topic I work full time but am a pastor of a church I don't receive a salary. Should I write off my expenses as self employed in Deductions & credits

I work full time but am a pastor of a church I don't receive a salary. Should I write off my expenses as self employed

crajohn1 — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 22:31:16 GMT

If I am understanding correctly, you have a full time job...

Phillip1 — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 22:31:17 GMT

If I am understanding correctly, you have a full time job and you serve as an unpaid pastor for your church.

If this is correct, you cannot deduct your pastor related expenses as self-employment expenses. You may be able to deduct some of your pastor related expenses (like things you buy for the church) as charitable donations (assuming the church has a 501(c)(3) designation) and you could take the charitable mileage deduction for miles you drive for church duties.

If, however, being a pastor is your full time job and you make your income through the church, you could deduct you pastor expenses as self-employment expenses.

Whether or not you earn income as a pastor is the main factor that determines whether you can deduct expenses as self-employment expenses or take some of the expenses as charitable donations.

If you are not paid by the church, and want to take a ded...

Opus 17 — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 22:31:18 GMT

If you are not paid by the church, and want to take a deduction for charity donations for mileage and other out of pocket expenses, you need to make sure that you get a receipt or statement signed by someone else with authority to sign a donation receipt, such as the treasurer or the chairperson of the board of elders. You don't want to be signing your own receipts as pastor, that could look like self-dealing if you are audited.