Can A Church Give Money To An Individual

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The following comments, tips, and Q/A were provided by FreeChurchAccounting's generous readers:

One Time Gift to a Pastor
If our church wants to give the Pastor's wife a one time gift designated by the Board of Directors from our General Fund but specific offerings were not …

Non-requested Donations?
I am a commissioned counseling minister and also ordained by a church and act as a pastor with no salary. When I begin a counseling relationship, I …

Local church giving money to parishioners to invest
A local church in mt are gave parishoners thousands of dollars to invest for the next several weeks. Then they give it back, and interest collected goes …

401K donation earmarked to pastor
An individual is having his 401k make distributions to a church in order to take a charitable contribution but not pay income tax on the distribution. …

Maintained separate accounts for clergy
If the church maintains a separate operating account and an account for the clergy, and upon donation the donor specifies a certain percentage to the operating …

Pastoral Education Reimbersement
We have a salaried Youth Pastor who is working toward his divinity degree. As part of the agreement the church has with him, he is reimbursed for any school …

Missions Trip Contributions
We've recently received contributions for our church's mission trip. For some checks received though, the memo line contains the name of the individual …

Clarification on Earmarking Donations
If I cannot earmark my donation to a specific person that I want to benefit from my donation, how is it possible that at Christmas Time when the newspaper …

Donation to church member/1099
If someone writes a check to the church and specifies that it is for another church member for medical bills, do we need to give the recipient of the money …

Offerings for the Pastor
Thanks for the information that you provides. It's very helpful. I just want some clarity on offerings. We take up an offering every first Sunday for …

Designated Missionary Offering
Can I accept cash in an envelope with person's name on it for our missionary collection and in return claim it on the person's end of year annual tithing …

Christmas gifts as flow throughs
Our non profit occasionally receive personal gifts designated for our missionaries, usually at Christmas. They are non deductible and as such receive …

Love gift to Pastor from outside the church.
We have a family that doesn't go to our church, but knows the Pastor and his wife. They send a check to the church almost every month for $400.00 or $500.00. …

Pastor purchases gifts for hospitalized members
When our Pastor visits members who are in the hospital, he sometimes purchases a small gift for them and turns in the receipt for reimbursement from the …

youth fundraising
In a church can money received from the sale of fundraising products be credited to youth accounts for their time worked selling these products and then …

Fundraiser
I am wondering if anyone has any guidelines for determining when or if a fundraising dinner etc should be done for a family in need? Some circumstances …

Gym memberships
A church member owns a gym and would like to give memberships to our pastoral staff, they want me to show this as a donation for tax purposes. Is this …

Gift to pastor taxable?
Our pastor is retiring. Two gifts were given as farewell gifts: one was a donation made to a non-profit made in the pastor's honor; the other was a gift …

Where is the line between missionary and employee
I'm aware of all the rules about being able to accept earmarked funds as tax-deductible for missionaries, but I want to take it a further step back and …

does church have to 1099 a missionary
our church wants to send a gift of money to two men in South Africa. One man is South African the other American. We are under the impression if we send …

Considered to be a charitable contribution?
A member of the church I work at paid $100.00 cash to someone to cut down a tree on the church property. The member wants to count this as a contribution. …

severance package for non-employee
We've had a church plant discontinue operations. We are considering some type of financial package for their head pastor. He is not an employee of our …

Gift for Severance Pay
We have let a staff member go (nothing really bad, he just wasn't a good fit). We wanted to give him a small severance package, but we could not afford …

Pastor endorses check and puts in offering
If a pastor receives a check (from a parishioner) made out to him, then endorses the check and gives it to the church without cashing it-- should that …

Donation used to pay an church employee
If a church gives a monthly donation to another church, can a portion of that donation be used as additional compensation for a church employee?

Memorial Funds
Can a church accept a transfer of a Memorial Fund (In the name of a child that has passed but used to help families in need) that is currently at another …

Difference between "Earmarked" and "Recommending".
There's a difference between "Earmarked" and "Recommending". If your church has an established designed fund for Missions or a specific Mission Trip a …

Donations to church to thank another member
If a church member knits baby items for other church members and asks for no payment except that the person donate to the church, is that tax deductible …

New minister welcome fund
Our church recently hired a married couple as co-ministers. Funds were collected to pay for their: 1. Moving expenses 2. Ordination and Installation …

Pastors Monetary Gifts
If money is given to pastor as a gift how should it be handled as far as recording purposes?

Contributions to Missionaries
I know that the IRS says that you cannot give to individuals and be deductible by the donor - does this apply to missionaries? Our church gives to specific …

Gift of appreciation when pastor resigns
Question? A minister resigns as of a specific date. The church decides to give a gift in the amount of a full months pay to be issued at the celebration …

Gifts to Pastor and Wife and Wife is on the Payroll
Our Church is used througout the year as a conduit/Personal Bank for Monetary gifts that are given to the Pastor and his wife for Anniversary, Just because, …

Love offering/gifts
If a love offer/gift is taking up during the special presentation of gifts on the program and stated that the gifts that are enclosed in a love offering …

Pass Through Gift
Under the de minimus rule is it permissible for the church Treasurer to issue a donors receipt for tax purposes? In this case the donor issued his personal …

Contributions
Are parishioners allowed to deduct mileage, (hospital visits etc) and the cost of food/clothing donated to other parishioners? Know the answer? Face …

love offering made to a foreigner
Is a love offering given to a specific person, that is a foreign national and lives in his home country, tax-deductible to the donor? If we send over $600 …

Purpose of tithes and offerings
Is it true that the IRS does not allow churches to make monetary gifts to an individual from the tithes and offerings funds? We had a guest minister who …

Going Away Gift Tax Deductible?
We collected money from members for a going away present for our Youth Pastor. Is this tax deductible to the members? Thanks. vickey's relpy …

Benevolence Payments Taxable?

Benevolence Guidelines
A fund was started for a sick child and the contributions had her name on them. What are the guidelines for distribution of the funds received? …

Love offering
If we have love offering to pastor or youth director we consider these contributions deductable. If we have love offering for individuals we make these …

Love Offering Tax Deductible?
Question regarding love offering: Once a month we have musician come play at our church. Is my love offering made payable to the church tax deductible? …

Memorial Gift Designated to a Staff Member
As at wishes of the family of a deceased person, our church collected donations as a memorial gift that was going to be used to 'buy a car for a single …

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