For Clergy, Ministry Staff & Churches

Ministry is hard enough. The taxes shouldn't be the part that keeps you up.

The IRS wrote a separate rulebook for clergy — dual status, housing allowance, self-employment tax on ministry income — and most software ignores half of it. I've filed this return as my own.

I'm a pastor or missionary I'm a church or treasurer

Two doors

Which one sounds like you?

Clergy tax has two sides — the pastor's own return, and the church as an organization. They're different jobs. Start wherever you are.

The pastor's return

I carry ministry and money at the same time

You've got a W-2 with no withholding, a housing allowance, quarterly estimates nobody warned you about, and maybe a side income on top. You want someone who already understands all of it.

See the Ministry Rate The church's side

I keep the church's books — or I inherited the job

You're the treasurer, board member, or elder trying to do right by your pastor and stay clean with the IRS. Start with the free Housing Allowance Kit, built for exactly this.

Get the free kit

For Pastors & Missionaries

The Ministry Rate

A subscription built around how clergy taxes actually work — not a standard return with a clergy checkbox bolted on. Priced below market, on purpose.

See pricing & join

Founder rate held intentionally low. Ministry is hard work; margin matters.

Your 1040 with full dual-status treatment — employee for income tax, self-employed for Social Security
Housing allowance done right: designation, substantiation, and the lowest-of-three exclusion
Self-employment tax strategy, including an honest look at the Form 4361 question
Quarterly estimates calculated and reminded, so April holds no surprises
Ministry Schedule C — honoraria, weddings, funerals — coordinated with your W-2
Bivocational income handled as one picture, not three loose pieces
Missionary returns: foreign income exclusion, the SE-tax trap, and state residency
A real Enrolled Agent who answers year-round and handles the IRS letter for you

For Churches & Treasurers

Your board probably meets this fall.

If the housing allowance isn't in those minutes — in writing, before the pastor is paid — it isn't a housing allowance. It's the most common clergy tax mistake, and the one that can't be fixed in April. This free kit gets your board through it in about ten minutes.

For Treasurers, Board Members & Pastors

We also do the church's books.

Fund accounting, staff payroll, giving statements, monthly reconciliation — every church's setup looks a little different depending on size and complexity. That's not a subscription tier we can price off a chart; it's a conversation first, a quote second.

Email Jerry directly Book a time to talk

Drop a note to jerry@commontaxpro.com with your church's size and situation, and let's set up a time to talk through what it'd take.

Monthly bookkeeping and bank/card reconciliation
Fund and class tracking, so restricted gifts stay restricted
Donor and giving-statement tracking
Staff payroll coordination, including clergy dual-status withholding
Chart of accounts built for how your church actually operates
Scoped and quoted individually — small church plants to multi-staff churches

Start here

The Housing Allowance, Explained for Church Boards

The plain-English background your board needs to vote well — what it is, why it costs the church nothing, when it has to happen, and the six mistakes that quietly cost pastors money.

PDF · READ FIRST

The forms

Board Resolution Templates

Ready-to-use resolutions — fill in the blanks, sign, keep. Two versions so you can match your church; see the chooser just below.

WORD · FORMAL & PLAIN

The math

Housing Allowance Worksheet

Enter your numbers; it calculates all three IRS limits and tells you which one controls. One column for your fall estimate, one for January's real figures.

EXCEL

For the pastor

When the board's done, the return still has to be filed right

Dual status, quarterly estimates, the self-employment side — that's what the Ministry Rate is built for.

SEE THE MINISTRY RATE →

Two versions of the forms. Grab the one that sounds like your church.

Formal

If your church keeps official minutes, has a board or session with named officers, and is used to "whereas" and "be it resolved." Your denomination may expect this style.

Plain-language

If your leadership is a few people who talk it through and write it down. Same legal standard, none of the Robert's Rules. If you're not sure, this is the one.

Both meet the exact same IRS requirements. The only difference is the language.

Get the whole kit — free.

One email, all three files, plus a note in November so next year's board meeting never sneaks up on you. Built to be forwarded to the pastor or treasurer who needs it.

"I don't process returns. I pastor the work — which mostly means I'm not going to flinch, and I'm not going to make you explain yourself twice."

Jerry Funston, EA Enrolled Agent · Galena, Ohio · serving clients nationally

Jerry has been in ministry since 1993 — twenty-five years of it full-time, and bivocational himself since 2022 — and he still pastors a congregation on Sunday evenings. He knows the housing allowance from the inside of a board meeting, and the dual-status return from the inside of his own 1040. Common Tax offers a Ministry Rate for clergy, ministry staff, and missionaries, priced below market on purpose.