Sample Housing Allowance Resolution for Church Boards
Last updated September 8, 2026 · Written for tax year 2026
Fill in the church, the minister, the year, and the amount, and the sample below updates as you type. Copy it into the minutes or the agenda, or print it for the meeting.
HOUSING ALLOWANCE RESOLUTION (sample: review with your board and a tax professional)
Resolved, that of the total compensation to be paid to [Minister's name] for the calendar year 2027, the amount of $__________ is hereby designated as a housing allowance pursuant to Section 107 of the Internal Revenue Code. This designation shall be effective for calendar year 2027 and all future years unless otherwise provided by this board. Adopted by the governing board of [Church name] on ____________________ (date must be before the first payment of 2027 compensation).
The last sentence of the sample makes the designation continue into future years. Treat that as a safeguard, not a substitute: the board should still set a fresh amount before each year begins.
What a designation has to include
Three things have to be true:
- In advance. The church decides before it pays you, not after.
- A definite amount. Something like $2,500 per month, or $30,000 for the year. Not "whatever the pastor spends on his house."
- Official action. The board actually votes, and someone writes it into the minutes.
IRS Publication 517 says that decision can live in your employment contract, in board or business-meeting minutes, in the church budget, or in any other official action taken before payment. What does not count is a conversation. A handshake in the hallway, a text from the treasurer, an understanding everyone has had for years: none of that is a designation.
The cleanest version is a written board resolution, recorded in the minutes, passed in December for the year ahead. That is what ECFA and Church Law & Tax both recommend.
Read the full answer: How must a housing allowance be designated, and can it be changed mid-year?
Changing it during the year
Can you change it in the middle of the year? Yes. Say you have been renting, you buy a house in June, and now you have a mortgage payment, property taxes, and a water heater that just died. Your housing costs jumped. Your allowance can jump too. The same body that set the original amount votes on the new one and records it in dated minutes.
There is one hard limit. The new amount only counts going forward. It applies to payments made after the vote, and it cannot reach back and relabel money the church already paid you. A June increase helps you from June on. It does nothing for January through May.
Read the full answer: How must a housing allowance be designated, and can it be changed mid-year?
The mistake that voids a designation
Sources
- IRS Publication 517, Clergy and Religious Workers (opens in a new tab) (https://www.irs.gov/publications/p517)
- IRS FAQ: Ministers' Compensation and Housing Allowance (opens in a new tab) (https://www.irs.gov/faqs/interest-dividends-other-types-of-income/ministers-compensation-housing-allowance)
- Treasury Regulation 1.107-1, Rental value of parsonages (Cornell Law School) (opens in a new tab) (https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/1.107-1)