Finance & Administration Resources

In this section, information on church finances and administration, safety and insurance concerns, taxes, and conference health and pension plans is available. For information about the current budget, apportionment receipts and Second Mile Giving, visit About Us>Budget.

Things churches must do annually in Vermont

  1. Reapply for Non-profit status each year. This Secretary of State will send a form and bill ($15) sometime late December early January.  This form is due back by April 1st.  If you change the church address you must notify them of the new address.
  2. Have all staff fill out W-4 forms.  Treasurer or other financial officer makes out W-2 forms for all staff each year.
  3. Check on and have workers comp for all employees.

Things Vermont churches must do at the point of hiring a new staff person:

  1. For lay employees we need to figure out both federal and state withholding and submit quarterly tax payments.  Very few lay employees are contractors. A cleaning company that cleans many places, mowing and plowing that do many locations are contractors but most program staff ie organists, choir directors, nursery care givers etc are employees. Employees need tax withheld and matched by employers.  Once you have set up a system with your church financial people to send in quarterly tax withholding, clergy may also take advantage of this and submit withholding thus saving clergy from a huge end of year tax bill as well.
  2. Clergy are considered self-employed by the IRS so no withholding for clergy is required.  However clergy do need to designate if part of their salary is housing and report that to the Pension board and church treasurer so checks and W-2 forms are made out correctly. Ad Council needs to approve in meeting and minutes the part of salary that is being designated as housing.
  3. Must report all new employees, lay and clergy to the Dept. of Labor, go to website  www.labor.vermont.gov, go to “Businesses” go to “Online Services: New Hire Reporting.  You can download this form or you can report online.
  4. If someone hired is not a U.S. citizen must report that to the Homeland Security Dept.

Finance & Administration Resources