Religious organizations have their own tax universe: minister housing allowance, Form 990, UBI on rental income, fund accounting, donor acknowledgment letters with specific IRS-required language. The rules are real. The penalties are real. Most generalist CPAs have never read them. We have. And we run the operations side too (Kick fund accounting + Gusto clergy payroll) so the whole picture is integrated.
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Church boards almost always come to us in one of three states: a notice has arrived from the IRS, an outgoing finance pro left a mess, or a transition (new pastor, new building, new program) surfaced rules nobody knew about.
Our previous accountant filed the 990 wrong three years in a row. IRS sent us a notice. Nobody at our church knows what to do with it.
Mid-sized church · 280 attenders · Apr 2026
Our pastor's housing allowance was never documented properly. He's been claiming it for six years. We just learned we might owe back taxes.
Church plant · year 4 · Mar 2026
We rent out our gym space during the week. Someone told me we might owe Unrelated Business Income Tax. Our CPA shrugged.
Suburban church · multi-campus · Feb 2026
Most engagements start with the 990 filing (or filings, if you're behind), then move to housing allowance + payroll + fund accounting + UBI analysis in parallel. Annual giving statement audit is the final polish.
The clergy housing allowance is the single most powerful tax provision available to ministers, and the single most mis-documented one. The board must set the allowance in advance, in writing, before it's paid. We rebuild the documentation chain. The tax-free housing amount is the smallest of three numbers: what the board sets, what the pastor really spends, and the fair rental value of the home with utilities. We write the board resolution so it's defensible.
Churches do not have to file Form 990. Other nonprofits, like many parachurch groups and schools, do. Miss three years in a row and those groups lose their exempt status. We tell you if your church is exempt from filing. If your ministry has a separate nonprofit that does file, we handle its Schedule A, including the public support test, which churches themselves are not subject to.
Renting space, selling items, or running a coffee shop can create taxable income in some cases. Rent from real property, volunteer-run activities, and a church school are often not taxed. We check each one. The rules are nuanced (substantially-related-test, debt-financed property, royalty exceptions). We model your activities against the UBI rules, file Form 990-T where required, and structure activities to minimize the tax.
Restricted gifts, building fund, missions fund, benevolence fund, general operating. Most churches commingle these in one general ledger and the audit trail breaks. We rebuild your books in Kick with proper fund accounting: every donor's restricted gift is traceable, the board sees real fund balances, and the audit trail holds up.
Pastors pay self-employment tax, not FICA, on ministry pay. The housing allowance skips income tax but not self-employment tax. Non-clergy staff is standard W-2. We set up Gusto with the right tax codes for each role, automate the quarterly filings, and produce year-end W-2s + 1099s with no surprises.
A donor who gives $250 or more at one time needs a written receipt from the church. It must show the gift (the amount, or a description if it was not cash) and state whether the church gave anything back. If the only thing given was a religious benefit, it can say that. Some church statements leave out the needed words, and donors can lose the deduction. We audit your current statements and rebuild the language.
Anonymized. Recent church engagements.
Three years of missed 990 filings: auto-revocation imminent. Filed reinstatement application, caught up three years of returns, rebuilt the giving-statement language, and trained the bookkeeper on Kick fund accounting. Status preserved, IRS notice cleared.
Pastor had no board resolution for past years. We set the allowance in writing for this year and the next. We help the pastor correct past years on his returns. Past years cannot be designated after the fact.
We looked at how the gym is rented. If you only rent the space, the rent is usually not taxed. Extra services or loans on the building can change that. We document the facts each year.
Single-engagement work (one-time 990 filing, housing-allowance rebuild) is available, but the operational continuity, bookkeeping + payroll + 990 + board reporting, is where churches get the most value.
Volume-scoped: small church plant at the low end, multi-campus + school + rental at the high end. Includes: Kick fund-accounting bookkeeping · Gusto clergy + staff payroll oversight · annual 990 filing · housing allowance documentation · UBI analysis · quarterly board meetings.
For one-time engagements (catch-up 990, housing allowance rebuild, UBI memo), we quote separately on the Discovery call.
No. We work with any 501(c)(3) religious organization: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, non-denominational, parachurch, and faith-based nonprofits. The tax rules are denomination-agnostic. We follow the IRS code, not theology.
Most churches engage a monthly retainer covering bookkeeping (Kick) + payroll oversight (Gusto) + 990 filing + advisory. Typical range is $400–$1,200/mo depending on size, fund complexity, and whether you have a school or rental income. We can also do single-engagement work (990 filing only, housing-allowance rebuild only). Discovery call quotes the exact engagement.
Yes. We routinely sit in on quarterly finance committee or board meetings, either in person or via Zoom. Most of our church clients have us present the financials quarterly so the board sees real-time numbers with explanations.
A full outside audit is usually needed only if you spend $1,000,000 or more in federal funds in a year, or your state, lender or bylaws require one. Most need a board-level financial review, which we can do or coordinate. If a full audit is genuinely needed, we coordinate with a CPA firm that specializes in nonprofit audits and stay involved on the books side.
Yes. Help with the optional 501(c)(3) letter on Form 1023 (churches are tax exempt without applying, but many apply so donors and banks have the IRS letter), bylaws review for tax-compliance language, payroll setup for the pastor (housing allowance documentation from day one), Kick bookkeeping setup with proper fund accounting. We've onboarded church plants from incorporation through first 990 filing (if one is required).
Bring your church size (attenders, budget, paid staff count), any IRS notices, and whether you have rental / school / coffee-shop activities. We'll quote the monthly retainer or one-time engagement before any work begins.
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