A big chunk (about $18,000 a year) of my husband's salary as a pastor is "housing allowance". It's in lieu of living in a parsonage, which many churches no longer provide. As long as we can account for how we spend it, we don't pay taxes on it.
Back when DH was first called here and we were on WIC, we were told that it didn't count as income, just as a military housing allowance wouldn't count if we were applying for WIC or free lunches or other federal programs. And if the church had given us a house instead of a housing allowance, that wouldn't have counted as income either.
Anyway, now I'm wondering if this was actually true or if they were just being nice, and if we would need to apply for any benefits again, would we count housing allowance.
Back when DH was first called here and we were on WIC, we were told that it didn't count as income, just as a military housing allowance wouldn't count if we were applying for WIC or free lunches or other federal programs. And if the church had given us a house instead of a housing allowance, that wouldn't have counted as income either.
Anyway, now I'm wondering if this was actually true or if they were just being nice, and if we would need to apply for any benefits again, would we count housing allowance.
