Comments for Pastor's Love Offerings and Reimbursements

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Love Offerings and Pastor Reimbursement
by: Vickey

It looks like your church policy regarding love offerings is in line with the IRS's guidelines.

However, I do have a question regarding this statement: "If I write a check to one of the officers of the group and they give the pastor cash, we do not count is as taxable income." Would it not then be taxable income to that officer?

You are correct in that if is handle through the church's accounting records...it is usually taxable income to the recipient. You are also correct in that if the donation (gift) was specified for a certain individual...it does not qualify for a charitable contribution tax deduction. See this page.

Regarding your pastor's reimbursement: The reimbursement for your pastor's mileage would depend on the nature of the trip.

For example, if his daughter was going on a missionary trip for your church then the airport trips would be eligible for reimbursement. However, if his daughter's trip was not church business then it would not be eligible for reimbursement...it does not matter that your church missionary is his daughter.

The same goes for the pastoral visits to any member of your church...family or not...as long as he is there in the role as their pastor.

It would be up to your church as far as monitoring frequency of trips compared to other members in similar situations.

Same goes for the trips to pick up church members for church service.

*Important: Make sure you have a reimbursement policy in place! See this page for instructions on setting up and maintaining an accountable reimbursement policy.

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