I am a retired minister and do not receive a w-2 form. I do receive a 1099-R but do not know how to enter housing allowance expenditures which has effect on my total 1099-R distribution.
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You need to designate a portion of your retirement for housing allowance, just as you did when you were an active minister. Revenue Ruling 75-22 allows denominational pension boards to designate a housing allowance for retired ministers receiving income. Retired ministers may ask their board to designate up to 100% of their retirement income as housing, but retired ministers must continue to follow the housing allowance rules and limits as when they were active.
Once you reduce the pension amount by the housing allowance, only the difference will be taxable. If your 1099-R reports only the pension and excludes the housing allowance, all you need to do is enter your 1099-R and you're finished.
However, if the pension does include the housing allowance, the entry for your housing allowance depends on if box 2b (taxable amount not determined) on your 1099-R is checked or not. The taxable difference of the pension and excluded housing allowance will have to be manually entered in the 1099-R interview questions.
You need to designate a portion of your retirement for housing allowance, just as you did when you were an active minister. Revenue Ruling 75-22 allows denominational pension boards to designate a housing allowance for retired ministers receiving income. Retired ministers may ask their board to designate up to 100% of their retirement income as housing, but retired ministers must continue to follow the housing allowance rules and limits as when they were active.
Once you reduce the pension amount by the housing allowance, only the difference will be taxable. If your 1099-R reports only the pension and excludes the housing allowance, all you need to do is enter your 1099-R and you're finished.
However, if the pension does include the housing allowance, the entry for your housing allowance depends on if box 2b (taxable amount not determined) on your 1099-R is checked or not. The taxable difference of the pension and excluded housing allowance will have to be manually entered in the 1099-R interview questions.
@KittyM Regarding "Revenue Ruling 75-22" and Minister's Housing Allowance in retirement: I am currently invested in a 403B9 with my denomination's church retirement plan with Guidestone. If I convert the 403B9 to another retirement plan, such as a 403B7 Church Plan with a commercial vendor, does the housing allowance tax free retirement income benefit still apply? Or does it only apply to the originating plan that designated the housing allowance?
This answer looks like what I have done on other systems, but the path specified for a 2018 return does not work for a 2019 return. Can't find the titles specified, they are a little different and can't find the two forms mentioned (1099-A, 1099-C).
I couldn't get the first solution to work, but going in to add it as a misc other income as if 2b wasn't checked finally did the trick, and the 1040 looks correct now when I look at it in forms. Wish Turbo Tax would just ask the question somewhere if a person is retired clergy, like they ask for other income.
This method does exclude retirement income used as minister's housing from 1040; however, how do you add it back in for Schedule SE? It does not show up when I use this method.
Generally retirement pension income from a retired Clergy member is not subject to Self-Employment tax. If however you still perform weddings, baptisms, or other events for paid compensation, then these services become earned income and are subject to income taxes as well as SE taxes.
I receive a Housing Allowance as a Ret
The housing allowance would not be subject to self-employment tax if it was pension income.
We have used this method for many years and it worked fine. This year we are getting a review error to enter information for the simplified method of calculating the taxable amount. We have selected "general method", but still has review error for the simplified method and won't let us file without correcting. What do we need to do to fix this?
Please review this IRS link that explains the difference between using the simplified method vs general. If you select that your annuity payment is from a Qualified Plan, you must use the simplified method per IRS rules. Recheck your entries to determine if you may have indicated that this annuity distribution is from a qualified plan.
I have followed these instructions.
Box 2b is checked.
My allowable expenses result in a zero balance.
Does this method then also exclude this income from SE tax computation?
It is my understanding that retirement income for a minister does not make its way to SE. This would be true even if you don't spend your entire housing allowance for housing expenses. If you don't spend it all, the remainder is taxable for income tax purposes but not for schedule SE. It is not earned income. Someone above mentioned that if you are still doing things like funerals and weddings, these items would be taxable for both income tax and schedule SE.
Thank you!
This is helpful confirmation.
I did this for 2019 and it worked fine. I was on my way to doing it for 2020 and something went wrong. I followed the instructions and was able to enter the housing as a negative. It did not appear to work so I tried it again it was more than successful. It took the allowance off both in the W-2 wages (of which I had none) and in the "Other Income or loss" (where it did it last year). I went back and removed the item (only appeared to be one). That got rid of the entry under "Other Income or Loss" but not the one under W-2 income. I am pretty sure that is going to result in the return being screwed up even though the total income might in fact be correct. Trying everything I can see, I can't locate the amount anywhere in the W-2 section. The way my return came out last year appeared to be like what I had done in the past. I still haven't figured out how to see a preliminary 1040 since I still have some brokerage stuff to enter.
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