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Recommended Reading

Housing Allowance Basics

Learn and understand more about the most important tax advantage available to ministers—the housing allowance.

The Editors

The housing allowance is one of the most important tax advantages available to ministers. Therefore, it’s key for church leaders to understand how it works, how to apply it and the many nuances that come with it.

The good news is Church Law & Tax offers a host of articles, Q&A’s, and some excellent resources to help you grow in your understand of housing allowance basics, beginning with this recommended reading list.

Spend time digging in and, as always, considering joining thousands of other church leaders as a member of Christianity Today’s Church Law & Tax!

Q&A: Tackling Big-Ticket Repairs on a Housing Allowance

So, you’ve done the hard work of setting a housing allowance and, SURPRISE!, the septic tank fails. What now?

Ted Batson

Q&A: Adjusting Housing Allowance

Do we need to adjust our pastor’s housing allowance designation if his housing expenses are less than the amount our board approved?

Frank Sommerville

Designating a Housing Allowance for 2023

Help for setting this important clergy benefit before the new year.

Richard R. Hammar

Housing Allowances

Understand how to properly set this significant pastoral benefit.

Richard R. Hammar

Sample Housing Allowance for Pastors

Ready-to-use resolution language for a church board to set a clergy housing allowance for 2023.

Richard R. Hammar

Q&A: Amending a Housing Allowance

Can we increase our pastor’s housing allowance during the year?

Richard R. Hammar

Q&A: What if Our Minister Requests a Housing Allowance that Exceeds His Total Salary?

A church can only allocate the total amount of its minister’s yearly salary toward a housing allowance.

Vonna Laue

Q&A: Are We Legally Required to Verify a Housing Allowance is Fair?

The answer is no, and several reasons explain why.

Richard R. Hammar

Q&A: Can a Church Reject the Housing Allowance Amount a Minister Requests?

This situation might suggest there isn’t not good communication between the pastor and the board.

Ted Batson

Q&A: Too Late to Designate?

We failed to allocate a portion of our pastor’s salary for housing. Is it too late to do so for this entire year?

Richard R. Hammar

Also see:

Church & Clergy Tax Guide (chapter 6)

Church Compensation: From Strategic Plan to Compliance (chapter 11)

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