religious income

[DavidL4]

I am a member of a paid choir for a religious organization, we get W2, with no Federal tax withheld, State, Medicare, and Social Security are withheld. Am i considered a religious employee 

[Opus 17]

No. Your church is paying you incorrectly.  You should talk to the treasurer or financial person.  You should be subject to all the normal tax withholdings for a lay employee.

The treatment of a person's wages as "religious wages" (which includes no withholding for social security and medicare tax) requires that you 

1. perform ministerial duties including administering the sacraments of your denomination,

2. conduct worship services, and 

3. control, conduct and maintain the religious organization (as the head minister or as part of a team).

An ordained minister who is employed to teach Sunday school or perform building maintenance is not a religious worker in that capacity, even though they are ordained.  

If you sing in the choir and are not an ordained minister, and do not perform sacraments or conduct worship services, you are not religious workers even though you work for a church.  You are a regular employee and are subject to income tax withholding as well as withholding of social security and medicare taxes.

You should contact your church and ask for a corrected W-2.  If they refuse, you can file tax forms with your return to pay the 7.65% employee half of social security and medicare that should have been withheld from your check, but you should not file as a clergy member because you would be paying double (15.3% self-employment tax) and also you are not entitled to that treatment.  You should not file your return until you either get a corrected W-2 or you get a response in writing that the church refuses to issue a corrected W-2. 

[xmasbaby0]

"we get W2, with no Federal tax withheld, State, Medicare, and Social Security are withheld.."

If I am interpreting your post correctly, are you saying that the W-2 from your church has nothing in box 2 for federal tax withheld, but it does have amounts for box 4 Social Security tax withheld, box 6 Medicare tax withheld, and box 17, State income tax   ?   The church just did not withhold any federal tax?

If that is the case, then it could just be that you did not earn enough from the job with the church for them to withhold federal tax. 

If you have other income, the income from the church job is still taxable income and the amount of income you received during the year will be reconciled with your tax liability when your other income and tax withheld from the other income sources are entered.

[Opus 17]

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@xmasbaby0 wrote:

"we get W2, with no Federal tax withheld, State, Medicare, and Social Security are withheld.."

If I am interpreting your post correctly, are you saying that the W-2 from your church has nothing in box 2 for federal tax withheld, but it does have amounts for box 4 Social Security tax withheld, box 6 Medicare tax withheld, and box 17, State income tax   ?   The church just did not withhold any federal tax?

If that is the case, then it could just be that you did not earn enough from the job with the church for them to withhold federal tax. 

If you have other income, the income from the church job is still taxable income and the amount of income you received during the year will be reconciled with your tax liability when your other income and tax withheld from the other income sources are entered.

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Good point.  Religious wages would apply to clergy, and if done right by the church, the wages are in box 1, and boxes 2-6 are blank.  If you have wages in box 1 and social security and medicare wages and tax in boxes 3-6, then you are a regular employee and you just didn't have federal tax withheld.  That would be due to a combination of your income and how you filled out your W-4, and could be entirely correct.

In either case, these are not religious wages for the checkbox under special circumstances.