Diocesan Payroll Service: Procedure for Processing the $25 Remuneration Required to Qualify Eligible Deacons for Church Pension Group Benefits
Please note: if you use the Diocesan Payroll Service for your employees, you must also use the Diocesan Payroll Service to process the $25 per month required to be paid to an eligible deacon to qualify that deacon for CPG benefits. See bottom of this page for information if your congregation does not use the Diocesan Payroll Service for other employees.
Payments Will Be Made Monthly Note: Each payment has a fixed charge of $6. To minimize the associated expense, the diocesan payroll service will therefore process deacons’ $25 per month payments monthly rather twice monthly.
This program commenced on November 1, 2020. Make-up payments for qualifying deacons will, therefore, be made for November and December 2020. Although the Church Pension Fund has agreed to treat these payments for its purposes as if paid on November 1, please note that these payments will be treated for tax purposes as payments made in 2021.
Deacons will be sent a W2 at the end of the year, with all applicable taxes withheld.
FICA Payments
The employer share of the applicable FICA payment will be deducted from the congregation’s account each pay period.
Deacons will be responsible for remitting their share of the FICA payment to the IRS each quarter.
Procedure for Setting Up Payment Your congregation should submit the normal documents required for new hires (please see the right sidebar for download links) to the diocesan payroll office in one packet as soon as possible.
If Your Congregation Does Not Use the Diocesan Payroll Service If your congregation does not use the Diocesan Payroll Service for its employees, you must process the Deacon’s remuneration through your normal payroll process. The Diocesan Payroll Service cannot process the payments for a deacon if your congregation does not use it for all employees.
Please note that
This monthly payment is to be made solely for the purpose of giving eligible deacons access to CPG benefits, and is the exact amount required by the CPG to do so. While for technical and legal reasons it must be handled as compensation, it is the sole exception to the diocesan policy that deacons should not be paid. Neither congregations nor deacons should under any circumstances construe it as indicating any change in that rule.
Congregations may not under any circumstances pay an eligible deacon more than the $25 required to qualify them for CPG benefits and mandated by resolution of Diocesan Convention, nor may they choose not to pay it.
