Church Payroll Services

Not only does OnPay offer payroll, it also provides plenty of HR features, although its HR capabilities aren’t as comprehensive as some other alternatives on this list. This is unlike OnPay, Rippling, QuickBooks Payroll, and SurePayroll by Paychex, which have benefits available in all US states. Further, Gusto doesn’t have a dedicated payroll specialist who can help double-check your pay runs, something MinistryWorks offers.

Have you made some mistakes? Here’s how to get your church payroll under control!

• Church payroll can be complicated because of the unique tax status of churches and clergy.
• The platform covers all the financial needs of a church, from payroll service to online donation processing and bank connections.
• The system can automatically calculate wages and applicable tax deductions, create payroll forms, and file payrolls.
• With Gusto, you get unlimited payroll runs as well as the ability to make payroll completely automatic with the AutoPilot function.
• The main downside of the software is its lack of coverage for employee health insurance benefits.

Quicken’s most affordable plans are appropriate for churches because its expensive plans add primarily nonchurch features, such as rental property reports. Realm offers 30 customizable church- and ministry-specific report templates. You can save predefined church reports in the Realm Church Payroll ministry management software, then customize them and save them for reuse. Finally, Realm’s church accounting and payroll reporting software allows churches to select standard accounting reports, then customize them based on time periods, funds, core accounts and departments.

Simplify Your Payroll With Dedicated Software

There are a lot of categories to consider (here’s a good article on fringe benefits), but we often see this with clothing. A pastor will sometimes expense wardrobe purchases meant for the platform. But if you want that $5,000 to be your “net check” to the employee, you’ll need to “gross up” so they receive the full $5,000 while you withhold the correct taxes.

One fee for all our services

MinistryWorks got a 3.69 rating out of 5 in our evaluation, with a perfect score in church-specific features. This is why it’s one of our top picks in our guide to the best church payroll services, for its strong payroll features and its unique church-specific functionality. However, for non-accountants and anyone wanting a really easy to use payroll software…I can also recommend Gusto.

Direct deposit or paychecks

• Integrates with multiple apps, including Aplos church software, 15Five, 7Shifts, ActiveCampaign, Asana, Clover, QuickBooks, and Bonusly.
• Also, list extra financial capabilities your church needs, such as the ability to process payroll, maintain a CRM or categorize restricted funds.
• Also, you are required by law to treat an employee as a singleperson with no exemptions for withholding purposes, if you do not havean employee’s W-4 on file.
• Apart from affordability, the best church payroll services should have features that help ministries pay clergy and non-clergy employees efficiently and, at the same time, be tax compliant.
• Church payroll has unique laws, benefits, and exemptions that make it different from traditional corporate payroll.
• Its full-service payroll system, affordable pricing, tax compliance assistance, and core HR features make it a reliable payroll management system.
• In that case, you can withhold not only income taxes but also estimated self-employment taxes.

Still, the platform remains user-friendly, and church payroll processing is a breeze. A minor disadvantage is the lack of a proper church payroll and tax expert service. Also, you must upgrade to the higher tier to access the local payroll tax-filing services. Employee benefit features include pay-as-you-go employee compensation and a clergy housing allowance. MinistryWorks also includes health care reports, employee eligibility status tracking, and more. Many churches employ hourly (a.k.a. non-exempt) workers who need to track their time and be paid for it.

Also, the live support from the platform’s HR team is only available as a paid add-on. When choosing the best church payroll software for your organization, make a list of must-have and nice-to-have features and prioritize them accordingly. Also, look at your budget and figure out how much you can afford to pay each month for the software. Keep in mind that costs typically increase as you hire more employees, not to mention that add-ons for certain features will also increase the cost further. If you have a strict budget, then you might have to be willing to give up certain features to stay under budget. Tax calculations can be one of the most complicated parts of running payroll manually.

Process and pay U.S. employees automatically.

With it, you can receive payments, automate payment reminders, send recurring invoices, track expenses and mileage, import bank and credit card payments, pull reports, customize invoices and manage contractors. Zoho’s paid plans range from $15 to $240 per month (if billed annually) and add features such as workflow automation, project-expense tracking, tax figuring, in-depth analytics and customizable reports. After reading this article, you’ll have the information you need to set up accurate and compliant church payroll so you can focus your time and energy on furthering your mission. For more guidance about understanding the scope of payroll services—and how they align with your organization’s needs, consider downloading our complete guide to payroll solutions. However, many church-specific features can be a bit difficult to use.

• You can save predefined church reports in the Realm ministry management software, then customize them and save them for reuse.
• All U.S.employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individualthey hire for employment in the United States.
• MinistryWorks’ payroll services are designed to handle the pay processing and tax calculation needs of churches.
• Have them put the extraamount they want withheld from each paycheck on Step 4c in their W-4.
• Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.

Even though they may work for a specific project or period, they do it on their own schedule. And they can provide similar services to other businesses and can accept or turn down work opportunities as they wish. Not only are income taxes not typically withheld, clergy are always self-employed for Social Security purposes, so you won’t withhold the employee share of FICA from their income either. Unlike for-profit businesses, however, you’re not required to pay the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) tax or state unemployment tax. Rippling also offers PEO services for employers that need to manage and administer smaller organizations. You pick and choose which modules you need to create your own customized plan.

MinistryWorks is a payroll and tax solution for churches and ministries. It has in-house experts with clergy tax law experience who can handle church-specific needs like paying housing allowances. A dedicated payroll specialist is assigned to each church to assist them. It is a good option for religious organizations searching for an affordable and reliable payroll solution with experience working with churches. In addition to federal and state taxes, you’ll also need to withhold other deductions like health insurance, dental insurance, and retirement savings. Most https://www.bookstime.com/ services can help you automate these deductions.