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~ Addressing Congregational Finance and Administration ~

In This Issue

Deadlines

Mission Share Pledges

Employment Law

Unemployment and Disability Insurance

Health Insurance

Lay Pension Plans

Housing Resolutions

Planned Giving Luncheon

Vital Congregations

Quick Links

Manual of Business Methods in Church Affairs

Peter K 5 Minutes to Fitness

Diocesan Finance

Parochial Reports

Audit Guidelines

Deadlines & Dates

January 15

Parochial Report Training

March 1

Parochial Reports Due

March 15

Building Vital Congregations

Stay Connected

December 2013

Julie Young

December is a busy month for churches! While it should be all about Advent and preparations for Christmas, most of us are finishing our stewardship drives, finalizing next year's budgets and finding new vestry members. My hope for you during this Advent season is that you find pockets of quiet time to remember why we do what we do and for Whom we do it.

Respectfully,
Canon Julie Young

Canon for Finance and Administration and Diocesan Treasurer

jyoung@edsd.org

Housing Resolutions

Don't forget to have your vestry pass a housing resolution for your priests so that they can benefit from the income tax exemption on the cost of housing. Templates can be found here: edsd.org/housingallowance. New to this page on the diocesan website is a housing resolution tailored for clergy living in rectories.

Personnel Management Resources

The personnel committee of the diocese has been hard at work this year developing templates and instructions for new employee materials; you can find them here: edsd.org/newemployees/. The volunteer and independent contractor agreements are here: www.edsd.org/hr. In addition, the Church Pension Group has created an administrator resource center on their website at www.cpg.org/arc. I encourage you to explore this remarkable offering.

SECA vs FICA

Parish and mission priests are typically employees when it comes to income tax so they should get a W2. However, they are self employed for social security and medicare taxes. Therefore, they should not have FICA taken out of their paycheck nor should you as the employer pay the employer portion of FICA for your clergy members.

Audit Guidelines

Many of you are still finishing up your 2012 audits but the audit planning group has been busy refining the 2013 guidelines. These are available at edsd.org/audit/. You will receive audit binders in early February; audit training will take place at the Building Vital Congregations Day on March 15.

Parochial Reports

You should receive your parochial report form from the Episcopal Church soon if you have not already. We will offer webinar training on how to pull together the parochial report financial information on Wednesday, January 15 at 3 p.m. If you would like to participate; email Rosa Feeney by January 10. Parochial reports are due Saturday, March 1. This year, please provide your 2013 financial statement (reconciling the financials with the parochial report) and 2014 budget with your parochial report. Stay tuned!

Imputed Income

Don't forget to ask your payroll provider to report life insurance imputed income for your clergy on their W2 - box 12c.

Limited-Time Interest-Free Amnesty Period Ends December 31, 2014

The Church Pension Fund is providing a special amnesty period through December 31, 2014 during which employers or individuals can make late payments interest-free. If you, or one of your employees, wishes to take advantage of this opportunity, please contact the client engagement team at (855) 215-5990, Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 8 p.m. ET, (excluding holidays). As of January 1, 2014, The Church Pension Fund will allow a cleric or lay employee to get credit for service and compensation earned for assessments more than two years in arrears provided the assessments are paid in full, with interest.

Benefit Administrator Survey Reminder

The Church Pension Group (CPG) would like your feedback via a short (10- to 15-minute) survey of parish personnel who have benefits-related responsibilities. This survey will help CPG better understand your responsibilities and needs, so they can tailor resources and information to help you. No two congregations are alike, and CPG wants to hear from all types and sizes of congregations. Please note that the survey will first request your congregation's name by diocese and city. After identifying your congregation's name, your parochial report ID will be populated by default. Please choose the prepopulated ID number to continue the survey. To participate in the survey, please click on this link: http://survey.cpg.org/s3/benefits-administrator-survey .

Build Your Vestry

January vestry elections are right around the corner. Here are some tools from the Episcopal Church Foundation to help you find the right vestry members: Vestry Discernment Process.

The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego and its employees do not provide, and none of the information furnished in this email should be viewed as investment, tax, or legal advice. The content of this email is provided for your information purposes only.

The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego | 619-481-5453 | jyoung@edsd.org | www.edsd.org
2728 Sixth Avenue, San Diego, CA 92103

~ Serving and Assisting Financial and Administrative Leaders ~