14 Best Church Payroll Software Reviewed For 2024

The great thing about using this app is that it files your taxes for you. Every time you run payroll, the solution files your tax sheets with the right federal or state agencies. The software keeps track of tax changes, so you don’t have to worry about misfilings. Xero is an online accounting solution that doubles as a nonprofit accounting software. The platform has a beautiful build that’s easy to navigate and understand, so you should be able to find and use most of its features with minimal training.

The Best Church Accounting Software of 2024

• Meanwhile, clergy staff members (like priests and ministers) are exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes.
• In this article, we’ll start by covering common problems with church payroll.
• Generally, duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed ministers of a church in the exercise of their ministry are considered employees for federal income tax reporting purposes.
• Church payroll software enables you to automate your payroll and simplify your tax filing process.
• Deel’s ability to handle multiple currencies and payment methods, including cryptocurrencies, may also be beneficial for churches with diverse payment needs.
• This service is provided on a case-by-case basis, so please contact us for a consultation and quote.

MinistryWorks also includes health care reports, employee eligibility status tracking, and more. Besides the Affordable Care Act (ACA) report feature, the software can manage tax withholdings and deductions. One of the great things about this software is that it guides you through the payroll process. You can set up special clergy allocations and benefits, and you can also group employees who earn similar rates for faster processing.

Other Church Payroll Options

• Still, most users appreciate the platform’s responsive customer support.
• FreshBooks is the perfect accounting and payroll all-in-1 solution for small businesses and churches.
• Robie Ann Ferrer is an HR expert writer at Fit Small Business, focusing on small business HR and payroll software content.
• However, you can delete a client to make room for more, then easily undelete recurring clients as you need to invoice them.
• Decide whether your church can thrive despite any weaknesses reviewers mention.
• Other features you may want to consider include whether the software has a mobile app, how good its customer service is and how well it does with accounts receivable (A/R) and financial reporting.
• Or, you want to give them a year-end gift to reward them for their service.

Church payroll software is a type of tool used to manage payroll processes for a church’s staff and employees. MinistryWorks is a church payroll software specializing in clergy and ministry tax law. It runs payroll and handles all federal, state, and local tax filings. While it has dedicated payroll support and a generally easy-to-use platform, MinistryWorks has basic HR tools and limited integration options. It also charges fees per pay run, which can make it a bit pricey for religious organizations that pay workers every week.

Track any additions and subtractions to employee wages.

The only downfall here is the limitations on the number of clients you can invoice at one time. However, you can delete a client to make room for more, then easily undelete recurring clients as you need to invoice them. FreshBooks’ award-winning customer support means you never struggle to get assistance. You can expect a live human to answer the phone within two seconds, then zero hold time. Before a human answers, there are no endless runarounds with prerecorded messages and requests to push different buttons.

• Nonprofits such as churches even receive a discount on the software through TechSoup, which is a nonprofit tech marketplace.
• Plus, it calculates salaries and deductions for both clergy and non-clergy employees, including contract workers.
• PowerChurch Plus is an all-in-one church management software with dedicated payroll features.
• To understand today’s rules – from IRS nonprofit compliance to compensation, to retirement – you need specialized help.
• We’re also dedicated to outstanding customer service when providing payroll for churches, and we will do whatever it takes to get the job done right the first time.

And positive staff experiences help your church members be more effective. As a 2017 Salesforce report shows, employees who benefit from positive work experiences are 4.6 times more likely to “give it their all” at work. Preference was given to software with built-in basic payroll reports and customization options. Expenses for health care, soul care, massages, restorative trips, and sabbaticals are taxable fringe benefits you need to capture as income. Sometimes, we’ll notice a church pays an individual contractor something to the tune of $50,000 a year! This person may be a contractor, but in many cases, we find people like this have risen to employee status.

Online offer letter templates are available once you’ve selected a qualified candidate to hire. You can also start the onboarding process, allowing your new employee to complete new hire paperwork and requirements online. ChurchShield has partnered with Summit Church for nearly a decade, working hand in hand with us to manage the many complexities of our organization. The individuals on their staff have taken the time to thoroughly understand our organization and have become crucial members of our team.

Do churches use cash or accrual accounting?

Church payroll can be complicated because of the unique tax status of churches and clergy. To ensure you’re taking advantage of the special benefits afforded your organization and staying compliant with IRS rules, it may be helpful to outsource your payroll to a third-party provider. If you decide to https://www.bookstime.com/ go this route, Complete Payroll Solutions may be a good fit for you. There are an estimated 380,000 churches in the US plus over 80,000 religious charities and nonprofits. If you’re one of these organizations, then you have some unique considerations when it comes to payroll for church employees.

Who should be included on the church’s payroll?

That leads into Step 6 … if you have a great payroll platform, that platform will typically file those forms on your behalf. But some churches, often innocently, think it’s OK to game the system. They pay church payroll an employee less but consider part of that pay a housing allowance. Because of a pastor’s dual tax status, the employee won’t have to pay income tax on that amount, giving them an artificial pay raise.

Bookkeeping means recording these actions to allow churches to pull reports to inform donors and the government on their financial history easily. Quicken is best for churches needing full-featured premium accounting software on a tight budget. It is also best for churches that use separate HR and payroll software or that have few employees for whom they must process payroll. If you want a simple payment plan for church payroll plus some HR features, then OnPay is an excellent choice. It offers a single affordable pricing plan as well as a free trial for new customers, which also includes white glove set-up 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.

• The best accounting software programs all provide similar features, so when considering which one is best for your business, you need to consider which features are the most important to your situation.
• It’s easy to update personal details, view pay stubs, and access important tax documents at any time through the employee portal.
• Administrators get access to automatic tax filings and payments and employee benefit plans.
• OnPay’s full-service payroll makes it easy for religious organizations to pay both clergy and non-clergy employees.
• Its platform also doesn’t connect with church management systems as Gusto does, and some of its time tracking and accounting integrations cost extra.
• In addition to payroll processing, we also offer numerous HR resources to help make related administrative tasks more straightforward and less time-consuming.