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Minister and self-employment taxes

I am a minister.  The church contributes half of the self-employment taxes as a part of my salary, which leaves the other half as my responsibility.  How do I calculate that number so I can either save it for the year or add it to my withholding?

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1 Best answer

Accepted Solutions
KatherineS63
Employee Tax Expert

Minister and self-employment taxes

 

First I would ask can you have your church withhold taxes for you with each payroll?  If so, you would fill out a W4 for your federal taxes and a similar form for the state you live in.  

If they do not do payroll this way, then you would want to look at your last year's tax return.  Are there any estimated tax vouchers for federal and state?  These are usually created by the software and part of your PDF or paper copy.  You can use these to make estimated tax payments to the federal government and state.

I like to describe it this way:  If your employer withholds taxes for you, they keep that money and send it to the federal and state government quarterly.  If you have estimated tax vouchers, you would do this yourself.  Quarterly tax payments are due April 15th, June 15th, Sept 15th and Jan 15.  You can make these payments online via irs.gov/payments or you can mail them in.  For the State estimates, you can usually make these online a similar way as federal or you can mail them in.

If you do not have vouchers, then you would want to do a tax estimator.  For the federal government, you can use these sites:

IRS Tax estimator This is a tax estimator that will time out so enter and print findings all at one sitting.

Tax caster  This is another tax estimator that will time out so enter and print findings all at one sitting.

 

This will help you see how much you will owe and you can divide that amount by the number of quarterly payments you need to make and send that in as you would a voucher.

 

For state, it is hard to find an estimator but you could figure the tax rate for the state and do the estimate yourself.  You could also call your state and ask them how they would suggest you figure out an estimate.

 

I hope you have found this information helpful.

Katie S

KatherineS63

View solution in original post

3 Replies
KatherineS63
Employee Tax Expert

Minister and self-employment taxes

 

First I would ask can you have your church withhold taxes for you with each payroll?  If so, you would fill out a W4 for your federal taxes and a similar form for the state you live in.  

If they do not do payroll this way, then you would want to look at your last year's tax return.  Are there any estimated tax vouchers for federal and state?  These are usually created by the software and part of your PDF or paper copy.  You can use these to make estimated tax payments to the federal government and state.

I like to describe it this way:  If your employer withholds taxes for you, they keep that money and send it to the federal and state government quarterly.  If you have estimated tax vouchers, you would do this yourself.  Quarterly tax payments are due April 15th, June 15th, Sept 15th and Jan 15.  You can make these payments online via irs.gov/payments or you can mail them in.  For the State estimates, you can usually make these online a similar way as federal or you can mail them in.

If you do not have vouchers, then you would want to do a tax estimator.  For the federal government, you can use these sites:

IRS Tax estimator This is a tax estimator that will time out so enter and print findings all at one sitting.

Tax caster  This is another tax estimator that will time out so enter and print findings all at one sitting.

 

This will help you see how much you will owe and you can divide that amount by the number of quarterly payments you need to make and send that in as you would a voucher.

 

For state, it is hard to find an estimator but you could figure the tax rate for the state and do the estimate yourself.  You could also call your state and ask them how they would suggest you figure out an estimate.

 

I hope you have found this information helpful.

Katie S

KatherineS63

Minister and self-employment taxes

Thanks!  I live in Texas, so state taxes don't apply.

KatherineS63
Employee Tax Expert

Minister and self-employment taxes

Much easier then.  Thanks again for asking the question!!

KatherineS63

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