[Magdalen] Quick return.

[Charles Wohlers]

As one who's dealt with clergy compensation & taxes on both sides, I haven't 
found it all that complicated. If the priest has his/her own housing, their 
compensation is broken into two parts: salary and housing (at least, that's 
how it's done in MA & VT). Housing is fully deductible, but must not exceed 
the actual housing expenses. Mortgage is additionally deductible, and thus 
is deducted twice. If there's a rectory, those expenses are all ignored, 
unless perhaps the priest puts some of their own money into utilities or 
upkeep. Non-housing expenses are another ball 'o' wax, and can get 
complicated.

Me, I started on taxes using Turbo-Tax (which is getting expensive for 
something you have to buy every year), but soon realized that there is one 
form I still haven't received yet, which typically doesn't come until the 
end of February, if then.

Chad Wohlers
Woodbury, VT USA
chadwohl at satucket.com



-----Original Message----- 
From: Raewynne Whiteley
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2015 2:12 PM
To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Quick return.

To be fair, part of the problem is the way the Diocese of Long Island deals
with clergy compensation.  It is not at all helpful or transparent,
especially in the area of housing and tax.

Raewynne
(who has had energetic discussions with prior wardens about it - quote "you
should get a better accountant so you don't have to pay that tax")

On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 1:52 PM, Jim Guthrie <jguthrie at pipeline.com> wrote:

> Have everything I need except the Mortgage deduction and property tax
> deduction on Brooklyn. Supposedly, it's in the mail.
>
> I've done an overall run through with Turbo Tax, and despite the
> substantial capital gain on the sale in Brooklyn, I have still figured out
> how to get a refund by transferring money from savings to the IRA savings
> account. As soon as that's all taken care of, I'll start taking back a
> distribution -- but without work income anymore I don’t expect to be 
> paying
> much (if any) tax on that.
>
> Deductions for Property taxes help, as do church and charity 
> contributions.
>
> Of course, getting money back means you've been giving government a
> tax-free loan. It's better, I think to calculate the exemptions taken on
> your W2 with your employer and then have to pay a bit at the end of the
> year, or get a very small refund.
>
> Self-Employed (clergy, notably) usually get to pay Self-employment tax
> (Social Security that would normally be paid for by the employer) and then
> whine about it at tax time (or quarterly, as the case may be <g>).  And
> then there was the Rector who demanded the parish pay the mortgage on his
> new home "because the parish is obligated to pay for housing." I said 
> there
> was no way we would double his housing expenses, and worked out a deal
> based on his property taxes and mortgage interest that in essence deducted
> them from the cost to the parish. But he still balked and complained to
> everyone in sight (including the bishop) that we were stiffing him.
>
> It turns out that he had always lived in Rectories, so was unclear on
> housing deductions, and even better (or worse), we fond out later he hadnt
> even bothered to file tax returns for the previous five years or more.
>
> I suppose not hearing him whine about the Self Employment Tax should have
> tipped me off, but I missed the clues.
>
> Cheers,
> Jim Guthrie
>
>