@Nwasher1 wrote:
My ordained clergy husband was employed by 2 501c Ministries in 2020 and both gave us a housing allowance for clergy employment. One sent us a W-2 with Salary in box 1 and housing in box 14. The other ministry sent us a W-2 with box 1 blank and housing allowance in box 14. The problem is we can't efile now cause the box 1 is blank on that w-2. Was that ministry required to file a w-2 since no salary? Could we ask them to somehow amend so we don't have a w-2 and report the housing ourselves? My husband also has a form 4361 for clergy exemption on clergy employment for SE taxes. We only use the lesser of Fair Market Value or what we actually spent on housing expense. But we always estimate high then what we don't use goes back into our income. Just don't know how to efile now so any advice would be helpful! Thank you!
Enter the W-2 with wages first. Check the box for "religious wages" on the page of special circumstances. Enter the combined total of both housing allowances there. (Box 14 is not enough. Turbotax won't pick it up automatically from there.) Then enter your qualified housing expenses, and check the box for your exemption due to form 4361. You will pay income tax on the wages plus any housing allowance that is more than your qualified expenses, and you won't pay SE tax. You don't need to enter the other W-2 if it only has a housing allowance.
