Apportionments
- Will we ever have to add benefit funding back to the Conference budget?
- What happened to the Past Service Liability apportionment?
- Are the Conference retirement plans funded?
- Do you have any guidelines for remitting apportionment and other payments for my church?
- How are apportionments calculated?
- How do I distinguish between capital expenditures and repairs and maintenance when reporting on Table II?
- Our apportionment amounts seem to be much higher than last year’s amounts. How can I tell if there was a mistake in the calculation?
- If our church gives more to Advance Specials and other benevolences, will our apportionments go down?
- Do our membership numbers affect our apportionment calculation?
- What is the deadline for sending payments in order to receive credit for our 2024 apportionments?
- I’ve found an error on our Table II statistical report. How do I correct it?
- I’ve misplaced my apportionment report for next year. Can I find another copy online?
- How do I find out how much my church has paid for apportionments this year?
Benefits
- Where can I get a copy of the monthly newsletter that usually comes with the bills?
- When are pension/insurance payments due?
- When will online bills be ready each month?
- Who gets notified when bills are ready each month?
- How do I see all pension/insurance invoices for a certain time period?
- Can we pay our bill electronically, but still initiate the payment when we’re ready?
- Can we pay our pension/insurance bill through automatic draft?
- Who do I contact if I have questions about our pension/insurance bill?
- Will benefits be terminated if our church can’t pay our pension or insurance bill on time?
- Our church provides an allowance for our pastor or lay staff to buy their own health insurance. How should we be handling this allowance?
- Can our pastor’s pension bill be shared among all the churches he/she serves?
- How and when can I make a change to my personal contribution to the United Methodist Personal Investment Plan (UMPIP)?
- I’ve heard there is a match from my church’s pension contributions. How can I make sure I’m earning that match?
- I’ve heard I can apply to be exempt from self-employment tax as a minister. Does the NC Conference recommend this?
- How do I know how much to withhold from my pastor’s paycheck for his/her benefits?
- I’m changing from serving on a part-time basis to serving on a full-time basis. How does this impact my pension benefits?
- My church is getting a new pastor. What’s going to happen to our insurance and pension bills?
- I’ve moved to a new appointment. What paperwork does my church treasurer need from me?
- I’ve moved to a new appointment. Which entities need my new address and contact info? How do I get it to them?
Church Finances
- How can my church collect donations and offerings online?
- Can mileage from the parsonage or my pastor’s home to the church be reimbursed as business mileage?
- Is there a process where we could re-designate unused restricted funds to another purpose in our church?
- How does our church determine what mileage should be reimbursed for our pastor?
- Our church sold our parsonage and started giving our pastor a housing allowance instead. Can we use the money from the sale of the parsonage to pay the housing allowance?
- When is our church audit report due?
- What should our church include in the year-end statements we send to our donors?
- Do we need to have W-9 forms on file for all of our vendors?
- Is there a way our church can receive tithes and offerings from our members by credit card or electronic transfer?
- Does the Conference recommend certain accounting software for churches to use?
- Does my church need a federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)?
Church Payments
General
- Can our student pastor be reimbursed mileage expenses for traveling back and forth to school? Would that be a legitimate reimbursement as part of their travel budget?
- Is there a way our church can receive tithes and offerings from our members by credit card or electronic transfer?
- Does the Conference recommend certain accounting software for churches to use?
- Does my church need a federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)?
Online Data Collection System
- How do I reset my password for the Online Data Collection System?
- How do I enter a negative amount in the Fund Balance (Annual Audit) report?
Taxes
- Should we include direct disbursements from a church member’s IRA account on their year-end giving statement?
- Can mileage from the parsonage or my pastor’s home to the church be reimbursed as business mileage?
- Should love offering contributions be included on the church member’s giving statement for tax reporting?
- How does our church determine what mileage should be reimbursed for our pastor?
- Is my church exempt from paying state sales tax?
- Can my church receive a refund of sales tax paid when it is part of a reimbursement to someone for making a purchase on behalf of the church?
- Can my church receive a refund of sales tax paid on purchases in North Carolina?
- Can our student pastor be reimbursed mileage expenses for traveling back and forth to school? Would that be a legitimate reimbursement as part of their travel budget?
- I’ve heard I can apply to be exempt from self-employment tax as a minister. Does the NC Conference recommend this?
- What should our church include in the year-end statements we send to our donors?
- Do we need to have W-9 forms on file for all of our vendors?
- How does my church determine whether to treat a worker as an employee versus independent contractor, thus receiving a W-2 or a 1099, respectively?
- Our members have given tithes and offerings in January that are dated for December of the previous year. Should these contributions be included in last year’s tax statement?
- My church gave our pastor a cash gift as a love offering. Does this have to be included on the W-2?
- Should our church’s organist be considered an employee or a contractor? Do we have to report his income on a 1099 or W-2?
- My pastor says that I should give him a 1099 for his salary paid by the church instead of a W-2. Is that correct?
- My church only has a W-2 to fill out for my pastor and a 1099 for our janitorial service. I do not want to buy a whole pack of forms to get just one of each. Is there a better way to do these?
- As a church employee, can I have my tithes withheld as pre-tax deduction and not have to pay Federal tax or Social Security tax on the amount set aside for tithes?
- Can a minister assign earned income to a charity and avoid paying taxes on it?