Once you are employed in an Episcopal Church institution, Canon law requires your church employer to pay pension assessments to the Church Pension Fund. The Fund's Board of Trustees has set the assessment rate at 18% of your annual compensation package. Failure to keep your assessments paid up-to-date can jeopardize your benefits. As a basis for assessment, your compensation consists of:
Cash salary, the stipend you are paid, including bonuses, one-time cash payments, tuition paid for your dependents, severance and any salary reduction used to fund an annuity or other tax-deferred benefit, such as a TSA or 403(b) plan.
Social Security tax reimbursement (SECA), compensation your employer provides to offset your self-employment taxes.
Utilities, allowances you receive to cover the cost of your utility bills, such as fuel, gas, and electricity, or the amount your employer pays for utilities on your behalf.
Housing, the allowance you receive for this purpose. As we calculate the total compensation on which your assessment is based, it is important for us to know whether or not your housing is provided and if so, how it is provided.
- If your housing is provided rent-free, your housing allowance is assumed at 30% of the total of your cash stipend, Social Security reimbursements, and utilities.
- If both housing and meals are provided free of charge, your housing allowance is assumed at 40% of the total of your cash stipend, Social Security reimbursements, and utilities.
- If you receive a cash or housing equity allowance, the actual amount of the allowance will be used as of January 1, 2006.
- If your housing is provided rent-free and you receive an additional cash housing allowance or housing equity allowance, for pension purposes your allowance is assumed at 30% of the total of your cash stipend, Social Security reimbursement, and utilities. Your total compensation is then calculated to include both the assumed 30% housing allowance and the actual cash housing allowance or housing equity allowance you receive.
- If you receive compensation from more than one church employer, but only one provides housing, compensation from all of your qualified employers is assessed for a proportionate share of your housing.