I guess the life of a priest is still pretty mysterious in some ways to many people. Quite often at movie theaters, in restaurants, on the beach, or in a pub, people will ask, "Are priests allowed to do that?"One often misunderstood area is in the paying of taxes. Recently a have changed something about my taxes and was explaining it to a friend. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "Priests pay taxes?" This does not happen that often, maybe because I do not talk about taxes all that much, but it happens often enough that I though I would take a pole. In the right hand column you will see a question concerning priests and taxes. You have until Friday morning at 7:00 AM to cast a vote for what has always been your particular perception of the type of taxes that your priest pays. Results will appear on Friday.
9 comments:
i know which one i voted for... grumble grumble grumble
Oh, and is this by percentage?
My first reaction was... WHAT?????
I _would_ have thought that because a Church is non-profit, there would be no taxes involved...however, due to the blog reading today... I've changed my answer.
My next reaction is... That's just WRONG!!!!
Good point Fr.
It is by percentage.
Thanks!
Our dual status makes it difficult to make a true comparison. Since we generally fall within the 15% bracket, even with the FICA/self employment tax, we may pay less tax than those who fall within higher brackets. I suspect that few would understand the dual status issue, aside from preparers who are know how to compute the taxes. I suspect that most people don't know that we have to claim the parsonage as income, and have to pay tax on that.
Are priests still considered "independent contractors" and thus required to pay the self-employment tax? When I was first told that by a priest friend, well, I couldn't even begin to conjure a list of thoughts that went through my head. With any luck that will change sometime soon if it hasn't already.
"Are priests allowed to do that?"
It's kinda like when you're a kid and you're surprised when you see your school teacher in the supermarket. You think that they just go into a cryogenic state at 3:00 PM. I think that myth follows you into adulthood when it comes to priests. You guys will always have that air of mystery.
As an accountant and one who donates my time and talent to my parish to oversee the bookkeeper, I think it is horrible that priests are considered independent contractors and must pay self employment taxes. Since they can only work for the diocese that they belong to, I think that the status should be changed and that the parish should pay their share of employment taxes for the priest. After all, if we didn't have a priest, we wouldn't have a parish.
Self-employment tax? That's INSANE! What kind of country do we live in?
I guessed that you would have to pay more because you probably do not have write offs (no kids, most often no side business ,probably no mortgage)
I am glad you posted this because I do not think I ever really THOUGHT about this.
I just read the above post from the accountant -- independent contractor??!!!!
Oy Vey!
Post a Comment