Clergy W2 Clarification Housing Allowance SE Tax

[jesmithjr86]

I have limited experience or a lack of confidence.  Any guidance would be helpful.

I believe the W2 is incorrect and before I request a W2C to be prepared I want to be sure.

Box 1 currently contains his gross salary.  I believe it should be reduced by the amount of the housing allowance. Example $77400 less Housing Allowance $30000 = $37400.  Later I will ask about how this impacts SE Tax, Child Tax and Earned Income Tax Credits.

Box 2 Tax Withheld Not sure if this was based on the Gross or Net amount of the Housing Allowance but I believe it should be based on the net amount.

Box 3 and 5 Social Security and Medicare Wages should be blank Box 4 and 6 tax withheld should be 0 but it is not. How do I reflect this on the tax retrun or does the organization need to file an amended 941X?

Box 14 I believe should reflect the housing allowance of 30000.

Box 15 'box 16 and box 17 State income and tax for PA I believe should be the gross income of .0307 %. PA does not exempt housing allowance for tax withheld.

Box 18 and 19 local tax.  Based on the website and a conversation with an employee of the local tax office.  This should reflect net amount of the housing allowance.  When the local return is filed a refund should be due.

I recognize this is a lot of detail and I hope someone in the community can guide me so as to avoid any challenges after filing the return and to have future withholding and W2 to be done correctly.

[TaxGuyBill]

Box 1: Yes.

Box 2: It should be based on Box 1.  But whatever it says was what was actually withheld so there isn't any changing that now.

Boxes 3-6: Yes, they should be zero if this is clergy.  Social Security and Medicare taxes are paid on Schedule SE (unless the taxpayer elected out of the Social Security system).

Box 14: Yes, it should note the housing allowance there.

Box 16:  Yes, if PA taxes the housing, then the gross taxable income should be in Box 16 and then box 17 should be based on Box 16.

Box 18 and 19:  I have no idea.