Why sign in to the Community?

  • Submit a question
  • Check your notifications
Sign in to the Community or Sign in to TurboTax and start working on your taxes
Returning Member
posted May 31, 2019 6:37:36 PM

I have a paying job and am also a Pastor with no regular pay but receiving a housing allowance, so how do I report and where on my turbo tax home & business do I put it?

Have an Ebay store business and am a Pastor. The church is to small to support me at this time but gives an amount towards are rent. Don't know where to show it on my Home & Business turbotax (where to add) and if it is considered taxable income.

0 1 1601
1 Replies
Level 15
May 31, 2019 6:37:38 PM

The housing allowance is exempt from income tax but it is still subject to self-employment tax, about 15%.

Normally as a common law employee, you would receive a W-2 even though the church does not withhold taxes.  However, if your only compensation is a housing allowance, you probably won't get a W-2, and even if you did, you can't e-file if your W-2 has zero for the box 1 wages.

So you will need to report the income as if you were self-employed, on a schedule C.  Use job code 813000, this will cause turbotax to ask you about the value of your housing allowance.  You won't have a 1099-MISC for taxable income, but you might have other cash income not on a 1099-MISC to report, if you got paid extra for weddings, funerals, etc.  Turbotax will create a schedule SE for the self-employment tax.

Because your pastor's compensation is exempt from income tax, you can't deduct any work-related expenses like mileage or supplies, due to the "Deason rule".

See this for more. http://www.ecfa.org/PDF/2016-Preparing-Tax-Returns-For-Clergy.pdf


https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3850695