Jul ’08
03

Where have we been???

01:38 pm | Ps20 | No Comments

WoW… It’s been a long time since I’ve written!

We’ve been traveling like crazy and it’s been a BLAST! Beginning of June we were in Jacksonville, Fl for a week at a convention… Then, a week or so later we were up to Chicago to spend some time working with Kristy. My brother graduated with his MBA from Kellogg School of Management, (ie. Northwestern University) so we were able to go to his graduation while we were up there. Yeah, he’s really smart! Then, we jumped over the big lake to Grand Rapids, Mi to meet with some current customers as well as some really cool folks at Vision360 and Impact church. It was AWESOME! We had a blast and got to meet some really great people!

So… Sorry we’ve been quiet… We’re traveling like crazy and growing, growing, growing! Things are busy, but we’re having a blast and loving every minute of it.

Be on the lookout for our booth at the 2008 Catalyst Conference!

May ’08
23

Ps20 Partners with ADP

10:35 am | Payroll | No Comments

Ps20 Partners with ADP

Here’s one of the beauties of outsourcing… We just finished talks and setup with ADP and are ready to roll out our new payroll products. For the longest time, we’ve been using Intuit payroll services and have been manually processing payroll transactions. Well, with ADP, this whole process is going to be automated. Because we process a certain number of companies (Churches) / employees through payroll, we qualify for all of the same benefits that large companies (ie. 1,000 + employees) get, however at a fraction of the cost. For example, each employee for each church, small business, non-profit, musician, etc. will get a login to our website (securely through ADP) where they can go at any time to get any payroll related information. Lost your paystub? Just login to the website and reprint it. Need a calculator to figure out your allowances? Just login to the website. There are a ton of great new benefits that we will be rolling out over the next several months… And, guess what?

You aren’t going to pay ANY more that what you’re paying now!

Again, even if you’re a church with only 2 people on staff or a company of 1, you get to take advantage of the same benefits that the organizations with 200 people on staff get… And it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg!
This is exciting news, both for US and for you! So, all that being said, we’re going to begin the transition NOW. We’re not waiting! In fact, some of you will even see this take place on your next paycheck! We have a dedicated team of 3 people in the Alpharetta office of ADP who, as we speak, are converting our customers over to their system.
By the way, in case you don’t know, ADP is one of the largest payroll processing companies in the world. They do almost $8 Billion dollars in revenue each year, are publically traded on the NY SE, and have over 600,000 clients. It’s pretty exciting that we get such personalized attention from such a big company.
So, be on the lookout for more payroll related products to roll out. Again, this is just one more way that we are working to make your life easier by alleviating those administrative responsibilities that keep you from focusing on your mission.

May ’08
21

Housing Allowance

10:15 am | Payroll | No Comments

Ok, from time to time there is some confusion regarding housing allowances for Ordained Ministers. I will say, most ordained ministers know this stuff better than us accounting folk… I mean, it is their salary! Anyway, this is our attempt to explain what this looks like…

Housing Allowance

The IRS excludes the costs of renting or maintaining a home from the gross income of a “duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister of a church”. For the sake of simplicity we will use the term “commissioned” throughout this discussion. For all you admin people, per Revenue Ruling 62-171, 1962-2 C.B. 39, the IRS has ruled that an employee holding an administrative position may also qualify for a Housing Allowance under Section 107 of the Code.

The Housing Allowance is limited to the lessor of:

  • The amount designated as Housing Allowance.
  • The amount actually spent on housing expenses.
  • The fair rental value (FRV) of one’s home.

The IRS Regulations say the request must be made in advance of receipt of any monies advanced as a Housing Allowance.

Therefore, in order to properly document a Housing Allowance, the following should be observed:

  • A request for Housing Allowance should be made by the employee to the Board of Elders.
  • The Board of Elders needs to initiate a Housing Allowance as reflected in Board Minutes.
  • A specified dollar amount designated as the Housing Allowance should be mentioned in Board Minutes.

The Church should have a file for each commissioned employee which contains:

  • A worksheet computing the Housing Allowance.
  • A copy of the Ordination Certificate.
  • A copy of an approved Form 4361 (if applied for).

Several other tidbits to note…

  • Housing Allowances can be increased or decreased mid-year.
  • Unused Housing Allowance must be claimed as income when taxes are filed.
  • A good time to review Housing Allowances is during the budgeting process for the coming year.
  • The amount of the Housing Allowance should be based on a percentage of the employee’s salary that might be reasonably spend on housing. For example: a Housing Allowance that equals the employee’s salary will trigger an IRS audit because a person doesn’t reasonably spent 100 percent of his or her salary on housing.

So, it’s typically pretty basic! As always, let us know if you have any questions… We’re always here to help!

May ’08
19

The Swell Season

10:23 pm | Ps20 | 1 Comment

The Swell Season

If you haven’t seen the movie Once, I would highly recommend it. It is truly a great movie… Perhaps one of the best of the year! So, when Audrey and I heard that “The Swell Season” was playing at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, we jumped on it. We ended up purchasing our tickets the day before the show and the concert ended up selling out. So, we had no idea where our seats would be. Box 11, Row 1, Seats C & D. Who knows where that is? When we walked through the front door of the center, the folks scanned our tickets and told us to go down the hallway to the left and give our tickets to the lady standing at the door. So, we did… It seemed like we were walking away from where the crowds were, but oh well, as long as we can hear the music. We showed our tickets to about 5 other ticket takers and they each pointed us further down the hall. Finally, we got to the door to the auditorium and showed our tickets to the seater. He walked us up three stairs and out into the box… Yep, we were those people sitting in the seats where the king and queen usually sit. You know, those weird round box things on the side of the auditorium… Yep, that’s where we sat! The interesting thing was, we had the box that was right at stage level and hung out near the middle. It was dark and the opening act had already started. So, we sat down quitely and listened. She played one more song and the lights came up. I looked to my right to see 3,000 people staring right at us! We were basically sitting on the stage. It was quite uncomfortable, but possibly the best seats I have ever had for a concert. Who would have thunk it… Buy your tickets last minute and end up sitting in the king and queen’s seats. Amazing show! Check out The Swell Season!

May ’08
13

On The Trail

09:44 am | Ps20 | No Comments

Chillin in CampThis weekend my wife and I decided to go on our first hiking trip together. It was quite an experience! We decided to do a point to point on the Benton MacKaye trail. BTW, Benton MacKaye is the guy who basically pioneered the idea of land preservation for recreational purposes. He is also the one who came up with the idea for the Appalachian Trail. The Benton MacKaye trail is actually about 300 miles long, (too much for one weekend) so we decided to do section 1 and 2. This basically starts at Springer Mountain (The same point as the Appalachian Trail head) and hikes about 15 miles up to a suspension bridge over the Toccoa River. Pretty amazing hike!
cookin b-fastThe best part of being in the woods like this is the fact that you are away from everything! No cell phones, computers, TiVo… NOTHING! I brought my cell phone, but it didn’t work! It was amazing! Saturday night there was a HUGE thunder storm. It’s pretty amazing to experience a storm like that in the middle of the night, in the middle of the woods, with your only shelter being a small 2 person tent. Even if something happened (ie. A tornado!) it’s not like we could just hop in the car and drive to safety! We were at least a 2 hour walk to the nearest road and probably a 4 or 5 hour walk to any kind of civilization!
So, all that to say, in a world where we are so technologically driven and so “In Control” of everything, it’s amazing to be in a place where we recognize that we are totally helpless and we are just a small, tiny, little speck. But, yet, for some reason, He loves us!