Publication 517 |
2000 Tax Year |
Figuring Net Earnings From Self-Employment for SE Tax
There are two methods for figuring your net earnings from
self-employment as a minister, member of a religious order, Christian
Science practitioner, or church employee.
- Regular method, or
- Nonfarm optional method.
Regular Method
Most people use the regular method. Under this method, you figure
your net earnings from self-employment by totaling your gross income
for services you performed as a minister, a member of a religious
order who has not taken a vow of poverty, or Christian Science
practitioner. Then you subtract your allowable business deductions and
multiply the difference by .9235 (92.35%). Use Schedule SE (Form 1040)
to figure your net earnings and SE tax.
If you are an employee of a church that elected to exclude you from
FICA coverage, figure net earnings by multiplying your church wages
shown on Form W-2 by .9235. Do not reduce your wages by any
business deductions when making this computation. Use Section B of
Schedule SE to figure your net earnings and SE tax.
If you have an approved exemption, or you are automatically exempt,
do not include the income or deductions from qualified services in
figuring your net earnings from self-employment.
For more information on net earnings from self-employment, get
Publication 533.
Gross income.
To figure your net earnings from self-employment (on Schedule SE
(Form 1040)), include in gross income:
- Salaries and fees for your qualified services (discussed
earlier),
- Offerings you receive for marriages, baptisms, funerals,
masses, etc.,
- The value of meals and lodging provided to you, your spouse,
and your dependents for your employer's convenience,
- The fair rental value of a parsonage
provided to you (including
the cost of utilities that are furnished) and the rental allowance
(including an amount for payment of utilities) paid to you, and
- Any amount a church pays toward your income tax or SE tax,
other than withholding the amount from your salary. This amount is
also subject to income tax.
For the income tax treatment of these amounts, see Income Tax:
Income and Expenses, later.
Example.
Pastor Roger Adams receives an annual salary of $16,500 as a
full-time minister. The $16,500 includes $1,500 that is designated as
a rental allowance to pay utilities. His church owns a parsonage that
has a fair rental value of $5,200 per year. Pastor Adams is given the
use of the parsonage. He is not exempt from SE tax. He must include
$21,700 ($16,500 plus $5,200) when figuring net earnings from
self-employment.
The results would be the same if, instead of the use of the
parsonage and receipt of the rental allowance for utilities, Pastor
Adams had received an annual salary of $21,700 of which $6,700 ($1,500
plus $5,200) per year was designated as a rental allowance.
Overseas duty.
Your net earnings from self-employment are determined without any
foreign earned income exclusion or the foreign housing exclusion or
deduction if you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien who is serving
abroad and living in a foreign country.
For information on excluding foreign earned income or the foreign
housing amount, get Publication 54,
Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens
and Resident Aliens Abroad.
Example.
Paul Jones was the minister of a U.S. church in Mexico. He earned
$22,000 and was able to exclude it all for income tax purposes under
the foreign earned income exclusion. However, Mr. Jones must include
$22,000 when figuring net earnings from self-employment.
Specified U.S. possessions.
The exclusion from gross income for amounts derived in Guam,
American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
does not apply in computing net earnings from self-employment. Also
see Residents of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the CNMI,
and American Samoa, earlier, under U.S. Citizens, Resident
and Nonresident Aliens.
Amounts not included in gross income.
Do not include the following amounts in gross income when figuring
your net earnings from self-employment.
- Offerings that others made to the church.
- Contributions by your church to a tax-sheltered annuity plan
set up for you, including any salary reduction contributions, that are
not included in your gross income.
- Pension payments or retirement allowances you receive for
your past qualified services.
- The rental value of a parsonage or a parsonage allowance
provided to you after you retire.
Allowable deductions.
When figuring your net earnings from self-employment, deduct all
your nonemployee ministerial expenses. Also, deduct all your allowable
unreimbursed trade or business expenses that you incur in performing
ministerial services as a common-law employee of the church. Include
this net amount on line 2 of Schedule SE (Form 1040).
Reimbursement arrangements.
If you received an advance, allowance, or reimbursement for your
expenses, how you report this amount and your expenses depends on
whether the reimbursement was paid to you under an accountable plan or
a nonaccountable plan. If you are not sure if you are reimbursed from
an accountable plan or a nonaccountable plan, ask your employer.
Accountable plans.
To be an accountable plan, your employer's reimbursement
arrangement must include all three of the following rules.
- Your expenses must have a business connection -- that
is, you must have paid or incurred deductible expenses while
performing services as an employee of your employer.
- You must adequately account to your employer for these
expenses within a reasonable period of time.
- You must return any excess reimbursement or allowance within
a reasonable period of time.
Generally, if your expenses equal your reimbursement, you have no
deduction and the reimbursement is not reported on your Form
W-2. If your expenses are more than your reimbursement, you can
deduct your excess expenses for SE tax and income tax purposes.
Nonaccountable plan.
A nonaccountable plan is a reimbursement arrangement that does not
meet one or more of the three rules listed under Accountable
plans. In addition, even if your employer has an accountable
plan, the following payments will be treated as being paid under a
nonaccountable plan.
- Excess reimbursements you fail to return to your
employer.
- Reimbursement of nondeductible expenses related to your
employer's business.
Your employer will combine any reimbursement paid to you under a
nonaccountable plan with your wages, salary, or other compensation.
Your employer will report the combined total in box 1 of your Form
W-2. You can deduct your related expenses (for SE and income tax
purposes) regardless of whether they are more than, less than, or
equal to your reimbursement.
For more information on accountable and nonaccountable plans, get
Publication 463,
Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses.
Husband and Wife
Missionary Team
If a husband and wife are both duly ordained, commissioned, or
licensed ministers of a church and have an agreement that each will
perform specific services for which they are paid jointly or
separately, they must divide the SE income according to the agreement.
If the agreement is with one spouse only and the other spouse is
not paid for any specific duties, amounts received for their services
are included in only the SE income of the spouse having the agreement.
Maximum Earnings Subject to SE Tax
For 2000, the maximum net earnings from self-employment subject to
social security (old age, survivors, and disability insurance) tax is
$76,200 minus any wages and tips you earned that were subject to
social security tax. The tax rate for the social security part is
12.4%. In addition, all of your net earnings are subject to the
Medicare (hospital insurance) part of the SE tax. This tax rate is
2.9%. The combined self-employment tax rate is 15.3%.
Nonfarm Optional Method
You may be able to use the nonfarm optional method for figuring
your net earnings from self-employment. In general, the nonfarm
optional method is intended to permit continued coverage for social
security and Medicare purposes when your income for the tax year is
low.
You may use the nonfarm optional method for nonfarm SE income if
you meet all of the following tests.
- Your net nonfarm profits are less than $1,733.
- Your net nonfarm profits are less than 72.189% of your total
gross income from nonfarm self-employment.
- You are self-employed or a partner on a regular basis. This
means that your actual net earnings from self-employment are $400 or
more in at least 2 of the 3 tax years before the one for which you use
this method.
- You have not previously used this method more than 4 years
(there is a 5-year lifetime limit). The years do not have to be
consecutive.
If you meet these four tests, you may report the smaller of
two-thirds of the gross income from your nonfarm business, or $1,600
as your net earnings from self-employment.
You may not report less than your actual net earnings from nonfarm
self-employment.
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