The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of religiously-affiliated hospitals and healthcare organizations in holding that a pension plan need not be established by a church in order to qualify for ERISA’s church plan exemption. Petitioners are religiously affiliated non-profit healthcare organizations appealing decisions by the Third, Seventh, and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal that a church must establish an ERISA-exempt church plan. Respondents are current and former employees of these organizations.
religious organization
Parsonage: Are Clerics Employees or Self-Employed?
By Jacob I. Friedman on
Parsonage is a seemingly innocuous five line tax benefit in the Code. This “innocent” provision of the Code, Section 107, appears to have befuddled many ministers and their professional advisors, however.
About 90 years ago, Congress promulgated an exclusion from income for the rental value of the housing provided to a “minister of the gospel,” which includes priests, rabbis, imams and any other duly ordained, commissioned or licensed member of the clergy. Alternatively, the minister can exclude the rental allowance paid as part of compensation, to the extent actually used as rent or other costs of home ownership. Since 2002, the allowance is capped at fair rental value, including furnishings and appurtenances (such as a garage), plus the cost of utilities.
While there are IRS publications that explain the tax nuances of parsonage (e.g., Publication 517 and The Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations), the unusual tax treatment of ministers can still be very confusing.