Clergy self-employment (SECA) tax calculator
Ministers pay self-employment tax on their salary and their housing allowance — even though the housing allowance is exempt from income tax. Enter the numbers to estimate the SECA bill, unless the minister has opted out.
Enter a salary and housing allowance to estimate the SECA tax.
Estimate only, not tax advice. Assumes ministerial income with no other Social-Security wages and that the minister has not opted out. The 0.9% additional Medicare tax on high earners isn't included.
How clergy self-employment tax is figured
Ministers have a "dual tax status": they're employees for income tax (a W-2), but self-employed for Social Security, so they pay SECA — the full 15.3% — on their ministerial earnings instead of having FICA split with an employer. The SECA base is salary plus the housing allowance, minus unreimbursed ministerial business expenses. That base is multiplied by 92.35% (the Schedule SE adjustment), then taxed at 15.3% — 12.4% for Social Security up to the annual wage base ($184,500 in 2026) and 2.9% for Medicare with no cap (IRS: Self-Employment Tax).
Why a pastor gets surprised by this bill
Because the housing allowance escapes income tax, a minister's income-tax withholding can look fine while SECA on the full salary-plus-housing goes uncovered. The usual fix is quarterly estimated payments or extra voluntary withholding. A minister who has formally opted out of Social Security with Form 4361 owes no SECA on ministerial income — for everyone else, it's 15.3%.
Clean clergy-pay records, automatically
Vestrybooks keeps salary and housing-allowance records straight all year, so the numbers behind a minister's SECA and quarterly estimates are always at hand.
Common questions
- Do pastors pay self-employment tax on the housing allowance?
- Yes. The housing allowance is exempt from income tax but still counts toward self-employment (SECA) earnings, unless the minister opted out with Form 4361.
- What is the clergy self-employment tax rate?
- 15.3% — 12.4% for Social Security (up to the annual wage base) and 2.9% for Medicare — applied to 92.35% of net ministerial earnings.
- Is half of SECA deductible?
- Yes. Ministers deduct one-half of the self-employment tax as an income-tax adjustment, the same as other self-employed people.