Thank you again for your reply, which I have marked as "Best Answer"!
I especially appreciated your clarification language in the last sentence: " ...even though the pension is designated as a housing allowance, it is not part of your compensation for services performed."
My spouse is the pastor, I had a 40yr finance career and I have done my own taxes since I was a teenager, maybe 30+ years total with Turbotax. The Clergy tax return, and Deason Rule in particular, have generated new questions every year for 20 years.
The key question this year is: Should the Pension Housing allowance to be COMBINED with any income from Post Retirement Clergy activities?
I do like the position that the previous Pension related employment and current Clergy activities stand alone. That makes logical sense to me.
I AM going to run this by my local Clergy Tax specialist who I haven't been able to speak with yet. I would appreciate any additional clarification from your resources at Intuit.
The planning is to maximize pre-12/31/23 Traditional IRA to Roth IRA shifts that will utilize 100% of a $7,500 EV Tax Credit available to us this year, and at the same time minimize any remaining tax liability.
Thanks again for your help.
