Pastor retirement

[jnsilva]

I would like to know if there is any way that a retirement fund could be set up for our pastor. We do not have the availability of establishing a 401 or retirement benefit at this time. Can contributions be made from membership to an account? Is there IRS requirements? If contributions are made by membership are they tax deductible? I would appreciate any assistance in this request.

[NeilZ]

I would like to know if there is any way that a retirement fund could be set up for our pastor. We do not have the availability of establishing a 401 or retirement benefit at this time. Can contributions be made from membership to an account? Is there IRS requirements? If contributions are made by membership are they tax deductible? I would appreciate any assistance in this request.

My advice is to talk with a good tax accountant on this. The IRS says a donor cannot deduct any contributions that go directly to the support of an individual, and I suspect that a retirement account for a single individual falls under that rule.

If the church budgets for the retirement fund, and the funds come out of normal tithes and offerings, that's a different issue.

However, I am not an accountant, so my advice about talking with a tax accountant still holds.