Benefits Summary 2023

1/11/2023 - Benefits Briefing
Benefits Briefing


Welcome to the first edition of BENEFITS BRIEFING – a quarterly (or more) newsletter to update pastors, treasurers, SPRC chairpersons, office administrators and others on upcoming news regarding pension and insurance benefits for clergy serving our local churches.
 
If you have a new treasurer as of January 1st, 2023, please contact Lisa Adler at ladler@wisconsinumc.org or 608-837-7320 to give her the new treasurer’s contact information. And…do us a favor and please forward this newsletter along to them!!

Summary (Click to jump-to section)

2023 Benefit Billing Announcements

The 2023 pastoral benefits billing amounts are now available online through Ministry Financials (the same place you can make apportionment payments online). Treasurers received an email from Lisa Adler (ladler@wisconsinumc.org). Individual snippets of billing statements will not be sent to churches and treasurers.
 
These amounts include items billed by the Conference Finance Office.

  • MEDICAL BENEFITS – insurance, vision, dental, and medical reimbursement plans (H.S.A., MRA, DCA)  Please note:
  1.  This year the church/charge portion of medical insurance or $1335/month will be listed separately from the pastor’s personal portion of the medical insurance premium.
  2. Please refer to your Pastoral Compensation Form from Church Conference to determine how much the church is paying of any personal medical costs as an additional benefit. This is not required, but this will help determine how much is the church’s responsibility and how much should be taken as a payroll deduction.
  • CRSP – (Clergy Retirement Security Program) pension for ¾ time and full-time pastors
  • CPP – (Comprehensive Protection Plan) death and disability plan for ¾ time and full-time pastors
  • UMPIP – (United Methodist Personal Investment Plan) – the church portion of pension paid for pastors appointed 25% and 50%

 
After you review your statement of benefits for January 2023, please let us know right away if you see any errors. 
 
Pastors’ personal contributions to UMPIP will be billed directly to the church by Wespath

Ministry Financials Access

If you don’t already have access to Ministry Financials to review your benefits and apportionment statements each month, please:

  1. Go to the link for Ministry Financials:  https://umcdata.net/MissionConnect/Public/RcvWeb/#/login (the link is also included in the email every month. I have it saved as a favorite for easy clicking).
  2. The username for your church is your six digit GCFA number (Ex: 693421)
  3. The original password was the conference number, which has expired now.   Use it to start logging in and, then, you can set a new password.
  4. When you first login you will see this next page.  This is where you set a new password. 
Once you change your password, we cannot see it on our side. We can only tell you how long your password is. There is only one password per church. We can reset your password if you forgot, but please write it down. If you share it with the pastor or another staff member, remember that you need to share just one password per church.

Once you get logged in after setting the new password, you will see this next picture (minus the highlight). The highlight shows the current statement at the top of the list. When you click on that, it opens a PDF of the statement that you can save to your computer or print or both. This screen is “live”. When payments are entered during the month, they update on the main screen. The statements are set at the last day of the previous month and don’t update until new statements are calculated and entered. 

This example is for a church that only views apportionment statements. If you are a church that pays benefits for your church/charge, the Monthly Statements block on the upper right-hand side of the next picture will show “Giving” Statements and Benefits Statements. You can view, save, and print or share these statements each month.

Remember – Apportionments may be paid through Ministry Financial, but not benefits.
 
Benefits are paid by EFT on the 10th, 20th or last business day of each month or by check.
 
If you are still receiving statements in the mail and paying a $5.00 or $10.00 monthly service fee, you might consider arranging for EFT payments. You can still get a monthly statement online through Ministry Financials.
 
To arrange for EFT payments, please contact Lisa Adler, our benefits administrator, at ladler@wisconsinumc.org. Pensions and Medical may each be paid at different times of the month, if that is helpful to your church’s cash flow.

W-2 for Clergy Information

The 2022 version of the W-2 instructions for Clergy Taxes will not be available until sometime in mid-January. However, the basic instructions have not changed. Please refer to this document on the website for instructions on correctly preparing the W-2 for your clergy person.
 
https://www.wisconsinumc.org/files/documents/finance/w2+instructions+-+clergy+-+with+examples.pdf
 
If your pastor is a lay supply pastor and is not licensed or ordained, you will prepare their W-2 as you would for any other employee, withholding for income tax and paying 50% of their FICA and Medicare taxes.

For more information on clergy tax issues, housing allowance and parsonage furnishing allowances, please review the various items available at https://www.wisconsinumc.org/handling-church-finances

Calculating Clergy Pensions – CRSP, CPP and UMPIP

One of the most frequently asked questions is how the clergy pension payments are calculated. They are not a straight percentage of cash salary. They are based on a Wespath term, which is PLAN COMPENSATION.
 
Here is an explanation of how to calculate Plan Compensation:
 

  • Plan compensation is calculated as follows: 
    • With housing allowance: Cash salary + housing allowance + the amount the church/charge pays toward the personal portion of the pastor’s health insurance premium + the amount paid for clergy personal expenses= Plan Compensation
    • With parsonage: Cash salary + the amount the church/charge pays toward the personal portion of the pastor’s health insurance premium) x 1.25= Plan Compensation
    • For both – also add in any personal expenses paid for the pastor, which are listed on Line 6 of the pastoral compensation form
  • Pastors appointed Full-time or ¾ time, receive the church’s contribution toward their CRSP (Clergy Retirement Security Program). They also qualify for the death and disability benefit through CPP (Comprehensive Protection Plan).  
    • CRSP = 12% of plan compensation
    • CPP = 2.0% of plan compensation (2.4% in 2022)
  • Pastors appointed 25% and 50% receive the church’s contribution of 6% of Plan Compensation toward their UMPIP account. (UMPIP = United Methodist Personal Investment Program). 
 
This information is found on the Conference Website on the charge Conference support page at https://www.wisconsinumc.org/charge-conference-forms-support
 
The church or charge’s responsibility for CRSP and CPP for full-time and ¾ time pastors and the 6% church/charge contribution to UMPIP for part-time pastors pension will all be billed to the church by the Conference Finance Office.
  • All pastors – including those 25% and 50% -- make personal contributions to their UMPIP account. This amount is billed directly to the church by Wespath each month.

So…why do part-time pastor’s churches get billed for 2 different UMPIP amounts?   

One is for the church’s contribution to the pastor’s pension – billed by the Conference Finance Office at 6% of pastor’s Plan Compensation. And, the second is for the pastor’s personal contribution to their pension through UMPIP.
 
ALL pastors, full and part-time make personal contributions to their pension through UMPIP.

These contributions are to be handled as a payroll deduction, based on what the pastor has chosen. They may choose:

  1. A percentage of 2% or more of their Plan Compensation or a
  2. Flat Dollar Amount ($$) equal to at least 1-2% of Plan Compensation
If a percentage amount, such as the 2% default, is chosen, then the percentage is based on Plan Compensation.
 
If the pastor chooses a specific dollar amount, such as $200/month, that is the amount of the payroll deduction. Please ask your pastor what they have chosen for their personal contribution amount to pension through UMPIP
 
Personal contributions may be designated as: 
  • Before Tax – meaning the entire contribution or payroll deduction is tax-deductible now and should be subtracted from the pastor’s taxable income on Line 1 of their W-2
  • ROTH contributions – meaning the entire payroll deduction is included in the pastor’s taxable income on Line 1 of their W-2

After Tax – meaning the entire payroll deduction is included in the pastor’s taxable income on Line 1 of their W-2

Whether you are new in your role at this church or continuing after several years, we thank you for your ministry and for your attention to these details. May the New Year bring you and all of us signs of new hope and life in Christ.



Blessings,
 
Rev. Jean Ehnert Nicholas
Conference Benefits Officer
Jean.nicholas@wisconsinumc.org
608-478-2554 (direct line)