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Disclosing Church Salaries
Do churches need to publicly report church employee's pay, including the pastor?

Frank Sommerville responds in our Ask the Experts discussion.


Try also:
Employee, Finance, Financial confidentiality, Pastor, Payment
Posted:
3/24/2010
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Question:
Can the salaries of church employees, including the pastor, be disclosed to the congregation in financial reports? Does the privacy act apply to church salaries?

Answer:
No statute requires church employee salaries to be disclosed to the public. In general, no statute requires the salaries of individual church employees to be disclosed to members in financial reports.

Members may have a right under state law to receive "books and records" for a proper purpose after reasonable written notice. Whether "books and records" includes the disclosure of individual salaries will be determined by the proper purpose.

Churches are exempt from filing Form 990. If the church elects to file Form 990, the church must disclose the individual compensation of certain employees.

This response was prepared on 3/8/2010. It is provided as information and not to be considered legal advice.



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