Administration
If you're a pastor or church leader, as you consider sending your own to the field, you may be pondering the following questions:
- What is the best way to receive and receipt the funds that come in for them?
- What about the proper way to report the funds that are distributed to them?
- What IRS status should a missionary be placed in… is it 1099 (self employed) or W-2 (employee)?
It is our conviction that based on the following facts, missionaries should be in W2 status with the IRS:
- It is by far the least burdensome for the missionary. Trying to pay quarterly self-employment taxes (Social Security and Medicare) required
by 1099 status when you are in a foreign country is incredibly difficult.
- W-2 status decreases significantly the possibility of being audited by the IRS.
- Other major, well established missions organizations such as Wycliffe,
New Tribes, Mission Aviation Fellowship, Pioneers, Frontiers,
and most of the other major missions organizations have their missionaries
in employee, or W-2 status.
If you’d like to take the steps necessary to have your missionary become
a W-2 employee of your church, we’re here to help. If you recognize
that doing so is a little more than you, your staff, or your administrative
infrastructure can handle, then Shepherd’s Staff may be a viable
option. We currently perform this service for more than 70 Calvary Chapel missionaries on behalf of their senior pastors and home churches.