The IRS says that payments to them come before tithing to your church, and the Tax Court agreed.
So, what happened is that a taxpayer had quite a bit of liabilities against him, and entered into an Installment Agreement with the IRS. Typically, when you enter into an installment agreement, you let the IRS know your total monthly income and your necessary expenses. This taxpayer reported that and included his 10% tithe in his monthly expenses. The taxpayer worked at the church he tithed to. The IRS and the Tax Court said that they “did not accept taxpayer’s argument that he was required to tithe as a condition of his voluntary employment or that tithing uplifted his spiritual health since he provided no evidence of specific spiritual benefits that would be affected if he ceased tithing.” They disallowed the tithe as a part of his monthly expenses.
What do you think? Should the IRS decide what is a necessary expense for you? Or do you think that this would make too big of a loophole for people to jump through?
