2003-253A - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

employee who is paid $ 100 or more in a calendar year.!' Services performed by diocesan priests in the exercise of their ministry are not considered "employment" for FICA (Social Security) purposes ,§' and FICA should not be withheld from their salaries . For Social Security purposes, diocesan priests are subject to self-employment tax ("SECA") on their salaries as well as on the value of meals and housing or housing allowances provided to themA' Neither FICA nor income tax withholding is required on remuneration paid to religious institutes for members who are subject to vows of poverty and obedience and are employed by organizations included in the Official Catholic Directory. ''-' 7. Form 990 . All organizations included in the OCD must file Form 990 , Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, unless they are eligible for a mandatory or discretionary exception . There is no automatic exemption from the Form 990 filing requirement simplybecause an organization is listed in the OCD. Organizations required to file Form 990 must do so by the 15th day of the fifth month after the close of their fiscal year.8' Among the organizations not required to file Form 990 under section 6033 of the Code are : churches , integrated auxiliaries of churches9'; the exclusively religious activities of religious orders; schools below college level affiliated with a church or operated by a religious Section 3121 (w) of the Code permits certain church-related organizations to make an irrevocable a lection to a void p ayment of FICA taxes, b ut o my if s uch o rganizations a re opposed for relisrious masons to payment of social security taxes. 5 LR. C. § 3121(b)(8)(A). 6 LR. C. § 1402(a)(8). Rev. Rul. 77-290, 1977"2 C. B. 26. 8 The penalty for failure to rile the Form 990 is $20 for each day the failure continues, up to a maximum of $10, 000 or 5 percent of the organization 's gross receipts, whichever is less. However, organizations with annual gross receipts in excess of $1 million are subject to penalties of $100 per day, up to a maximum of $50, 000. I. R. C. § 6652(c)(1)(A). 9 1, R* C. § 6033(6)(2)(A)(i); Treas. Reg. § 1. 6033-2(h). Effective December20, 1995, the internal support test formerly contained in Rev. Proc, 86-23, 1986- 1 C.B. 564, is the sole test for determining whether an organization quaffies as an integrated auxiliary of a church. To qualify, an organization must be described in section 501 (c)(3), qualify as otherthan a private foundation, be affiliated with a church, and qualify as internally supported. An organization W11 be considered internally supported unless it both: (1) Offers admissions, goods, services, or facilities for sale, other than on an incidental basis, to the general public (except goods, services, or facilities sold at a nominal charge or substantially below cost), and (2) normally receives more than 50 percent of its support from a combination of governmental sources; public solicitation of contributions (such as through a community fund drive); and receipts from the sale of admissions, goods, performance of services, or furnishing of facilities in activities that are not unrelated trades or businesses. -3-