Religious employment case, W-2: If I have a Religious Visa 'R1', and I'm working like a Worship Leader 25h. I must to be a clergy or minister, because my visa right?

milarjo — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 06:38:18 GMT

Not necessarily. Whatever you or your employer told the...

Opus 17 — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 06:38:20 GMT

Not necessarily. Whatever you or your employer told the state department to get the Visa, your tax treatment depends on the work you actually do. The IRS looks at 4 factors, persons in religious employment positions

•administer the sacraments,
•are considered to be a religious leader by your church,

•conduct worship services, and

•have management responsibility in the control, conduct, or maintenance of your congregation.

You don't have to do all 4 things all the time or to the same degree, especially if you are a junior pastor on staff. But an ordained priest who is hired as a custodian is not treated as a religious worker for tax purposes even though they are ordained.

Generally if you are religious worker you are treated as self-employed for tax purposes even though you are a common law employee for most other purposes. You will typically receive a W-2 with boxes 3-6 blank. Then check the box for "religious employment" under Special Circumstances and answer the rest of the questions. If you have figures in your W-2 boxes 3-6, then the church is not paying you as a religious worker and turbotax will not calculate your tax properly.

It appears that R visa holders are not subject to any special tax treatment so you owe income tax and self-employment tax according to the rules that apply to US citizens who are clergy.

This is a good resource http://www.ecfa.org/PDF/2016-Preparing-Tax-Returns-For-Clergy.pdf

And this https://www.irs.gov/publications/p517/

R1 Visa Employee

KnittinKat — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 22:19:42 GMT

What deductions do I make from their payroll check? I did the check as I would for a regular employee but am not sure if I was supposed to deduct social security and medicare deductions since there are here on a visa. I also deducted for the state PIT and SDI (State disability Insurance). Was that wrong too?

topic Religious employment case, W-2: If I have a Religious Visa 'R1', and I'm working like a Worship Leader 25h. I must to be a clergy or minister, because my visa right? in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Religious employment case, W-2: If I have a Religious Visa 'R1', and I'm working like a Worship Leader 25h. I must to be a clergy or minister, because my visa right?

Not necessarily. Whatever you or your employer told the...

R1 Visa Employee