yay for tax day... (or not!)
>> April 15, 2010
Filing taxes as a member of clergy can be complicated. There are so many extra receipts to track, allowances to consider, and numbers to crunch.
A few years ago, my husband spent hours and hours every year poring over our tax returns to make sure he hadn't missed anything. Then he got a stroke of genius and began hiring an accountant to do it instead. The peace of mind that comes with having a good tax guy (who is familiar with all the latest clergy tax policies) more than makes up for the expense of his fee.
I'm guessing that different pastors have different arrangements, but another frustration we've faced with clergy taxes is that we have to pay them ourselves. So when we get that (already minuscule) paycheck every two weeks, we have to always set aside a certain amount for the quarterly tax payment. When the taxes are already removed, you don't necessarily notice so much - but when you have to take them out yourself, it can be almost physically painful.
So what do you do to get ready for Tax Day? Go online? Fill out the forms yourself? Send it off to an accountant? Got any tips to make the process easier? Fill in the rest of us on your strategies!
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3 comments:
Our taxes were done wrong by a tax lawyer last year and we owe an extra $1000 PLUS the estimated for this year are so much higher that the additional amount we have to put aside each month is equal to our food budget and after bills, we don't buy much other than food....so, we are frantically trying to get other opinions and praying a lot!!!
Well, we just had our first year to pay quarterly taxes. We overpaid by a little so we would be safe. So much to remember. We definitely hired a tax guy who knows about all of it. :)
For the first few years of hubby's ministry we had to pay an exhorbitant amount of money come tax day.
We finally (ha!) figured out that it helps to set aside that employee portion of tax money each month.
This year was the best year yet, since we are getting a small refund! Not sure if it's due to a small business I started last year or the new accountanting firm we've employed.
YAY!
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