MinistryCPA - Corey A. Pfaffe, CPA, LLC

On December 13, 2016, President Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act, allowing qualified small employers to offer Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA) that follow certain terms. After the Affordable Care Act was passed, the IRS originally determined that an HRA was not a qualified group health plan. The Cures Act overrules this decision. HRAs are again an option for qualifying small employers. To be eligible, the small employer must have fewer than 50 employees and must not offer a group health plan to any of its employees. The Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA) must be subject to the following terms. No salary reduction contributions may be made (i.e., 100% employer-funded). Employer must receive proof of employee’s minimum essential coverage. Reimbursements must be for qualifying medical expenses. Reimbursements for any year cannot exceed $4,950 (or $10,000 for family coverage), which will be adjusted annually for inflation. Employer ...

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released a revised Form I-9. All new hires after January 21, 2017, must complete the revised Form I-9 . All prior released versions of Form I-9 will be invalid for new hires. Employers are required to have a completed hard copy of Form I-9 on file for each employee. Current employees do not need to re-complete the revised form. More information on Form I-9 can be found on the USCIS website .

Question : A non-profit organization recently asked if there is a change in the payroll reporting deadline for 2016. If yes, when do the Forms W-2 need to be filed? Answer : Yes, there is a change in the deadline for filing Forms W-2, W-3, and 1099-MISC. All forms must be submitted by January 31, 2017, for tax year 2016. The Forms W-2 and W-3 must be submitted to the Social Security Administration (SSA), and the Forms 1099-MISC must be submitted to the IRS. Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement for employees  Form W-3, Wage and Tax Statement for employers Form 1099-MISC for reporting non-employee compensation to individuals or qualifying businesses (e.g., contractors, speakers, landlords, love offering recipients)  These changes to the Internal Revenue Code were a part of the PATH Act ,  Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes , Section 201, enacted on December 18, 2015. The IRS’s reminder provides more detailed information. The January 31 deadline has long appli...

The IRS issued 2017 standard mileage rates. These rates begin on January 1, 2017. The rates apply to the use of a car, van, pickup or panel truck. 53.5 cents per mile for business miles driven (down from 54 cents for 2016) 17 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes (down from 19 cents for 2016) 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations (no change from 2016) More information is available on the IRS’s webpage .

Notice : Individuals holding or acting as signatories on certain foreign bank accounts must file annual disclosures with the IRS. This includes a number of missionary clients of MinistryCPA. As of the 2017 filing season (year ended December 31, 2016), FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts ( FBAR) will be due on April 15. According to  Act Sec. 2006(b)(11) of the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 , "The due date of FinCEN Report 114 (relating to Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) shall be April 15 with a maximum extension for a 6-month period ending on October 15 and with provision for an extension under rules similar to the rules in Treas. Reg. section 1.6081–5. For any taxpayer required to file such Form for the first time, any penalty for failure to timely request for, or file, an extension, may be waived by the Secretary."

Q uestion: A missionary couple (and their children) lives overseas for over half the year, while maintaining a home in the U.S.  Both are US citizens.  Do they qualify for the Earned Income Credit? Answer:   First, there are three potential credits that could be affected by residency status. Earned Income Credit (EIC) (refundable) - See  IRS Publication 596 Child Tax Credit (non-refundable) - Up to $1,000 per qualifying child Additional Child Tax Credit (refundable) - This credit is for certain individuals who get less than the full amount of the child tax credit. If the taxpayer did not live with his child in the United States for at least six months of the tax year, he cannot claim the EIC. But a taxpayer may be able to claim the Child Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit even though he did not live in the United States at least six months of the current tax year. It is often advantageous for a foreign missionary...

Question : One of a camp’s fulltime maintenance men is paid $600 per week ($31,200 per year). Some weeks he puts in less than 40 hours. But during camping season, he easily works 60 to 70 hours a week. Is the camp required to pay him overtime? Answer : As a general rule, the camp is not required to pay overtime if the employee meets two requirements. The employee meets the salary test and is paid on a salary basis of at least $913 per week (or $47,476 per year),* and  The employee meets the duties test of the executive, administrative, professional, or other exemption.** Because the maintenance man is paid $600 per week, he does not meet the salary test (No. 1 above). The camp is then required to do one of two options: Option A. Increase the employee’s weekly salary, or Option B. Reclassify the employee to a nonexempt employee, which means the employee will be paid on an hourly basis.  Option A is the simplest. The camp can just increase the maintenan...

Question: Can payments made to a health care sharing ministry (e.g., Samaritan Ministries, Christian Healthcare Ministries) which are exempt from the Affordable Care Act be deducted from income as a self-employed (SE) insurance deduction? Answer: First, to be technical, "health care sharing ministries" (IRS exemption D) provide participants an exception from Shared Responsibility Payments (ACA penalties), but don't connote other tax benefits. Second, a health care share ministry does not qualify as health insurance. One does not pay what the IRS considers to be premiums, but instead shares the health expenses of others. And according to IRS Pub 535 , in order for self-employed individuals to qualify for a SE insurance deductions they must be to pay premiums for qualifying health insurance. 

Question:   A new church filed for an employer identification number (EIN) recently. It received notification from the IRS about the EIN, stating that the church must file Form 944 by the following January deadline. The church has no non-ministerial staff members. Since income tax withholding is elective by ministers and none of the pastors has elected to request non-mandatory withholding is the church required to file Form 944 annually? Also, a quarterly Form 941 (rather than an annual Form 944) is required of some employers. Which IRS form, if any, should be filed? Answer: According to IRS Section 1402(c) and 3121(c), ministers are not subject to mandatory income tax withholding. Unless one or more ministerial employees request non-mandatory withholding, church employers with only ministerial employees do not need to file Form 941 or Form 944.  The IRS  Ministers Audit Technique Guide  explains in further deta...

Question: A church remodeled one of its buildings. One of the members coordinated the remodel, and the church paid individuals directly for their labor. According to the Internal Revenue Service's Form 1099-MISC instructions, one of the criteria is: "You made the payment for services in the course of your trade or business."  Since construction and remodeling is not the church's trade or business are the payments to these individuals reportable on Form 1099-MISC? Answer:   Yes the payments are reportable on Form 1099-MISC. According to  Form 1099-MISC instructions entitled " What is nonemployee compensation? If the following four conditions are met, you must generally report a payment as nonemployee compensation. You made the payment to someone who is not your employee.  You made the payment for services in the course of your trade or business (including government agencies and nonprofit organizations ).  You made the payment...

On October 18, 2016, the Social Security Administration announced the following 2017 Social Security Changes. Monthly Social Security benefits will increase by a 0.3 percent cost-of-living adjustment. The adjustment begins with benefits paid in January 2017. Maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax increased from $118,500 (2016) to $127,200 (2017). If you earn $127,200 or more annually, you will pay an additional $539.40 each year if an employee or $1,078.80 each year if self-employed. The amount of earnings required for a quarter of coverage (also referred to as a Social Security credit) increased from $1,260 (2016) to $1,300 (2017). The SSA’s 2017 Social Security Changes Fact Sheet can be found here .

Question: A church pays a monthly amount to a seminary student as support while he is school. He performs no services, and this money is truly a gift with no oversight of the use of the funds. The yearly amount exceeds $25,000.  Is the student able to exclude this gift from taxable income?  Answer: The church leadership is wise to be careful in the situation described here. If the payments are compensation for services present or future they will result taxable income. An example is given in  IRS Publication 970 , "You are a candidate for a degree at a medical school. You receive a scholarship for your medical education and training. The terms of your scholarship require you to perform future services. A substantial penalty applies if you don't comply. The entire amount of your grant is taxable as payment for services in the year it is received." If a scholarship program is established with nondiscriminatory and non-compensatory parameters, then the disburseme...

Question:   If an employee of the church is provided funds to go on a church mission trip are the funds considered a taxable benefit? Answer: These funds may qualify as a non-taxable, reimbursed business expense. In order for an expense to qualify as a business expense, it must be ordinary and necessary according to IRS Publication 535 . Pub 535 states, “An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your industry. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your trade or business.” As a church employee, one may be expect to assist in fulfilling the mission of the church, including participation in mission trips. Proper documentation of expenses is required to enjoy this non-taxable classification ( MinistryCPA past blog post ). If the trip was not required as a condition of employment by the church, then the employee may be able to take a tax deduction for the trip based on its charitable nature. For further information on c...

Question: A missionary receives all of his income from donations through his home church and specific individuals. Is all of his income taxable? Is he self-employed? Answer: M onies received by a missionary in support of his work are taxable. Even though all of his income comes from "donations", the income is compensation for the services that he is performing as a missionary.  According to  IRS Minister Audit Technique Guide , “Contributions made to or for the support of individual missionaries to further the objectives of their missions are includible in gross income (Rev. Rul. 68-67, 1968-1 C.B. 38)”.  The Minister Audit Technique Guide also gives an example of a court case that discusses this topic, "In the Charles E Banks and Rose M Banks v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1991-641, case a structured and organized transfer of cash from members of the church took place on four special days of each year. Prior to making the transfers, members of the Church met a...

Question: As a member of my church's audit team, I have been told many times by the financial secretary that our church takes a love offering for persons serving our church. The love offering is not counted; it is just given to the person. For this reason, no record is maintained for issuing Form 1099s. Is this  procedure in compliance with IRS rules for issuing Form 1099s when payments are $600 or more in a calendar year? Answer: First, the offerings should be accounted for because it appears that the collections are received and distributed as compensation for work that is done for the church. When independent contractors receive more than $600 in a tax year, they must be issued a Form-1099 MISC. Of course, this will require that the offerings be counted and that information be collected from the recipient in order to facilitate filing the proper forms (typically, Form W-9 is used for this purpose). Second, if these individuals are working for the c...

Question: A husband and wife moved overseas in order to begin work with an orphanage. Can they take the moving expenses deduction?   Answer: According to IRS Publication 521 , "To deduct expenses for a move outside the United States, you must move to the area of a new place of work outside the United States and its possessions. [First,] you must meet the [general] requirements under Who Can Deduct Moving Expenses."  "Who Can Deduct Moving Expenses" Requirements First is the distance test. The publication states, “Your move will meet the distance test if your new main job location is at least 50 miles farther from your former home than your old main job location was from your former home” (see Publication 521 for specific examples).  Second is the time test. The general rule is that one must work at the new job location for 39 weeks of the first 12 months (see publication for specific rules for employees vs. self-employed individuals).  Third is the rel...

Question: Are missionaries who raise their own support without affiliation with an agency able to designate  a housing allowance  and, therefore, exclude it from taxable income? Answer: First, in order to qualify for a housing allowance, one has to be properly classified as a minister (see 2015 blog post relating to this topic). Second, the housing allowance designation needs to be prospectively designated by a 501(c)(3) organization.  According to the IRS Ministers Audit Technique Guide ,  “The exclusion under Internal Revenue Code §107 only applies if the employing church [including a mission agency] designates the amount of the parsonage allowance in advance of the tax year. The designation may appear in the minister's employment contract, the church minutes, the church budget, or any other document indicating official action. Treas. Reg. §1.107-1(b).” The IRS Publication 1828 also states, "The minister’s church or other qualified organization mu...

Question:   Two questions regarding issuing a minister’s year-end earnings reports (i.e., Form W-2 or, in rare situations, Form 1099-MISC): 1.) Should the amount of retirement that the church pays monthly on the behalf of its pastor be included? 2.) Should mileage reimbursements be included? Answer: Regarding the proper IRS Form for reporting salaries and wages, please see the following  Ministry CPA blog post . When reporting other types of compensation a pastor receives, the preparer should follow the Form W-2 instructions. For example, in Box 12, the IRS provides several codes relating to various types of retirement benefits. Churches may contribute to several types of retirement plans on behalf of their employees. Internal Revenue Code section 403(b) plans permit employer "non-elective" and matching contributions. Matching contributions involve elective deferrals by the employee, either pre-tax (403(b) plans) or after-tax (403(b) Roth pla...

Question: An ordained minister perform typical ministerial duties. He also assists with bookkeeping and other administrative functions, but these functions are not his primary role. He raises his own support, which is given to the organization as designated/restricted funds for his needs. While the organization has leadership and a board which determines direction and vision, his hours are not specifically set and the manner/method of work is unspecified by the organization. 1.) Is he an employee or an independent contractor? 2.) If he is an employee, can the organization pay half of his social security and Medicare (FICA tax)?  Answer: Both employee ministers and independent contractor ministers pay their own self-employment tax. According to IRS Publication 517 ministers have the responsibility to pay self-employment tax. Publication 517 states, “These services [of a minister] include:  Performing sacerdotal functions,  Conducting religi...

Question: If a minister rents his principal residence, but he performs services (mowing the lawn, repairing the roof, etc.) in lieu of rent, can he still qualify the rent amount for a housing allowance tax benefit? Answer: Of course, bartering income is taxable. The Internal Revenue Code interprets that above situation as follows: tenant/minister receives taxable income for the fair market value of the services he provides, and tenant/minster pays landlord for renal of residence. The minister in this case reports taxable income for services provided in lieu of rent. It is also likely subject to self-employment tax. He may then claim as qualifying housing allowance expense equal to the amount he "pays" for rent of his personal residence. Essentially, there is no difference than if the minister and his landlord simply traded checks . See a past MinistryCPA post regarding this topic: http://ministrycpa.blogspot.com/2016/09/services-to-church-in-l...

Question: An individual receives donations from various individuals through an organization that sponsors his  volunteer service abroad. He also receives a monthly "gift" from the organization for volunteering. Do either of these income streams require the issuance of Form 1099-MISC?  Answer:   For the donations receive in connection with the volunteer work, the Form 1099-MISC does not need to be issued by the sponsoring organization if all of the funds are spent for expenses related to the volunteer work and documented accordingly to that organization.  According Internal Revenue Service Publication 526 , qualifying expenses must be those: Directly connected with the services provided, and Only incurred because of the services you gave. Travel expenses of volunteers: Travel expenses necessarily incurred while you are away from home performing services for a charitable organization only if there is no significant element of personal ...

Q uestion :   A previous MinistryCPA blog post mentioned that, "In addition, unlike other retirement plan choices (Traditional and Roth IRAs, and for-profit company 401(k) plans), a minister is not subject to the 15.3 percent federal self-employment tax on amounts deferred into 403(b) accounts (IRS Revenue Rulings 68-395 and 78-6)." Does this exclusion apply to ministers with elective deferrals to Roth 403(b) plans similar to the treatment available when contributing to pre-tax 403(b) plans? I can see how this works easily for pre-tax 403(b) plans since Form W-2, Box 1 (total compensation) does not include the contributions as income. Accordingly, Schedule SE self-employment tax based on Box 1 is not assessed. Answer: We know of no IRS Revenue Rulings or authoritative IRS publications that would permit the reduction of SE tax through Roth 403(b) contributions. Compare a traditional 403(b) contribution with a Roth 403(b) contribution displayed on Fo...

Question: Should 403(b) contributions and the subsequent match be based on the pastor's total income from the church (including housing allowance) or just from the salary minus housing allowance? Answer: According to Richard R. Hammar, J.D., LL.M., CPA, in his book 2015 Church & Clergy Tax Guide , “Section 107 of the tax code specifies that a minister’s housing allowance (or the annual rental value of a parsonage) is not included in the minister’s gross income for income tax reporting purposes. Therefore, it would appear that the definition of includible compensation for purposes of computing the limit on annual additions to a 403(b) plan would not include the portion of a minister’s housing allowance that is excludable from gross income."  Hammar's Church Law and Tax Report is an excellent resource that many ministries should consider as annual subscribers.

Question: A church helped start a coffee shop which is a separate entity from the church. The primary goal of the coffee shop is to donate the profits to the church. Individuals have donated equipment to the church to establish the business. Can the donors claim charitable contribution deductions for the equipment? Answer:   Donors of non-cash gifts maybe be entitled to write-offs and should refer to IRS Publication 526  for further details regarding possible deductions. The question brings up greater concerns than whether the donors can deduct contributions. For example: Who takes responsibility for any legal compliance or liability concerns? Does the ministry hold a Seller's Permit from the State in which it operates? Is the ministry complying with all IRS and State employment laws for withholding taxes and other regulations? Who is responsible for income taxes on profit, if it happens to fall under the classification as Unrelated Business Income? ...

Question: A pastor is receiving a $20,000 renting (housing) allowance per year, and he is currently paying Self-Employment (SE) tax on it. Is there a way to exclude this compensation from SE income status? Answer: He will not be able to exclude this amount from SE income.  IRS Publication 517  states, "To figure your net earnings from self-employment (on Schedule SE (Form 1040)), include in gross income: 1. ... 4. The fair rental value of a parsonage provided to you (including the cost of utilities that are furnished) and the rental allowance (including an amount for payment of utilities) paid to you." Further, the IRS Minister's Audit Technique Guide offers IRS agents the following guidance: "Computing Self-Employment Tax Salaries and fees for services, including offerings and honoraria received for marriages, funerals, baptisms, etc.. Include gifts which are considered income as discussed under the section on income. Any housing allowance or utility all...

Question: A church member rents the church parsonage for $1,000 per month. But in lieu of paying rent, he performs services for the church. 1.) Should the church report his earnings on a Form W-2? 2.) Is the church's tax-exempt status affected by the renting of the parsonage to a non-staff member? Answer:   The renter must include the $1,000 dollars per month as taxable income, and the church should issue him a Form 1099-MISC if he is an independent contractor or Form W-2 if he is an employee (likely also subject to FICA tax). The major issue is not that the church will lose its overall tax-exempt status, but that it may lose the real estate tax-free status of the parsonage being rented to a non-staff member. The situation here relates to bartering for services actually performed as a part-time employee of the church, so the concern may be unwarranted. For information regarding the effect on tax exempt status follow the link below: http://minist...

Question: Are expenditures related to the sale of a home considered to be qualifying housing allowance disbursements? Answer: The Internal Revenue Code lists only food and servants as specific exceptions to otherwise qualifying housing allowance expenditures. The amounts must be incurred relative to the minister’s principal residence and for costs directly related to providing a home. According to Internal Revenue Regulation §1.107-1, Rental Value of Parsonages, only food and servants are specifically excluded. With every housing allowance the three part test must be considered (see  Ministry CPA Blog   past post  regarding the three-part test). For example, if a minister's fair rental value is less than his actual expenses, he would receive no tax benefit from including expenditures from the sale of his home. This is often the case in the event of the sale of a minister's home.

Question: If a mission board is receiving monies for an ordained minister from his friends and family in order to fund his mission trip, are those contributions deductible for the donors? Are the monies received by the ordained minister excluded from taxable income? Answer: Donor side: The contributions may be deductible for the donors. According to Richard R. Hammar in this book 2015 Church and Clergy Tax Guide, "IF a donor stipulates that a contribution be spent on a designated individual, no deduction ordinarily is allowed unless the church exercises full administrative control over the donated funds to ensure that they are being spent in furtherance of the church's exempt purposes. To illustrate, contributions to a church or missions agency for the benefit of a particular missionary may be tax deductible if the church or missions agency exercises full administrative and accounting control over the contributions and ensures that they are spent in furtherance of the ch...

Question: Can a minister make his contributions pretax through payroll? Answer: No, charitable donations may not be taken as pretax through payroll. According to the IRS Minister Audit Technique Guide , “Ministers' contributions to the church are not deductible as business expenses. ...They may still be deducted as contributions on Schedule A, but they may not be used as a business expense to reduce self-employment tax.”

Q uestion: An associate pastor is treated as an employee of a church that exercises very substantial control over the daily activities of his work. Must he be considered self-employed even though he has no liberty that is typical of an independent contractor?  Answer: Because an associate pastor is a minister of the church, he is considered an employee of the church in every area of employment except for purposes of social security and Medicare (FICA tax), and federal and state withholding. Federal and state withholding is elective by the pastor/employee, but FICA tax is not. The church will report his earnings on Form W-2, but it will not pay the typical employer's portion of FICA. He is responsible for self-employment tax (see Minister Audit Techniques Guide ). For this reason, pastors are called dual status employees. See this post for further clarification:  http://ministrycpa.blogspot.com/2012/10/review-of-form-w-2-reporting-for.html

Question:   A minister who has filed Form 4361 exempting himself from SE Tax is unsure of his eligibility to claim the Form 1040 SE Health Insurance Deduction. Is he able to claim the Line 29 deduction? Answer:   First, whether a minister has filed Form 4361 is irrelevant to eligibility to claim the deduction. The presence or absence of Schedule SE within his tax return for the purposes of calculating self-employment tax is not the determinant of eligibility. Rather Schedule C which reports the income of an independent contractor business is the reference point for determining the amount of a SE health insurance deduction. A minister whose sole income is from his church as a common-law employee may sometimes erroneously report his employment income on Schedule C. He may have been led astray by his congregation's simultaneous error of issuing him Form 1099-MISC which is intended for independent contractors instead of the required Form W-2 for employees. However...

Question: A church group went on a two-week mission trip, and a few of the members stayed an additional two weeks for personal time. Will the members who stayed the two additional weeks be able to deduct expenses from the trip? Answer: IRS Pub 526 covers the topic of Charitable Contributions and, more specifically, travel expenses associated with charitable trips. The publication states that travel expenses will be deductible “if there is no significant element of personal pleasure, recreation, or vacation in the travel.” The publication also states, “The deduction for travel expenses won't be denied simply because you enjoy providing services to the charitable organization. Even if you enjoy the trip, you can take a charitable contribution deduction for your travel expenses if you are on duty in a genuine and substantial sense throughout the trip. However, if you have only nominal duties, or if for significant parts of the trip you don't have any duties, you can't dedu...

Question: A church renting its parsonage to a non-staff member: 1.) Must a special account be established for funds received from rental of a church parsonage? 2.) Can these funds be used for church expenses not related to the property without affecting the church's tax-exempt status? Answer: We will address some significant concerns with the actions of the church; but first, in order to answer the questions above, the subject of Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) must be considered .  According to IRS Publication 598 , " Rents from real property ... are excluded in computing unrelated business taxable income. " The IRS cites exceptions to this rule. One exception is if the rental is debt-financed, the organization may owe UBIT.  Now to answer the questions submitted: 1.) The church does not need to establish a separate account. It will not owe UBIT unless specialized debt-financing is employed which is beyond the scope of this blog post.   2.) T...

Question: If a church solicits a benevolent offering for a specific family is the benevolent gift taxable to the recipient? Are the contributions tax deductible by the donors? For example, a church family experiences an uninsured fire, and fellow members respond in generosity. Answer: Gifts are excludable from taxable income if they are not compensation for services performed. A gift “proceeds from a ‘detached and disinterested generosity,’ ... ‘out of affection, respect, admiration, charity or like impulses’” (Commissioner v. Duberstein, 363 U.S. 278, 285 (1960)). But if the payments received come from a “the constraining force of any moral or legal duty” the income cannot be considered a gift ( Commissioner v. Duberstein, 363 U.S. 278, 285 (1960)) . Therefore truly benevolent gifts are not taxable to the recipient.  The tax deductibility of a gift by a donor to a fund collected on behalf of a family is dependent on the fact and circumstances of each case. The deductib...

Question: A pastor has taken the responsibility of preparing his own Form 1099-MISC reporting his earnings from the church congregation he serves. Is this not the responsibility of the church itself? Answer: First, since a minister is a dual status employee (see  http://ministrycpa.blogspot.com/2012/10/review-of-form-w-2-reporting-for.html  for information concerning dual status), he is an employee in every respect except for withholding, and therefore he should be issued a Form W-2.  Second, the church is responsible for what is reported on the Form W-2 and should be preparing it. The church also has the responsibility of correctly identifying his taxable and nontaxable income. Accordingly the pastor should definitely not prepare his own information return.

Q uestion: A church compensated a guest missionary for leading a summer camp event. Must the church issue a Form 1099-MISC to the missionary, his mission agency, or comply with some other directive? Answer: If the mission agency with which the missionary is associated receives the funds directly from the church on behalf of the missionary, then it is responsible to issue him the appropriate information return (Form W-2 or Form 1099-MISC). In this case the church does not need to issue the missionary an information return. However, if the compensation is paid directly to the missionary and exceeds $600 on an annual base then the church is responsible to issue Form 1099-MISC to the missionary as an independent contractor. Funds disbursed directly from one 501(c)(3) organization (the church) to another 501(c)(3) organization (the mission agency) are not subject to information return filing.  For further information on the subject see -  http://ministrycpa.blogspot.c...

Question: Can a church provide monthly support to a pastor who is no longer actively in the ministry without jeopardizing its tax-exempt status? If so, should a Form-1099 MISC be issued?  Answer: F irst, this action would not jeopardize tax-exemption status. The action of supporting a retired minister is within the boundaries of exempt purposes.  Second, the post retirement support is compensation. The c ompensation should be reported on a Form 1099-MISC unless he is still considered to be an employee who should therefore receive Form W-2. This is the "bad news." However, let's revisit a blog post we provided in 2009.   http://ministrycpa.blogspot.com/2009/10/retired-minister-continued-support-from.html "A retired minister may receive part of his or her pension benefits as a designated parsonage allowance based on past services. Trustees of a minister’s retirement plan may designate a portion of each pension distribution as a parsonage allowance e...

Question:   A church supports a missionary and follows up by issuing Form 1099-MISC reporting Non-Employee Compensation. The missionary was surprised to discover that he owed Social Security and Medicare Tax on this income. He submitted the following questions: 1.) Must I enter this amount on Form 1040, Line 12 as Business Income (I certainly do not consider myself a "business"), or may I report it in Line 21 as Other Income thereby bypassing SECA (Self-Employment) taxation? 2.) If I must add this amount to Line 12, may I then file Schedule C as if I were a business and therefore take business deductions? Answer: Since he is not an employee of the church which provides him partial support then it is correct that the church prepare and submit Form 1099-MISC. Reporting this amount on Line 21 as Other Income does not eliminate the SECA Tax obligation. However, reporting this income on Schedule C does enable the missionary to claim allowable business expenses against the sup...