Webinar: Keeping Your Church on the Right Side of the IRS

Wednesday, October 15, 2014, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (CST)

Registration is closed. Thank you for your interest.

60 minute webinar: $20 per attendee or $50 for 3 attendees from same organization

1 CEU

About this Session: U.S. tax law is difficult enough for the general public to understand, but when one reviews the Internal Revenue Code’s unique rules for churches and clergy, the task becomes monumental. Numerous issues trip up ministers and churches nationwide each year, many of them avoidable. This webinar will cover five key areas of tax law that churches must handle well in order to avoid problems with the IRS: 1) the dual tax status of ministers and the proper handling of federal income taxes and Social Security taxes; 2) ministerial pay and benefits packages, reimbursements and love gifts; 3) housing allowances – maximizing the top tax benefit that ministers receive; 4) substantiation rules for charitable contributions; and 5) monthly, quarterly and annual federal tax reporting requirements.

Who Should Participate: Church staff and lay leaders directly involved in the management of financial resources

About the Presenter: Richard Hammar, J.D., C.P.A. is Senior Editor of Christianity Today’s Church Law & Tax Report and Church Finance Today newsletters, and author of the annual Church & Clergy Tax Guide. Richard is an attorney, CPA, and author specializing in legal and tax issues for churches and clergy. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, and attended Harvard Divinity School. He has served as a lecturer at the annual Washington Nonprofit Legal and Tax Conference; addressed a National Institute of the American Bar Association on the tort liability of charitable and religious organizations; has been a featured speaker at the annual Program on Philanthropy and Law sponsored by the New York University School of Law; and has taught continuing education seminars at several institutions, including Princeton Theological Seminary and Emory University. He is also one of fourteen members serving on the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations.

Richard has been inducted into the church management “hall of fame’ by the National Association of Church Business Administration, and has served on the boards of several prominent nonprofits, including the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. He is a member of the Missouri and Illinois Bar Associations, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Christian Legal Society, and is admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court. In 2009, he became a Registered Parliamentarian by successfully completing a qualifying examination administered by the National Association of Parliamentarians. He joins the ranks of 270 other Registered Parliamentarians in the United States.