The GOP tax law will make churches and nonprofits pay taxes for the first time

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published 26 June 2018

Churches, synagogues, and other nonprofits are subject to a new 21 percent tax on some types of employee benefits (like parking, transit passes, and gym memberships) under the GOP tax reform plan, and for many — including religious leaders and lawmakers who passed the bill — the change has gone unnoticed for months.

Now that word is getting out, some 600 nonprofit and religious groups have signed a petition asking for its repeal, and Rep. Michael Conaway (R-Texas) has already introduced legislation to that end.

In theory, the tax took effect in January and should be paid quarterly, but the IRS has yet to release detailed guidelines for its interpretation, and the institutions affected are unsure of how to proceed. For example, does the garage at a parsonage count as a parking benefit? Or if a university runs buses around campus, is that a taxable transit cost? For smaller organizations and congregations in particular, compliance may be difficult.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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