Clergy Finances Are Their Own Discipline. That’s All We Do.
I help churches pay their pastors correctly – and I take care of the pastors once they do.
Housing allowance. Dual tax status. Form 4361. None of it works the way it does for anyone else – and most church payroll was set up by someone who'd never done it for a minister. So the mistake starts at the church and shows up on the pastor's return, year after year, until somebody looks.
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 pastor.
One glance at your pay stub tells me whether your church is paying you correctly. Send it over – it's free, and you'll get a one-page answer within 5 business days. If your return needs help too, that's what the tax practice is for.
I serve on a church board or handle our payroll.
Most compensation problems start at the church, not the return. I review how you pay your pastors, help you fix what's off, and check it every year so it stays fixed.
I lead a denomination, judicatory, or foundation.
Sponsor Blueprint seats for the pastors in your care, or pass the free pay stub check to your churches. No contract cycle.
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
I prepare returns for ministers. New clients are ministers only – no corporate work, no church filings, no pastors 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. The Pastor Tax Review is open year-round – including February through April.
The Shepherd's Blueprint
Most financial education for pastors is general financial education with a clergy chapter stapled to the back. The Blueprint is the other way around: eight sessions built from the ground up on how ministry income actually works, in a small online group of pastors that I host myself.
Pastors leave with a plan across nine parts of their financial picture – several of them already done – and usually with at least one thing corrected that had been quietly costing them money for years. Churches can reserve seats for their pastors, or pastors can enroll themselves and ask their church to help.
How the Blueprint works →
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
The Baptist Foundation of California
“Seth Scott brings clarity and expertise to the unique financial and tax challenges ministers face. He distills complex topics into practical, easy-to-understand guidance that pastors can act on with confidence.”
— Bobby Hart, President, Ministry Services, WatersEdge
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 how pastors are paid and taxed – housing allowances, church payroll, and clergy tax returns
Start With Something Free
Housing Allowance Optimizer
Model your designation before your board votes on it.
Free Pay Stub Check
Send me your pay stub. I'll tell you, free, whether your church is paying you correctly.
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.