It’s tax season! The most dread time of year.

There are a few ways to deal with taxes.

• Hide your head and pray it goes away (Uncle Sam frowns on this action)
• Have a tax preparer do your taxes(this will ease stress, but cost for the service
• Do them yourself (How much do you know about taxes?)

GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention understands how ministerial taxes are different than anyone else’s, so they have had Richard Hammer, of Church Law Today to write the Minister’s Tax Guide for 2008 Returns.

The guide details recent changes to tax laws and their effect on ministers.

“The informative free tax guide includes sample tax returns with step-by-step instructions for active and retired ministers, as well as a special pull-out section regarding the federal reporting requirements for churches,” said O.S. Hawkins, president and chief executive officer of GuideStone. “Our goal as a ministry is to be a life-long partner with our participants in enhancing their financial security. The tax guide is a tangible example of that commitment.”

An overview of the tax change highlights was written once again by Richard Hammar, a noted CPA, attorney and widely published author who specializes in legal and tax issues for ministers. The guide is edited by GuideStone’s legal and compliance staff to address the tax issues that affect the greatest number of Southern Baptist pastors.

The tax guide can be obtained in PDF format from the GuideStone Web site, www.GuideStone.org. Printed copies or a CD version can also be obtained by calling Customer Service at 1-888-98-GUIDE (1-888-984-8433) between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. CST Monday-Friday.

Tax guide download
The tax guide is available for download in two ways — multiple files or one single file. The single file download is recommended only for those with a high speed Internet connection. To download the entire tax guide (approximately 4 megabytes in size), click here. 

To download the tax guide in sections, all of which are less than 1 megabyte in size, click here. 

You may also contact GuideStone to request a printed or CD version of the tax guide.