Our church accounting, payroll, compliance, and tax services were designed specifically for churches. In the end, that means you’re free to focus on what really matters in your ministry – reaching people and making a difference. For example, churches needing to track finances, manage donations and restricted funds and process payroll can buy accounting and human resource modules. They can add automation tools to save time and streamline processes.

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Quicken’s most affordable plans are appropriate for churches because its expensive plans add primarily nonchurch features, such as rental property reports. If not for the restricted coverage of its employee health benefits, it would have received better scores in our study. It also lacks a specialized payroll professional, like MinistryWorks, who can double-check your pay runs, as well as the services of a clergy tax expert, like Financial Resources for Clergy does. The greatest challenge for the church in selecting a payroll company is finding someone who is truly qualified best payroll service for churches in clergy tax law and church payroll. Knowledge and experience is critical and ministry leaders must understand these challenges and recognize the need for industry specialists.

• Our team will work with you to migrate your data to one of our ACS Technologies accounting solutions and ensure your financial records are accurate.
• Clergy Financial Resources has been the leading provider of tax, payroll, and HR solutions exclusively for religious organizations and clergy for 44 plus years.
• Apart from price, the finest church payroll software should have features that assist ministries in effectively paying clergy and non-clergy staff while being tax compliant.
• The specific features available can vary from one service to the next.
• The Tax Reform Act of 1984 allows a religious body to elect a special exemption from the employer’s share of FICA taxes if it opposes such taxes on religious grounds.
• These aren’t small technicalities—they’re fundamental issues that, if misunderstood, can put your church at risk.

Payroll for Churches: Top 7 Payroll Software for Churches

Through the years, Kristin has taken on a wide range of office responsibilities. Kristin graduated from Anderson University magna cum laude with departmental honors in business management. Outside of ChurchShield, Kristin and her husband, Curt, have been married since 2008, and they have a son, Cameron, who was born in 2014. Charlie Cutler is the President of ChurchWest Insurance Services, a California-based agency that specializes in providing insurance solutions to churches and related ministries. Charlie has been with ChurchWest for over 20 years and has extensive experience in the insurance industry, with a particular focus on the unique risks and challenges facing Christian organizations. Charlie is a sought-after speaker and has presented at numerous conferences and seminars on insurance and risk management topics.

• Automated reminders, email templates, letter-creation tools and bulk texting help you personalize outreach and donation requests.
• Last year, 60% of clergy W-2 forms were issued in error by churches and payroll companies.
• However, we still included Square Payroll is a payroll service that allows you to pay in our list of best church payroll services given its low-cost payroll, tax filing, and employee benefits solutions.
• Incorrectly classifying a non-exempt worker as exempt can lead to back pay, penalties, and legal trouble.
• Sometimes, churches are on the lookout for HR advising and online resources or how-to guides.
• If you are any other type of religious organization and want to be tax exempt, you’ll need to apply to the IRS for the status using Form 1023 unless your gross receipts don’t exceed $5,000 annually.
• That’s why we’re here to offer church accounting services, church payroll services, and church accounting software services that help tell your church’s story well so that every dollar stays on mission.

Set up your business (we can help!)

Our team of dedicated church payroll specialists is here to assist with your payroll and HR needs. Church payroll has unique laws, benefits, and exemptions, it is different from traditional and corporate payroll. It is important that your payroll is reviewed and processed by a firm who knows these laws to ensure that your church remains compliant, while also ensuring your team is receiving the most from these unique benefits. Church payroll can be complicated because of the unique tax status of churches and clergy. To ensure you’re taking advantage of the special benefits afforded your organization and staying compliant with IRS rules, it may be helpful to outsource your payroll to a third-party provider. If you decide https://www.bookstime.com/ to go this route, Complete Payroll Solutions may be a good fit for you.

• The Core plan for small businesses with simple payroll structures starts at $39 per month plus $6 per person.
• Some downsides include a lack of third-party accounting and management software for churches.
• An audit of a church’s books can only happen after a Treasury Department official signs off on it.
• Just like it sounds, we’ve got you covered and we take care of the entire process.
• All churches need to withhold income taxes from their employees’ wages.
• The greatest challenge for the church in selecting a payroll company is finding someone who is truly qualified in clergy tax law and church payroll.

Do Churches Pay Payroll Taxes?

Sure, they can process paychecks and file tax forms—but ministry payroll requires more than that. Business compliance is an important part of running any church ministry. QuickBooks makes staying compliant simple with HR support, powered by Mineral, Inc. Learn best practices on hiring and termination, and stay on top of state and federal wage and overtime laws and requirements. Then let QuickBooks calculate and file your payroll taxes to stay compliant with the IRS. Even though the IRS gives churches a certain amount of leeway when handling payroll, churches face specific challenges.

This is almost always because the processing is being done according to standard corporate laws as opposed to church laws. With our longstanding expertise working with churches and ministries, we’re able to provide effective church payroll services that will correct previous mistakes and prevent these issues from continuing. We love churches, church staff, and church missions, and we want to help make everything your church is doing as effective as possible. That’s why we’re here to offer church accounting services, church payroll services, and church accounting software services that help tell your church’s story well so that every dollar stays on mission. The system lets users choose solutions (online forms, PTO filings) that clergy or non-clergy employees can access. It also offers full-service payroll processing, unlimited pay runs, health insurance benefit access for all states, and more.

Can SurePayroll handle clergy housing allowances?

Still, the system can handle tax exemptions for exempt employees. Users can set tax exemptions for exempt employees, such as ministers. The software integrates with the nonprofit accounting software program Aplos, which tracks payroll automatically for nonprofit organizations and churches. Using payroll software for churches is one of the best ways to streamline and simplify the process. Payroll software can accurately track tax withholdings, paid time off, hours, benefits, and other items while remaining up-to-date with changes to the tax code. Payroll functions differently for a church compared to a private business.

PAYROLL SHOULD BE HANDLED BY THE EXPERTS.

We offer a variety of time and attendance options (including biometric and web-based), making it easier than ever to track and bookkeeping analyze church employee payroll and hours. Working with an expert can help in this process, as church payroll has unique laws, benefits, and exemptions that make it different from corporate payroll. Our clients often find it difficult to maintain the internal knowledge needed to ensure compliance with these unique rules. A comprehensive church payroll service like Rippling allows managers to focus on running the ministry and not spend hours on repetitive HR administrative processes. The system can automatically calculate wages and applicable tax deductions, create payroll forms, and file payrolls. You need to be aware of church-specific regulations in the tax code as well.

Proper classification of employees, contractors, and clergy is essential. Using church payroll, best practices can help you maintain tax compliance while streamlining operations and reducing errors. We understand that nonprofit and religious organizations are similar but have distinct differences between the two that make them unique. For example, church payroll has special clergy exemptions that nonprofit payroll does not have.