Housing Allowance

There are no standard amounts for housing allowance as a whole. The IRS guidelines say to use the fair market rental value of your housing and housing expenses (i.e., gas, electric, cable, etc.). There are housing allowance worksheets to help pastors figure out the...

Question: Can all church employees qualify for housing allowance? Answer: No. Section 107 of the Internal Revenue Code allows only a “minister of the gospel” to have a housing allowance. Thus, only taxpayers who are serving as clergy under IRS rules for tax purposes are eligible for...

If you are new to Ministry, it’s possible that you’ve never heard of self-employment taxes before, much less paid them. One common mistake for new Ministers is filing the 1040 without taking self-employment taxes into account, which can result in a big bill later when...

For clergy who are living permanently in a nursing home, they can use some (but not all) of their nursing home expenses for the housing allowance. For example, the rental cost of their room and the utilities are eligible for the housing allowance. The food...

Can you modify housing allowance mid-year? The Housing Allowance can be amended (changed) as often as needed.  We always recommend overestimating when designating a housing allowance.  The goal would be to have enough of a buffer in the designation to end up with unused housing...

As tax season comes to a close and your ministerial staff starts getting their returns, they might want to re-think their housing allowance for 2022. Here’s a quick “how-to” to simplify that process! To satisfy IRS requirements, churches are responsible for 3 key things: Determine Eligibility. Ordained, licensed,...

After reading about the Housing or Parsonage / Manse Allowance, you may be thinking, “if I designate my entire salary as a Housing Allowance, would it all be excluded from federal income taxes?” IRS has already addressed this by limiting the Allowance to the least...