Paying pastors mileage

I read with interest your recent article about not cutting your pastor’s salary. I agree with most everything you said in the article until you started talking about raising the reimbursement allowance allowed by IRS for minister’s travel. If a church is not providing an adequate salary, then providing the full IRS allowance can be a way to help adjust that and probably to the minister’s advantage.

However, where ministers are being fairly compensated and receiving raises, I make the following points.

First of all, apparently there is a common misconception among many churches that the IRS allowance for reimbursement only covers what is referred to as a fixed cost and operating cost. Fixed costs are car payments, insurance payments, tag, taxes, etc. Operating costs include gas, tires, general maintenance. In other words, what it costs to own and operate a vehicle. Let’s do the math to prove that the IRS allowance covers a lot more that reimbursement for gasoline.

For example, let’s say a minister travels 1,500 miles a month. At the previous rate of 40.5 cents a mile, he would be reimbursed $607.50. Even with gas at $3 a gallon, it does not cost anywhere near this amount for gas and even normal wear and tear. Let’s say that the minister only gets 15 miles per gallon with his vehicle. Driving 1,500 miles getting 15 miles per gallon would mean 100 gallons. Even at $3 a gallon that would be $300. That leaves over $300 a minister would pocket. If this figure is adjusted to 48.5 cents a mile, that would be $727.50 for the 1,500 miles minus the $300 for gas leaving a net of $427.50.

This is enough to make a monthly car payment and an insurance payment. By paying the IRS allowance, in effect, the church is basically contributing substantially toward the purchase of a vehicle.  Now if a church wants to do that — then that is fine. But everyone should be aware of what is actually being done, and it should not be done under the guise that we are just reimbursing a minister for his actual expenses.

To be fair, 25 cents a mile would easily reimburse a minister for his gas and wear and tear on his vehicle. I encourage churches to seriously consider what they are doing in this area. We want to be fair with our ministers, but we need to use God’s money wisely.

Adney Taylor
Selma, Ala.

Editor’s Note — The IRS does consider average fixed costs and average operational costs when calculating the allowable reimbursement costs for automobiles and it should. If the expectations of a church for its pastor require the pastor to have a car in order to meet those expectations, then the church should help pay for both the fixed and operational costs.