How to give someone small compensation for cleaning church?

by Julie
(Michigan)

We have a very small church congregation and we rent a storefront as our meeting place. Our pastor has a secular job from which he draws his income. We reimburse him for his mileage only. Thus, we currently issue no W-2's. Our pastor would like an elderly gentleman in our congregation to clean the building for $25/week. How can we compensate the gentleman for this? I am a volunteer bookkeeper and don't want to get involved in payroll for such a small amount of money. Can we give him $25/week and issue a 1099 instead?

Comments for How to give someone small compensation for cleaning church?

Click here to add your own comments

Response to comp for cleaning church
by: Anonymous

Is he using his own vacuum, cleaning supplies etc? If not, he is an employee. There are free payroll services online that would make paying him once a month pretty simple.
2 hours a week
by: Julie

I read the publication you recommended. To clarify, it would only take an hour or two a week to clean/vacuum the building. He would do this at the time of his own choosing and open/close the building himself - most likely during the day when the pastor is on his secular job. Our attendance is usually around 2 dozen people. There may be times during the year he is not able to clean the church when he is out of the area for months at a time. The duty would then fall upon the pastor's family. Does it sound like the gentleman could be considered an independent contractor?
cleaning pmyt
by: Sandi

although you need to always ensure you comply with the current IRS publications here is a summery of I.R.S. Publication 937:
http://www.flumc.org/mp/pdf/employee_or_independent_contractor.pdf

there is also form SS-8 on the IRS site you can fill out to help you decide: http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Independent-Contractor-Self-Employed-or-Employee

prayers

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Love Offerings.