Clergy Finances Are Their Own Discipline. That’s All We Do.
Tax preparation for ministers. Financial wellness programs for the denominations that serve them.
Housing allowance. Dual tax status. Form 4361. The 403(b)(9). None of it works like it does for anyone else, and almost no one in financial services has a reason to learn it.
Our entire practice is dedicated to pastors — because the people who spend their lives covering us spiritually deserve to be covered financially.
I'm a minister.
Your return has clergy-specific rules on it, and most preparers have never seen them. Tax preparation, review, and the Social Security opt-out decision.
I serve on a church board or handle our payroll.
Most compensation problems start at the church, not the return. Board training, payroll review, and compensation structure.
I lead a denomination, judicatory, or foundation.
Financial readiness assessment, cohort curriculum, and webinar series for the pastors in your care.
The Problem Isn't That Pastors Are Bad With Money
It's that no one ever taught them a system that works differently from everyone else's — and then asked them not to talk about it.
In the largest study of its kind, the National Association of Evangelicals and Grey Matter Research surveyed 4,249 pastors and found that:
90%
carry financial stress in their family life or their ministry
85%
received no financial training in seminary
76%
personally know a pastor who left ministry over financial pressure
Those numbers describe a training gap, not a character problem. Which is good news, because training gaps are fixable.
Source: National Association of Evangelicals / Grey Matter Research, 2016.
Tax Preparation for Ministers
We prepare minister returns. That's the entire practice — no corporate work, no general clients, no ministers squeezed in around a general book.
A generalist preparer sees one or two clergy returns a year, which means they've never had reason to learn how a housing allowance gets designated, why unreimbursed expenses still matter for self-employment tax, or how an allowance set too high can quietly cost a pastor with children the refundable Child Tax Credit.
This is our whole world.
Full-service preparation, nationwide and fully remote
The Pastor Tax Review — a specialist's read of the return you already filed
Guidance on the Social Security opt-out, before you make a decision you can't take back
New client applications open in September and close when the season is full.
For the Organizations That Serve Pastors
You've built health plans, retirement plans, and pension boards. You've run sabbatical programs and clergy care initiatives. And you still have pastors in financial distress who will never raise their hand.
That silence isn't a communication failure. It's what happens when a profession learns that admitting financial strain sounds like admitting a lack of faith. By the time it surfaces, it usually surfaces as a resignation.
Clergy financial wellness is infrastructure, not benevolence — and it requires competence in a tax and compensation structure that generic financial education simply doesn't address.
Financial Readiness Assessment
A diagnostic across your pastoral network: what your clergy actually understand, where the gaps sit, and what it would take to close them. Organizations in a Lilly ECFPL planning-grant year use this as the evidence base for an implementation proposal.
$4,500
Webinar Series
Clergy-specific financial education delivered live to your pastors, on your calendar.
$1,500–1,800 per session
Cohort-based financial educationThe Shepherd's Blueprint
A structured curriculum built to be facilitated by trained peer leaders inside your own network rather than delivered by an outside consultant indefinitely.
Speaking & Training
Denominational gatherings, judicatory events, clergy retreats, foundation conferences, and church administrator associations.
Recent and upcoming:
WatersEdge
The Anglican Church in North America
UMC Dakotas-Minnesota
For Firms and Professionals Who Serve Clergy
If your firm serves ministers, you've run into the same wall everyone does: clergy compensation and taxation don't behave like anything else, and there's no good training available for advisors who want to get it right.
I license clergy-specific tools and deliver training to firms, tax professionals, and advisors working with ministerial clients — so the pastors in your book get advice built on how their situation actually works.
Who You're Working With
I'm Seth Scott. I came to this work from twenty years inside churches — as a worship director and a church board member, which means I've sat on the side of the table where compensation gets decided, and I've seen how rarely anyone in the room understands what they're actually deciding.
I'm not a pastor. But I've spent enough time next to them to know that the person carrying everyone else's crisis usually has no one carrying theirs.
Tax practice devoted exclusively to ministers
20+ years of ministry experience as a worship leader and church board member
Exclusive focus on pastoral finances and taxation—including tax regulations, housing allowances, and church retirement plans
Start With Something Free
Housing Allowance Optimizer
Model your designation before your board votes on it.
Pastor Tax Estimator
See how much you’re actually paying in SECA taxes.
CPA Interview Guide
The questions to ask a preparer before you hire them.
Quarterly webinars
Free, live, and recorded. Join the newsletter to get notified when webinars are coming up.
Covering Financially Those Who Cover Us Spiritually
Every pastor I work with was doing something else with the hours they now spend on other people's crises. Somebody should be looking after the one doing the looking after.
Contact Us
Let’s talk to discuss next steps for you or your organization.