This popular annual guide focuses on tax issues most likely to affect ministers and churches. It includes sample tax returns for both active and retired ministers. Church treasurers and other church leaders will find a valuable resource in the guide’s special section about important federal requirements for churches.
Richard Hammar again authored this year’s guide with assistance from our staff. He is an attorney, CPA and widely published author specializing in legal and tax issues for churches and clergy.
The downloadable tax guide on these pages includes any updates GuideStone has made to the tax guide. If you downloaded a previous version, or if you received a printed copy, GuideStone offers a summary of changes to previous versions of the guide.
Tax guide download
The tax guide is available for download in two ways — multiple files (all approximately 2 MB or less) or one file. The single file download is recommended only for those with a high speed Internet connection. You may also contact us to request a printed or CD version of the tax guide.
Choose a download version
Single file (approximately 3.8 MB): Ministers Tax Guide
Multiple files (all around 2 MB):
Section 1 (pages 1–14, 340 KB)
Contents:
President’s message.
Part 1. Introduction.
Part 2. Special Rules for Ministers
Section 2 (pages 15-40, 369 KB)
Contents:
Part 3. Step-by-Step Tax Return Preparation
Form 1040.
Schedules A, B, C, C-EZ, and SE.
Forms 2106 and 2106-EZ.
Section 3 (pages 41-53, 2.1 MB)
Contents:
Part 4. Comprehensive Example and Forms
Comprehensive example for senior minister.
Example W-2 and 1040.
Example Schedules A, C-EZ, M, and SE.
Forms 2106-EZ.
Explanation of sample forms for active minister.
Section 4 (pages 54-62, 1.5 MB)
Contents:
Part 4. Comprehensive Example and Forms, continued.
Comprehensive example for retired minister.
Form 1099-R
Example 1040
Example Schedules C-EZ, L, and SE.
Explanation of sample forms for retired minister.
Comprehensive Example and Forms, continued.
Section 5 (pages 63–75, 328 KB)
Contents:
Special section: Important federal requirements for churches.
Appendices.
Find IRS forms, instructions and publications on the IRS web site or call 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676).