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1st Quarter 2012 Church Tax Calendar
By Raul Rivera
Every year in January, our office gets tons of phone calls from pastors and leaders asking about tax forms and what needs to be filed in January. To that effect, we put together a tax calendar to educate and guide you in the process. This calendar is specific for churches and ministries. We hope that it helps you in your endeavors to accomplish something great in 2011.
January 1st: If you have non-ministerial employees who received advance payments of earned income credit last year, stop advanced payment for any employee who did not give you a new Form W-5 for 2012.
January 1st: Have the annual Board Meeting of the Directors. If you do not know what agenda items need to be covered in the annual meeting, we have a service where we create your annual minutes for you so that all you have to do is get together with your board of directors and go over each item sign off.
January 1st: In the annual board meeting, designate minister's housing allowance at a meeting of the board of directors.
January 1st: Each Board member must sign the annual conflicts of Interest Statement. If you have been to one of our conferences, a sample statement can be found on page 73 of the conference manual.
January 15th: Ministers that had a housing allowance must add up their qualifying housing allowance expenses by calculating the actual value of the home and the fair rental. If you have our Compliance software program, please use the housing allowance statement that is provided and follow the steps.
January 18th: Minister's must make the estimated tax payment for the 4th quarter of 2011. Only make this payment if you believe you will owe taxes for 2011 and you will not file your tax return by January 31st.
January 18th: If you have non-ministerial employees, the December 2011 payroll tax deposit is due.
January 31st: Deliver tax-deductible contribution statements to all those who made contributions to your ministry.
January 31st: Give W-2 forms to all of your employees, including the pastor. For those of you who have the W-2 and 1099-Misc Kit, all you have to do is go to any office supply store and get the W-2 and W-3 tax forms and put them in your printer, then click the print button for the appropriate forms and out they will come.
January 31st: Give 1099-Misc forms to independent contractors, including guest speakers and landlords, who received $600.00 or more in payments or honorariums for 2011. If you paid anyone royalties, give them form 1099-Misc if you paid them $10.00 or more. For those of you who have the W-2 and 1099-Misc Kit, all you have to do is go to any office supply store and get the 1099-Misc and 1096 tax forms and put them in your printer, then click the print button for the appropriate forms and out they will come.
January 31st: File Form 941 (payroll tax) for the fourth quarter of 2011 and deposit any unpaid taxes, or file Form 944 for the 2010 tax year if your employment tax liability was $1,000 or less.
January 31st: File Form 945 to report income tax withheld for 2011 on independent contractors, including guest speakers and landlords. File this form only if income tax withheld for 2011.
Any time in January: If your ministry changed addresses last year, now will be the right time to update your address with the IRS. To do that you will need to file Form 8822. Click here to download it.
Febuary 1st: Consider applying for Self Employment Tax Exemption before your window of time expires on April 18th. This can be big.
February 1st: Carefully document any qualifying health insurance premiums your church pays for its staff. The new law requires that they be reported in next year's W-2 forms on line 12.
February 15th: If you have non-ministerial employees, the January 2012 payroll tax deposit is due.
February 28th: Send Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, to the Social Security Administration along with Copy A of all employee W-2s you issued for calendar year 2011. For those of you who have the W-2 and 1099-Misc Kit, all you have to do is go to any office supply store and get the W-2 and W-3 tax forms and put them in your printer, then click the print button for the appropriate forms and out they will come.
February 28th: Send Forms 1099 and 1096 to the IRS. For those of you who have the W-2 and 1099-Misc Kit, all you have to do is go to any office supply store and get the 1099-Misc and 1096 tax forms and put them in your printer, then click the print button for the appropriate forms and out they will come. If you file these electronically, the due date is in March. See below!
March 15th: If you have non-ministerial employees, the February 2012 payroll tax deposit is due.