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, set the allowance to the right amount (fair rental value of the home including utilities), and write the board resolution so it's defensible.
The IRS requires nonprofits to file Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N depending on size. Three consecutive years of missed filings = automatic loss of 501(c)(3) status. We file the right form, document the program-service accomplishments correctly, and handle the Schedule A public-support test that small churches usually miss.
Churches that rent space, sell merch, run a coffee shop, or operate a school can trigger UBI tax. 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.
Pastoral payroll is its own beast (housing allowance exclusion + SECA self-employment tax instead of FICA). 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.
IRS rule: donors claiming a charitable deduction over $250 need a written acknowledgment from the church that says "no goods or services were provided in exchange for this gift." Most churches send statements without that language and donors lose deductibility. We audit your current statements and rebuild the language.
Anonymized. Numbers are tax saved + risk eliminated from 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 been claiming $18K/yr housing allowance with no board resolution. Set up the proper documentation, raised the allowance to actual fair rental value ($32K including utilities), and back-documented the missing years. Pastor pays appropriate tax going forward; back-years audit-defensible.
Gym rented to outside leagues weekly. Analyzed under UBI rules — passive rental of real property is excluded if no substantial services and no debt financing. Documented the structure, no UBI tax owed, board resolution preserved the exemption going forward.
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.
Few small-to-mid churches need a full external audit (typically only required if you receive certain types of federal funding or have specific bylaws). 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. Full 501(c)(3) application (Form 1023 or 1023-EZ depending on size), 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.
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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