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Why The IRS Prosecutes Some Pastors and Not Others
Pastor, Church and IRS In the last year, I have written about two pastors that have been prosecuted by the IRS. One pastor, Gregory Louis Clarke, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for assuming that the love offerings he received from his church were gifts to him. The other, pastor Anthony L. Jinwright, was convicted of fraud and tax evasion…
Read Full Article | CommentsHow a Church Debit Card Can Cause Trouble
The convenience of debit cards "It's convenient and much easier than writing a check," were the words one pastor said as he swiped his card at a Christian bookstore. He was buying research material for a sermon series he was doing on marriage and family. He purchased several books and one set of DVD teachings from a popular Christian speaker. …
Read Full Article | CommentsCan a Pastor be Guilty of Fraud for Selling His Own Sermons to a Publisher?
A conflict may exist between you and your church Many pastors are not aware that because of the United States Copyright Act, when a minister preaches a sermon, the sermon belongs to the church. There are two reasons why, as listed below. The United States Copyright Act vests ownership of a sermon with the church because it was created and…
Read Full Article | CommentsPastor's Actions Lands Wife in Jail
A period of discomfort A Charlotte, North Carolina Pastor was convicted of fraud and tax evasion charges because he failed to report reimbursements, seed offerings and his housing allowance as taxable income from 2002 to 2007. In 2001, it was brought to the church's attention that several items were out of compliance and in need of correction. …
Read Full Article | CommentsExcellence in Ministry . . . What is It?
I get the privilege of working with hundreds of churches and ministries every year. With that privilege comes the responsibility of looking into their books, records, policies, and procedures to analyze the good, the bad and the ugly. In my own estimation, the majority of churches fall into the bad and ugly when it comes to their IRS…
Read Full Article | CommentsAre You In Violation of Your Church and Ministry Bylaws?
Follow your bylaws On any given day, within the 50 states, thousands of churches are in court because of disputes between members and leaders. These disputes usually begin with personality differences, but often times end up with both parties having to look at the details of the church's bylaws. Such was the case with a church in Ohio whose…
Read Full Article | CommentsEstablishing a Scholarship Fund for Graduating Seniors
Investing in the Lives of Young Adults In what significant way could your church impact the life of a young man or woman who is graduating from high school-a way that would help solidify the future he or she aspires to have? In 2002, our church in Florida began a scholarship program in order to do that very thing-to help some of the graduating seniors…
Read Full Article | CommentsThe Federal Government Wants to Give Your Church Money
A Law that may actually help your church It seems that all I have been writing about lately is bad news! For a change, there is some good news for churches and ministries! On March 18th, 2010 a law was passed that may make it the best time ever for the church to hire the pastor or another employee. The Hiring Incentives to Restore…
Read Full Article | CommentsA New IRS Law That Makes It Tougher on Churches
Every Church in America is required to issue and file 1099-Misc forms. The new changes to the way 1099 forms are issued will cause churches and ministries to come under intense and burdensome regulations. The 2010 Health Care Act under subsection 9006(b)(1) amended old rules and it now mandates all churches, ministries, non-profit organizations and…
Read Full Article | CommentsA Tale of Two Pastors, Part Two--Church Members and the IRS
Pastor Jones Church and Tom It was a beautiful spring day in mid April. The Easter Sunday service the day before marked the first time that Pastor Jones church had 175 people in attendance. On Monday, he walked into his office to see a note from Tom requesting a meeting with him. Pastor Jones was glad to see Tom's note. He and…
Read Full Article | CommentsA Tale of Two Pastors, Part One--Minister's Taxes
Please join me as I take a few moments to share with you the tale of two men who pastored churches in different states. Though they lived almost 1,000 miles apart, they had very similar circumstances. If it was not for the one thing that distinguished their ministries, one would think they were one and the same person. Pastor Smith Let…
Read Full Article | CommentsWhat Tax Forms Does My Ministry Have to Prepare in January?
January is often times busier than December! January is the time of year that many leaders make an effort to keep a resolution of better managing their ministries. Though it be a noble resolution, January may be the most challenging month of the year to keep such goals. It is the month that the ministry must prepare and file tax and informational…
Read Full Article | CommentsCommon Mistakes Made By Ministers that May Take their Churches Down!, Part 3!
A Three-Part Series on Common Mistakes Made by Ministers! Welcome to part three of our series titled "Common Mistakes Made By Ministers." Congress has tightened its grip on the legislation that governs the way nonprofits, including churches and ministries, handle their finances. This gives us good reason to understand the new rules and regulations…
Read Full Article | CommentsCommon Mistakes Made By Ministers, Part 2!
A Three-Part Series on Common Mistakes Made by Ministers! Last week I wrote on two common mistakes made by ministers. Most ministers fail to set up the housing allowance and self employment tax exemption correctly and in a timely manner. They believe that because they are not drawing a salary at the church, they do not need the allowance…
Read Full Article | CommentsCommon Mistakes Made By Ministers, Part 1!
I am not on salary at my church, should I still set up a housing allowance and opt out of self employment tax? This is the time of year when ministers begin to think about going on salary at the church. They wonder about setting up a housing allowance and opting out of self employment tax. When it comes to tax compliance, the most common mistake I…
Read Full Article | CommentsEcclesiastical Authority of the Pastor!
Protecting Your Ministry is of Absolute Importance! A few days ago I had a conversation with a pastor who was ousted from his own church by the church membership because they did not like the way he was running the church. After 19 years of ministry experience, I have come to learn that when church government empowers the members to vote in and…
Read Full Article | CommentsIRS Loses Against Church!
Church In Minnesota Avoids an Audit ... At Least For Now! In February of 2009, the IRS suffered a setback in its ability to audit churches. That setback came as a result of two federal court rulings which prohibited the IRS from auditing a church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2007, the IRS began an inquiry into the church's records. …
Read Full Article | Comments5 Things to Consider Before the Year Ends!
1. The $250.00 Dollar Rule for Tax Deductions Did you know that there are special rules issued in IRC 170 that specifically delegate how your church or ministry should treat donations that exceed $250.00 in value? One of the greatest blessings to your church are members who tithe and give offerings faithfully. Your church depends…
Read Full Article | CommentsWhy I Started a New Non Profit Organization (CDC)
Outreach! Last week's article, "The Biggest Part of Receiving a Blessing is Being Ready When it Comes!," received quite a response from our readers. Many of you wanted to know why we incorporated our outreach as a separate, nonprofit corporation. Simply put, our old ideas were not working. My wife and I had big dreams for our outreach ministry. We…
Read Full Article | CommentsGet Ready for an IRS Audit!
What are the chances of an IRS audit against my ministry? Good question! Historically, chances have been low...maybe too low. It is a well documented fact that more than 85% of churches have compliance issues. Issues that need resolution. Now that the post-denominational era has been well established, and the majority of church…
Read Full Article | CommentsCompensation for past years!
Last week we briefly covered the issue of compensating pastors for previous, un-paid years of service, and that it is perfectly legal to do so. This stems from a court case involving a church who paid a pastor and his [missionary] son in lump sums for the years of work they performed for the church without pay. The church decided to sell its building…
Read Full Article | CommentsOur church has made a few mistakes. What can we do about them?
What to do about past mistakes! Many churches that we serve have made mistakes in the the past and are wondering what they can do to correct them. These errors range from years worth of unreported love offerings, to missing W-9's and 1099-Misc forms, to lost board meeting minutes. Some mistakes, like misplaced W-9's, can easiliy be fixed, while…
Read Full Article | CommentsCan the church pay for the pastor's cell phone bill?
Most churches pay for the pastor's cell phone bill! Is that really allowed? A common practice that I see going on in many churches today is the church paying the pastor or founder's cell phone bill. Most churches do it by paying the bill directly on behalf of the pastor. Every month the pastor turns in the cell phone bill and the church writes…
Read Full Article | CommentsA Lesson on the Housing Allowance! Part 2
Setting up the Housing Allowance After reading part 1 of this series you may feel a little lost. Although Congress made changes to the Housing Allowance which made it more complicated, it was forced to make these decisions because of a court case that was taking place in the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in California. This case was an appeal…
Read Full Article | CommentsA Lesson on the Housing Allowance! Part One
The Housing Allowance is one of the best tax saving benefits that exists for pastors. Every pastor in America, whether or not he or she is on salary at the church, needs to have a housing allowance designation set up at the church. By having an allowance set up at the church, the minister will be able to save thousands of dollars every year in taxes.…
Read Full Article | CommentsAre You Really Legally Ordained
We, at StartCHURCH, have always encouraged every church in America to have its own licensing and ordination program. Whether your church has been around for many years or is a brand new start up, we believe that part of the stewardship of running a ministry is the proper (legal) ordination of those whom the Lord sets apart for the ministry. Because…
Read Full Article | CommentsHow to Decrease the Chance of a Personal Lawsuit Against the Pastor and Board!
We are living in a time and era when lawsuits against churches have increased over 2,000 percent since 1992. Litigating attorneys have found it convenient to sue churches because most churches operate under a great deal of trust. We all know that the times have changed, and it is prudent to make changes in our church operating procedures…
Read Full Article | CommentsTax Court Rules a Pastor's Pass Through Gifts as Taxable Income!
The IRS told a pastor that the love offerings given to him by members of the church were taxable. In disagreement, he sued the IRS in tax court stating that they were voluntary gifts given by members of the church. The tax court disputed with the pastor stating that the members were motivated to give the love offerings because they believed him to…
Read Full Article | CommentsPastor Almost Loses Church
A Washington court ruled that a church's board members were not board members because the church did not follow state law in selecting them. Moreover, because the church never officially adopted bylaws in their organizational board meeting (or at any other board meeting), the procedures followed in the church's bylaws were trumped by state law. Though…
Read Full Article | CommentsIRS Watches Use of Church Debit Cards
Many churches allow the pastor to use the church debit card for necessary church expenses such as a car allowance, travel costs, lunches and many other things. Under the law, most of these allowances are illegal and can result in fines and back taxes for the minister. Improper use of the church debit card is of high priority on the IRS watch list,…
Read Full Article | CommentsAlabama Pastor Goes to Prison for Love Offerings!
A pastor in Alabama, Gregory Louis Clarke, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for assuming that the love offerings he received from his church were gifts to him. Over a period of several years he received many love offerings from the church for purposes such as car allowances, appreciation gifts and other offerings that he did not consider as normal…
Read Full Article | CommentsCan a Church Get in Trouble for Not Properly Handling Designated Offerings?
Often times, churches and ministries receive designated offerings for building campaigns, outreach programs or benevolence. You may be surprised to know that a large number of churches have trouble properly handling designated offerings. The main reason for this problem is that not many know what the proper procedure is for handling designated…
Read Full Article | CommentsWhat is Taxable Income for a Minister?
Many churches pay certain allowances as a benefit to their minister, such as a car allowance, light bills, water bills and much more. Under the law, most of these allowances are illegal and can result in fines and back taxes for the minister.When a church pays the minister allowances it does so thinking that it is allowed to pay for these items…
Read Full Article | CommentsCan Pastors Deduct Tithes as Business Expenses?
Pastors all across America work hard and are underpaid. Statistics show that the average pastor is severely underpaid; more than in any other profession. Many pastors have chosen not to opt out of having to pay social security taxes. Social security tax (otherwise known as self employment tax) is 15.3% of the pastor's income. This means that a pastor…
Read Full Article | CommentsAll Ministers on Salary at Church Must Get a W-2 by January 31st
Should the Pastor Get a W-2 or 1099-Misc? Some churches give their pastors and other ministers a 1099-Misc each year for their taxes. This is not correct. A pastor must be given a W-2. Under the latest treasury regulations, a pastor is described as an employee for federal income tax purposes but as self employed for social security tax purposes. …
Read Full Article | CommentsCreating a W-2 is not an option!
Under the law, a church must issue a W-2 form to the pastor and any other employee of the church. A 1099-Misc is not the legal way to do it. Most churches do not issue a W-2 and instead give a 1099-misc to the pastor. This is not correct and greatly increases the chances of an audit of the pastor's tax return and also increases the chances of the church…
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