Thank you for responding to both my questions. I'm going to check out your other videos and watch the whole ad!! It has taken me a while to find someone who actually is talking about what I need to understand, AND RESPONDS!! WOW!
If you are not ordained, but still meet all other qualfications as a minister/pasotr at a chruch, can you still take the housing allowance? The definition for a minster says liscensed, ordained, or comissioned. Would you fall into the "comissioned" category? Would you be a "minister of the gospel?"
Yes, commissioned would count. The important thing is there needs to be some official way to declare a pastor. Most denominations will have some kind of credentialing process that culminates in a license, ordaining, or commissioning. For independent churches, they need to adopt some kind of process that identifies people as clergy. Where you work then needs to then recognize the person as being a valid clergy. For example, if someone is commissioned as a pastor in an independent church, they wouldn't be considered a clergy person while serving a Methodist church without some official action by the denomination.
I don't think you need a special tax program. I have a friend who uses Quicken to manage their household budget. My friend just has their budget setup in a way that includes categories that better help them track. Example: Housing Expenses, Charitable Contributions, and the like.
I am looking at purchasing a house for my primary resident. It looks like the down payment could be written off in the first year, could that offset a distribution from an IRA?
Correct. The limit would be the "Fair Rental Value of the house furnished and including utilities". The cap is the amount designated for housing, the actual expenses, and that Fair Rental Value. So, if the down payment is too large, it may not all be written off. This article may help: www.clergyfinancial.com/qualify-housing-expenses/
In your State, there is a Board of Accountancy. Their website will list the CPA's in your area. You need to ask a CPA how many clergy clients they have and maybe even quiz them to see what they know about how housing expenses are treated for tax purposes.
Thank you for responding to both my questions. I'm going to check out your other videos and watch the whole ad!! It has taken me a while to find someone who actually is talking about what I need to understand, AND RESPONDS!! WOW!
Awesome! Thank you!
The video is so helpful! And the enclosed resources are also so valuable! Thank you so much!
You are welcome!
If you are not ordained, but still meet all other qualfications as a minister/pasotr at a chruch, can you still take the housing allowance? The definition for a minster says liscensed, ordained, or comissioned. Would you fall into the "comissioned" category? Would you be a "minister of the gospel?"
Yes, commissioned would count. The important thing is there needs to be some official way to declare a pastor. Most denominations will have some kind of credentialing process that culminates in a license, ordaining, or commissioning. For independent churches, they need to adopt some kind of process that identifies people as clergy. Where you work then needs to then recognize the person as being a valid clergy. For example, if someone is commissioned as a pastor in an independent church, they wouldn't be considered a clergy person while serving a Methodist church without some official action by the denomination.
Just watchedd until the end! Thank you! Can you tell me what kind of tax computer program to organize this stuff?
I don't think you need a special tax program. I have a friend who uses Quicken to manage their household budget. My friend just has their budget setup in a way that includes categories that better help them track. Example: Housing Expenses, Charitable Contributions, and the like.
I am looking at purchasing a house for my primary resident. It looks like the down payment could be written off in the first year, could that offset a distribution from an IRA?
Correct. The limit would be the "Fair Rental Value of the house furnished and including utilities". The cap is the amount designated for housing, the actual expenses, and that Fair Rental Value. So, if the down payment is too large, it may not all be written off. This article may help: www.clergyfinancial.com/qualify-housing-expenses/
do you have any cpa you can recommend or where I could find a knowledgable.
In your State, there is a Board of Accountancy. Their website will list the CPA's in your area. You need to ask a CPA how many clergy clients they have and maybe even quiz them to see what they know about how housing expenses are treated for tax purposes.