I need more information. Somewhere on your website I read SS taxes were higher for the ordained. Is this applicable to all ordained or does it kick in when you use the tax exempt benefit?
and How higher are we talking?
Cher

Greetings to you my friend,

Typically, any income you receive for performing the duties of a clergy person is treated as income from being self employed. That means that you pay the entire share of SS taxes. Keep in mind that when you are employed by a business, they pay half of your SS taxes, which is about 7.5 % of your total wages, and you pay the other 7.5%. The self employed on the other hand have to pay the whole 15%.

In America, most clergy are considered self-employed. Most churches treat clergy as independent contractors so that they are not saddled with having to pay Social Security benefits, which can become very substantial depending on the benefit packages they offer their ministers. If you have a regular,secular job, being a member of the clergy does not affect your taxes from that position, as you employer will stay be paying their share of your SS. You would only pay the extra on the wages you receive from your ministerial activities, and you would report those on your income tax as self-employment or other income.

In Christs service,
Padre

You can also exempt yourself from paying into the SS retirement and disability insurance program entirely. This does however mean that you will not be able to use the benefits of the program but then there is the fact that they will not be taking 15% of your checks just for the possibility of getting something back later.

I realize this makes it a difficult and real choice to make now. Personally I will be exempting myself from any future payments since they have made it very difficult to receive anything at all even though I have qualified for the disability portion of the program for a few years. My last denial said that the time for filing had run out and that by the time I "was disabled" the time to claim had run out last April and I did not qualify for benefits any more. So great they waited until the time ran out to claim again and they found me disabled. Go figure ... the american government at work they love taking your money and they refuse to give it back.

Anyway, If you don't want to pay into the social security and have no desire for the retirement benefits you do not have to pay into them.