Ministry & Church Consulting Clergytech

Third, churches often issue housing allowances to people who don’t meet the IRS’s definition of ministers. Housing allowances are for ordained, commissioned, or licensed ministers. As such, these employees church payroll must perform “sacerdotal functions.” You know, pastor stuff—weddings, funerals, sacraments, and the like. You withhold income tax and FICA for your church’s employees who are not ministers.

The go-to software for religious orgs

Whether you’re new to payroll systems, want to upgrade your existing one, or need help with local tax payments, the solutions in this article can help. Users can set tax exemptions for exempt employees, such as ministers. The software integrates with the nonprofit accounting software program Aplos, which tracks payroll automatically for nonprofit organizations and churches. The platform is a great choice for modern churches because it enables you to set your employees up with benefits and manage paid time off. And the solution also creates an online database for your staff’s pay stubs, so they can check them out using mobile devices. The platform simplifies the complex tax scenarios often faced by churches.

MinistryWorks: Best church-specific software

If you are looking for software that was specifically designed with the needs of churches in mind, then consider MinistryWorks. As the name suggests, MinistryWorks caters to churches, religious schools and other spiritual organizations that are looking for software that accounts for ministry-specific tax laws. MinistryWorks covers payroll, tax filing, time and attendance, onboarding, benefits management and more. We gave priority to those that offer automatic payroll runs and multiple payment options with at least a two-day direct deposit option.

Who should be included on the church’s payroll?

All churches need to withhold income taxes from their employees’ wages. Clergy employees are different because of their dual tax status (SECA https://www.bookstime.com/ vs. FICA taxes). Robie Ann Ferrer is an HR expert writer at Fit Small Business, focusing on small business HR and payroll software content.

Church Accounting Package

Even if the FLSA applies under the individual coverage test, employees may be exempt because the law excludes most executive, administration, and professional workers. If, for instance, you have an HR manager at your church who directs two HR staffers, the manager may be exempt. The Department of Labor offers a lot of guidance on these exemptions that can be helpful in helping you understand which employees the FLSA covers. When it comes to a minister’s gross income, it generally doesn’t include the fair rental value of their home that’s provided as part of the compensation for services performed as a minister. Ministers can also exclude a housing allowance as long as they’re using it to pay rent, mortgage payments, utilities, or other related expenses. Much like QuickBooks and Gusto, this software supports unlimited and automatic pay runs.

Key Features

You will receive an email message with instructions on how to reset your password. Tax penalty protection means we’ll resolve filing errors and pay penalties up to $25,000. Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side. PowerChurch software integrates with several apps, including Vanco, Dynamic Systems, Avery, SimpleTexting, Clockify, and Constant Contact.

• They will represent you to the IRS and shoulder any fines if they make any errors.
• It streamlines payroll management, providing a cost-effective and reliable solution for handling payroll processes efficiently.
• As an employer, you’re on the hook for half of FICA (7.65% of each employee’s income).
• A comprehensive church payroll service like Rippling allows managers to focus on running the ministry and not spend hours on repetitive HR administrative processes.

Church Management Solution

Employee portal

• It offers a single affordable pricing plan as well as a free trial for new customers, which also includes white glove set-up services.
• Before a human answers, there are no endless runarounds with prerecorded messages and requests to push different buttons.
• Zoho’s paid plans range from $15 to $240 per month (if billed annually) and add features such as workflow automation, project-expense tracking, tax figuring, in-depth analytics and customizable reports.
• With these features, you get access to benefits management, including open enrollment, talent management tracking, and performance review tracking and reporting.