In the moment — scan it
The hardware store hands you a receipt: open the iPhone app, tap Scan a receipt, point the camera, approve what it reads. Ten seconds, and the record is made before the receipt fades.
A pastor's setup guide
Three numbers. Three places. About twenty minutes.
Your housing allowance stands on three numbers, and each one has a home in ClergyTrak. This page walks you to each door: what to bring, where to type it, and how you'll know it's done. Your Command Center is the scoreboard — each number you set turns another dot green.
There is a fourth number that isn't part of this page, and it surprises more pastors than any of the three: self-employment tax (SECA). For Social Security and Medicare you count as self-employed, so your church generally cannot withhold FICA as employer on ministerial wages — and housing that is excluded from federal income tax still counts in your self-employment tax base unless Form 4361 is approved. You may ask for extra income-tax withholding (Form W-4) toward that SE liability. Nobody tells ministers this. See what it means for your paycheck →
New here entirely? Start with the welcome for pastors — it explains the why.
The ask
The board designation
This is the amount your church officially sets aside from your pay for housing — decided in advance and recorded in writing (a line in the board minutes, or your employment agreement). If you don't know your number, this is the one question to go ask.
And here is the coaching most pastors never get: ask generously. A designation set too low quietly caps your whole benefit, and it cannot be raised for months already lived. A generous one is safe: whatever you don't end up using is simply reported as taxable income when you file — your preparer lists it as "excess allowance" — while an amount the board never designated can never be excluded. Too low is the costly direction. So: generous, in writing, before the year starts.
"For next year, I'd like the board to designate $______ of my salary as housing allowance — recorded in the minutes before January. If my actual housing costs come in lower, the unused portion is simply reported as taxable income. But if it's set too low, the months already paid are capped for good — an amendment can only help going forward." A sentence you can say (or send) to your board chair. Need help finding the right figure? The Church Board Report does the math and drafts resolution language your board can adopt.
Where it goes
iPhone app: Settings tab (in the Housing workspace) → Housing Allowance → Designated Allowance → Edit settings → type the number → Save Changes.
For a past year you've recorded expenses in: Reports tab → tap that year → Designated Allowance.
Done when the second dot on your Command Center turns green.
The habit
Your actual expenses
What you really spend on your home — mortgage or rent, utilities, repairs, furnishings. Receipts prove it. This number is built three ways, and you'll likely use all three:
The big ones — let them enter themselves
Your mortgage or rent is the largest housing number you have. Don't type it twelve times — set it once: in the app's Housing workspace, Settings → Recurring expenses → Add recurring expense. Fixed amounts log themselves every month; variable ones like utilities simply prompt you when they're due, with your last few amounts shown.
The months behind you — catch up in one sitting
Starting mid-year? Don't reconstruct it from memory. Catch-up asks which month to start from, lets you toggle on your regular bills — mortgage, electric, water, internet — and fills in every month you've already lived, laid out for review before anything saves. Or import a bank statement (photo or CSV) and check off the housing lines it finds.
Done is a direction here, not a destination — the first dot turns green as qualifying entries land, and your totals climb all year.
The ten minutes
Fair Rental Value
What your home would rent for — furnished, plus utilities. Almost nobody documents it, yet it can be the ceiling on your whole benefit even when your receipts and your board's designation are both higher.
Here's the advantage of doing it properly: when tax time asks for this number, the usual answer is a one-line letter from a realtor friend — bare unfurnished rent, no furnishings premium, no utilities, and nothing on file showing how the number was reached. ClergyTrak builds yours from live rental comparables near your own address, adjusts for furnishings and utilities, and keeps the sources on file. A number with receipts of its own.
What to have handy
Your address · beds and baths · square footage · a rough figure for your annual utilities. That's it — the guided steps do the research.
Where it goes
Command Center → Fair Rental Value. Answer the guided steps, then finish with "Save estimate to my tax year." Free includes one live estimate per property each year for planning. ClergyTrak Pro carries that number into the Church Board Report and the year-end packet for your CPA, with the source packet behind them.
Get ProDone when the third dot turns green — and the ring on your Command Center closes.
That's the whole setup
Twenty minutes. Three green dots. A January already grateful.
You don't have to do all three today — every one you set makes the next one easier, and your Command Center will gently show you what's still open.
Organizational guidance, not tax advice · Review decisions with a qualified professional when needed