Churches will often "gross up" the pastor's wages to account for the self employment tax. For example, if the goal is to pay the equivalent of a lay wage of $30,000, then for a lay person, the church pays a gross salary of $30,000 plus the church pays $2295 in employment tax, an additional $2295 is deducted from the employee's wage, and the employee nets $27705 before income tax. To gross up a clergy person's wage, the church would pay $32,295, so that after paying the 15.3% SE tax, the clergy person ends up with the same $27,705 as a lay person making the same salary.
