1099 usage
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,210
    From one of the job postings:

    Funerals ($300/funeral as primary Organist/Music Director)*
    * funerals are generally paid through the local funeral home and director receives a 1099 from the funeral home


    I have a lot of questions about this given that the DM is the primary musician for the church that employs him or her.

    Frankly I have long questioned the use of 1099s for musicians other than people who play once in a blue moon or who are hired for jazz concerts or whatever outside of the liturgy. Nicholas Will posted a staff singer ad here that I remember well; at the Pittsburgh Oratory, they have contracts. That seems right to me. Attire, attendance, rep, responsibilities are tightly regulated.

    I have almost total freedom in the things for which I get a bit of money, the sticking point being of course that sometimes the pastor has other ideas, so a 1099 seems appropriate.

    Regardless the DM might get final call over the music, but to me the funeral home should pay the church just like couples pay for weddings, right? If you have more weddings, you get the normal payroll taxes but that can get expensive with the balance in the other direction.
  • davido
    Posts: 1,150
    Family should pay the wedding musician directly. No need to involve church payroll.
    Thanked by 1tandrews
  • PaxTecum
    Posts: 340
    davido, i agree and i don't. It would be much better for me from the standpoint of income taxes for the church to pay me for weddings and funerals in the "tips" category instead of the regular salary category, or in my case instead of receiving 1099s from various sources and having minimal deductions against that income, and having to pay self employment tax on it.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,210
    Family should pay the wedding musician directly. No need to involve church payroll.


    Our diocese really cracks down on people being paid under the table to include clergy remunerated for one event even if it’s not that much money beyond the stipend ($10…sheesh). Religious are easiest to deal with; it’s a donation to the community.

    Now, does it happen even for weddings? Of course.

    But for funerals: I can see where it’s possible to work with just one or two funeral homes so two 1099s are manageable if not desirable. But the funeral home is the agent of the family. There are just all sorts of problems there.

    Doubly so if you have staff singers especially young ones. Dioceses probably should think about proper guidance for anyone who might receive 1099 income. DMs too, because we know that dioceses won’t help us.
  • GambaGamba
    Posts: 641
    It is much neater in my experience if the family writes a check to the funeral home for the wake and other funerary services, and a check to the church for the music and any other services provided by the church (reception in the hall, leaflets for the funeral, Mass stipend, a donation….) Funeral homes know nothing about music or liturgy and a bad undertaker can really make a mess by assuring the family they can have XYZ inappropriate music or 10 eulogies or a slideshow or what have you in church.

    Re W2/1099, here’s the language from the IRS’s website with my comments in italics.

    “Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories:

    1. Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his or her job?”

    To answer this, try showing up to a funeral in a clown suit and playing free jazz on the bongos, preferably during the homily.

    “2. Financial: Are the business aspects of the worker’s job controlled by the payer? (these include things like how worker is paid, whether expenses are reimbursed, who provides tools/supplies, etc.)”

    Father probably wouldn’t let you charge $10k a funeral, or require payment in livestock and beer.The church supplies the tools you need for the job – the organ, the microphone/the Graduale…

    “3.Type of relationship: Are there written contracts or employee type benefits (that is, pension plan, insurance, vacation pay, etc.)? Will the relationship continue and is the work performed a key aspect of the business?”

    You said funerals are included in the job description. This probably means the exclusion of other organists not employed by that parish, and the expectation that you will play for all funerals. The work is a key aspect of the Church’s, and our business and you will continue to play funerals as long as you remain employed there.

    https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee

    It is also to the benefit of most salaried organists for occasional work like funerals and weddings to go on the W2 and not a 1099. With the former, you can use the funeral money to contribute to your pension and pay for other benefits as a payroll deduction, and you avoid paying the much-higher self-employment tax on 1099’d income.

    I think of the situation as being something like a salesman, where there’s a base salary, and then occasional extras. For the salesman, it’s bonuses from selling Hondas or hitting targets. For us, it’s quincenaras and anniversary masses and funerals.
  • FSSPmusic
    Posts: 426
    I saw the subject line and thought this had to do with late 11th-century chant!
    Thanked by 3Chrism tomjaw irishtenor
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,210
    Gamba that’s a more intelligent way to say what I felt. Thanks for that.
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,676
    A great way to structure your deal is this:
    Have your church come up with the average number of Weddings/Funerals per year. Have them add that to your salary, paid out every pay period. If there are more weddings/funerals than average that year, the church pays you the extra (taxed) at the end of the year. If there are fewer, the church eats the loss, and if it seems like a statistical trajectory, amends your deal to the new average.

    This way you get paid for at least every Funeral/Wedding you play, you don’t have to chase down families to ask for checks (that’s the finance department’s gig now), and less tax drama for you in the Spring.

    Collecting all sorts of checks and stipends is old hat. Step into 2025.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,210
    That’s also smart. In our case we have almost no funerals and had no weddings as a rule (a few people had them but most went elsewhere, and we also had a bust period for a while where no couples were getting married). I agree that DMs and organists probably shouldn’t do that. It is tougher with cantors and staff singers. But our deadlines are a month out I believe.
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