MinistryCPA - Corey A. Pfaffe, CPA, LLC

Question: A church has a policy that its pastors who accompany short-term missions trips by its members will be provided 100 percent of their travel expenses out of church funds. Are these payments reportable as taxable income to the minister? Answer: Travel and other ordinary and necessary expenses paid on behalf of an employee to conduct his or her employer's business are not considered taxable income to the employee (IRS Publication 463). This rule applies to ministers traveling on missions trips sponsored by a church. If the employee is provided an advance of these funds, then the employee must comply with IRS substantiation requirements (Pub. 463 (2/4/2009), page 29), the most pertinent stipulation being that adequate documentation must be provided to the employer by the employee within 60 days of using advanced funds for business purposes.

Question: I want to create a ministry organization (other than a church). What kind of license would I need if its a ministry? What kind of tax ID do I need? Answer: Generally, it's not so much a matter of licenses (although local zoning and building codes must be followed). A ministry will need a federal employer's identification number even if it employs no workers because opening a bank account will likely require one. Form SS-4 is used for this purpose. The bigger issue is the 26-page Form 1023 --Application for Recognition of Exemption. Its completion is necessary to receive an IRS Determination Letter that acknowledges the organization's eligibility to receive charitable (deductible) contributions and to exclude its exempt revenues from taxation.

Question: What are the official guidelines for who qualifies as "clergy" for tax purposes? Answer: IRS Publication 517 defines ministers as follows: "Ministers are individuals who are duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed by a religious body constituting a church or church denomination. They are given the authority to conduct religious worship, perform sacerdotal functions, and administer ordinances or sacraments according to the prescribed tenets and practices of that church or denomination. "If a church or denomination ordains some ministers and licenses or commissions others, anyone licensed or commissioned must be able to perform substantially all the religious functions of an ordained minister to be treated as a minister for social security purposes."

Question: Should our church record depreciation on its fixed asset purchases? We have been advised to do so in order to remain compliant with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). We see the benefit of having a record of our fixed assets and their values (original values or replacement cost), but don't see much value at all in recording depreciation. Answer: In order to provide users of financial statements a GAAP presentation, building, equipment, and other long-lived asset purchases must not be recorded as expenditures in the year of purchase. Rather, their costs are allocated to expenses over the years of their useful lives. Accountants call this allocation process depreciation .  Some churches are required to present GAAP reports for purposes of bank financing or donor expectations. The two primary GAAP reports are titled "Statement of Activities" and "Statement of Financial Position." Generally, this is limited to larger ministries.  We have foun...

Question: If a church issues benevolence assistance for an employee of the church is this considered taxable income to that employee? Additionally is the church required to pay the taxes on this benevolence assistance? The payment would not be issued directly to the employee but rather to a vendor on his/her behalf. Answer: Generally, gifts to an employee by an employer are taxable to an employee (reportable as such on Form W-2) and subject to the same employer taxes (i.e., matching FICA tax of 7.65 percent) that any other compensation entails. This is true regardless whether the payment is made directly to the employee or to another payee on the employee's behalf. However, employees are also members of local congregations and ocassionally have emergency issues that a benevolent fund might respond to just as it would to any other recipient. These benevolent gifts are generally irregular and responsive to uniquely identified needs (e.g. a doctor's bill, a utility payment...