CLERGY TAX

            Now that 2025 has ended, you have probably received a W-2 form, reporting your taxable wages, any housing allowances and exclusions, and any federal or state income taxes that you had withheld, as well as other tax forms and documents. What has been reported will be used to prepare your income tax returns. There’s really no chance to make any real changes that will help you at this point.

            Even if you are planning to wait until much closer to the “regular” tax due date of April 15^th, or even later in the year if you filed an extension, you should take some time with your tax preparer to see where things stand for you. Have you paid in enough taxes? Do you have copies of all of your unreimbursed business expenses and mileage? Do you have every tax document you should have? Have you calculated your actual housing costs? This will let you prepare in advance.

            But you should also work with your tax professional to do a projection for 2026, and see what you can do to minimize any payments you have to make.

·         Should you have federal and state income taxes withheld from your paychecks?

·         Should you pay quarterly estimated taxes?

·         Have you claimed enough as housing allowance/housing exclusions?

·         Have you calculated your actual housing costs?

·         What is the amount of self-employment tax you’ll have to pay, and how can you spread out the payment of those taxes?

·         Are you tracking your business expenses, submitting them to the church for reimbursement, and providing unreimbursed amounts to your tax preparer?

·         Are you tracking your “business” mileage?

            All of these questions are important to consider and answer and work on now so you can prepare yourself for the filing of your 2025 taxes and while you can make changes and decisions that will help you for 2026!

 

           

Please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or susanranous@unyumc.org if you’d like help with projecting tax consequences based on your income, deductions, etc.!

 

                                             AM I A STEWARD?

            As many (or some) of you may know, I am the Christian Stewardship Specialist at the Upper New York Conference of the United Methodist Church. What does that mean?

            I thought I’d start by defining what a steward is. Merriam Webster says that a steward is “one employed in a large household or estate to manage domestic concerns (such as the supervision of servants, collection of rents, and keeping of accounts); a shop steward; a fiscal agent; an employee on a ship, airplane, bus, or train who manages the provisioning of food and attends passengers; one appointed to supervise the provision and distribution of food and drink in an institution; one who actively directs affairs : manager.”

            To steward is “to act as a steward for: manage; or to perform the duties of a steward.”

            So I think what this means, in its simplest form, is that we are stewards of and for God. That means that because “God created” (Genesis 1:1), we are tasked with caring for and managing those items that are of God for God.

            So, taking those definitions and that understanding, what is a Christian Stewardship Specialist? I think that means that I am tasked with interpreting, teaching and learning about Christian stewardship, and guiding others in the Conference and in the connection in that understanding. I create and lead workshops, writing blogs and articles, and teach classes. I am working on a booklet on ministry shares and have created a curriculum for training stewardship coaches around the conference.

            This is work that I enjoy, and a calling that I must answer to and follow?

            So, are you a steward too?

 

 

 

Feel free to contact me at sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org with any thoughts or questions.

 

 

                                      IT’S A NEW YEAR!

           

            The last time I wrote, we were in December, celebrating Advent and looking forward to Christmas and I gave you a to-do list to consider as you neared the end of the year; things like housing resolutions, year-end giving, copyright licenses, cancellation plans, winter hazards and payroll classifications for employees.

            We are now fully into the new year. Resolutions are something a lot of us do at the beginning of the year. What are we going to commit to? Weight loss? Exercise?

            Did you consider what you might commit to in the new year? Here’s a thought? Maybe don’t call it a resolution. Many resolutions are forgotten early in the year. I don’t know if not calling something a resolution will make a difference, but what if we called it a covenant?

            What’s the difference between a resolution and a covenant?

                        Resolution: a firm decision to do or not to do something:

                        Covenant: promise by a covenant or a pledge

            Many of us in the United Methodist Church start the beginning of a new year with the Wesley Covenant Prayer:

            I am no longer my own, but thine.

            Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

            Put me to doing, put me to suffering.       

            Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,

            exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

            Let me be full, let me be empty.

            Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

            I freely and heartily yield all things

            to thy pleasure and disposal.

            And now, O glorious and blessed God,

            Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

            thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.

            And the covenant which I have made on earth,

            let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

 

            So what if we started the new year considering what we would like to covenant to? I’m thinking, instead of considering how to lose weight, how about we consider what God is asking of us and how we could answer that ask?

 

 

            As a big “list maker”, I took some time at the beginning of the year to write down “topics” that I wanted to covenant to learning more about. I bought (or located in my library) a book for every topic, and I’ve committed to learning more about the eight topics I wrote down. FYI: one of the topics was choosing a book for “fun”. I think God wants me to lighten up a little too!

 

            So what do you think? What are the topics that will help you hear God?

 

 

Feel free to contact me at sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org with any thoughts or questions.