Seminarian with paid preaching opportunities

[mateosbaby]

Hello, all-

My husband is a seminarian and occasionally takes opportunities to preach at various churches, both in our state and neighboring states.  I know once he is ordained he will be considered self-employed and all those other complicated things that they told us once and I hope they will tell us again LOL but what about for now?  How do I add these regular checks from various churches into our income on TurboTax?  And will we need to file in the other states that he has preached in?

Thanks for weighing in on kind of a weird situation!

[MonikaK1]

As stated in IRS Topic No. 417, Earnings for Clergy:

A licensed, commissioned, or ordained minister is generally the common law employee of the church, denomination, sect, or organization that employs him or her to provide ministerial services. However, there are some exceptions, such as traveling evangelists who are independent contractors (self-employed) under the common law. 

If any of the churches, seminaries, or other institutions for which your husband provided services in 2025 issued your spouse a Form W-2, then report the information on that form on your return. 

For other payers, from your description, he can be considered self-employed and can report income (cash, checks, etc.) and related expenses on Schedule C. See this tips article for more information.

If he has income from working in states outside your state of residence, you may need to file a nonresident income tax return for that state if it has an income tax, if any taxes were withheld and the income from that state exceeded the filing requirement threshold. In most cases, you should prepare the nonresident return first and then the resident return.

See this TurboTax tips article for more information about paying taxes when you live and/or work in more than one state.

[mateosbaby]

Thanks!  This is helpful.  However, I'm still having trouble figuring out where this income from plain ol' checks goes in TurboTax.  Under "Let's check for other situations," I marked religious employment.  Then Nonclergy (since he is not ordained yet).  But then it asks how to calculate the Social Security  and Medicare taxes and gives me 3 options, none of which apply:
1) Pay self-employment tax on this W-2 income

2) Social Security and Medicare taxes have already been withheld

3) This income is exempt from self-employment tax because I have an approved Form 4029

We didn't receive W2s (just checks), no taxes have been withheld of course, and we aren't exempt, either.  I'm not sure how to get to the Schedule C to fill it out that way.  What now?

[AmyC]

Job vs business: (common to have both in your situation)

• If you have w2 income, it is a job. If Medicare and Social Security taxes were not withheld, they need to be paid. Select 1
• Since you have side jobs not on a w-2, there is also a business. You must add a Sch C business. 

1. Use your own name and address. 
2. Business description, preaching/ ministry/ whatever suits,  continue
3. Select, I started in 2025, enter date of first time doing these extra preaching, continue
4. Pay employees? select no
5. EIN, you probably haven't applied for one, select yes or no, continue
6. Enter business code,  cash method, no 1099 to issue
7. Summary of what you entered shows, continue
8. Select Business Income, start
9. Select business income not reported on other forms or general income
10. enter cash/ checks and amount, continue
11. keep going and enter any expenses associated with this work.

References: 

Topic no. 417, Earnings for clergy | Internal Revenue Service

Tax information for businesses

As for the various states, each has a different filing threshold. There are a few states where earning $1 as a nonresident triggers a tax return. If money was earned in Arkansas, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska or Vermont, verify if you need to file. As the amounts get larger, the required filing goes up. These are the states to check for earnings from $1-$999 as a nonresident.