Clergy - Part 2

• Are retired clergy eligible for a housing allowance? The IRS recently announced that this is a question "under extensive study" and that it will "not issue rulings or determination letters on the question … until [it] resolves the issue through publication of a revenue ruling, revenue procedure, regulation, or otherwise." The IRS probably will be releasing guidance in the near future. In 1975, the IRS announced that retired clergy were eligible for a housing allowance exclusion if the following conditions were satisfied: (1) a portion of a retired minister's pension income is designated as a housing allowance by the trustees of a denominational pension fund; (2) the retired minister "has severed his relationship with the local church and is reliant upon the fund for his pension"; (3) the pensions paid to retired ministers "compensate them for past services to the local churches ...