pastor as part of his compensation package can be a difficult task. There are a number of different factors to consider. Variables such as compensation, insurance, housing allowance, taxes, and retirement all play into compensation. We have compiled a list of factors that a church should consider when designing a compensation package for the pastor. Every church situation is unique, and each church should analyze what it can actually afford. 1. How does the church determine an appropriate compensation rate? Determining an appropriate compensation level can be a difficult task in a small ministry. There are a few factors that can be used to help determine a fair compensation for the pastor. The first factor that should be taken into consideration is the needs of the pastor. If the church wants a pastor to work full time, then it must consider what he needs to be paid to support himself and his fami...

This is another posting in the MinistryCPA Top 10 series:  Understanding payroll can be a difficult task in any business. Knowing how to onboard new employees, pay them, file tax documents, and deal with other benefits is a daunting task. We have created a list of some of the top payroll compliance issues that we see here at MinistryCPA. 1.       Employee vs Independent Contractor Understanding the difference between an employee and an independent contractor is essential to the payroll process. If a person is classified as an employee, then the business is responsible for employment taxes such as social security, Medicare, unemployment, and income tax withholding. If the person is classified as an independent contractor, the business is not responsible for any of these taxes.  There are three factors that help a business determine whether an individual is an employee or an independent contractor. These three factors are the degree of behavioral...