General Authorities and top leaders of the church are compensated or paid for their work, though technically they claim they are not on salary. The church claims over and over that there is no paid clergy and that the church runs on volunteers. But we can see that they are choosing their words carefully at best, and at worst, plain lying through their teeth. The Apostles, Quorum of the First Presidency, and Presiding Bishopric are all part of the leadership who receive a not-so-modest “living allowance.” The fact that these men are paid for their time is not the issue, but it’s that they misrepresent the truth every time they claim there are no paid clergy. If one were to ask them individually if they count as clergy or as part of the ministry of the church, you bet they would claim the title and authority.
Other leadership positions in the church don’t receive this living allowance but still receive generous reimbursement plans. Much of the time, the church covers all their needs and even most of their wants, so it’s basically the same as a “living allowance,” where the church provides for all their needs. An example of this position or calling is a Mission President. The missionary program of the church is organized into distinct mission areas and each one is led by a Mission President who is usually called to serve for a 3-year term. They leave home and manage the affairs of the mission and missionaries that are sent to their area.
Mission Presidents live in a house or apartment that is paid for and furnished by the church. They might not receive a “living allowance” paycheck, but they don’t need to pay for rent or vehicles, travel, college tuition for their children, a maid, gardeners, or much else at all. Do they receive their pay in “living arrangements” and generous reimbursement programs for their “service”? Is it even service when all your needs are taken care of, or is it more like a job? Sure, they could likely earn a better salary as a CEO or President of some company, and as Mission Presidents, they usually leave their job at home for the term of their mission. They are also fairly wealthy typically and the narrative is that they need to be so that they can afford to live without working for a few (usually three) years. But anyone could be a mission president if every imaginable expense is paid for by the church.
Mission Presidents are deeply involved in helping the missionaries teach properly and follow the correlated lesson plans. They are sure to instruct the missionary force all around the world to teach that the church is more benevolent than other churches because there is no “paid ministry”. The Preach My Gospel manual clearly states “All of the work in the Church is voluntary. No one is paid for such service.” Missionaries who pay their own way, are led to believe and to teach that no one was paid for their calling. Turns out they just buy into the faith-promoting line they were sold. The mission president knows all too well that this is a lie and is receiving pay for his participation in the narrative.
Leaked Mission President Manual
There was a 2006 Mission President Manual which was leaked and shared online. It details many financial recommendations and financial requirements for Mission Presidents.
The leaked content from the 2006 Mission President Handbook reveals that Mission Presidents, like other General Authorities, although the Church asserts they are not paid for their service, receive financial compensation in various forms. This includes a monthly reimbursement for living expenses covering food, clothing, household supplies, family activities, and more. Additional provisions are made for medical expenses, support for children on full-time missions, travel expenses for unmarried children, and educational costs for both elementary and secondary school as well as undergraduate tuition. The document emphasizes the confidential nature of these funds and instructs Mission Presidents not to discuss them with missionaries, other mission presidents, friends, or family members. Housing, transportation, and insurance are also provided or reimbursed. The handbook clarifies the tax treatment of these funds, stating they are not considered income for tax purposes, and Mission Presidents do not pay tithing on the reimbursed amounts. The guidelines caution against sharing this financial information and emphasize that Mission Presidents should never represent themselves as being paid for their service.
Monthly Reimbursement of Living Expenses
While you are serving as mission president, the Church reimburses the necessary living expenses for you, your wife, and your dependent children. Dependent children are defined as those who are under age 26, have not been married, and are not employed full-time. Living expenses include food, clothing, household supplies, family activities, dry cleaning, personal long-distance calls to family, and modest gifts (for example, Christmas, birthdays, or anniversary).
In addition, the following are provided or reimbursed:
- Medical expenses—including dental and eye care, but not orthodontics or elective or cosmetic surgery—if not covered by personal health insurance…
- Support for children serving full-time missions, when requested.
- One round trip for each unmarried child under age 26 to visit you in the mission if he or she did not accompany you to the field.
- Elementary and secondary school expenses for tuition, fees, books, and materials. Reasonable expenses for extracurricular activities and for music or dance lessons may be reimbursed.
- Undergraduate tuition at an accredited college or university that offers two- or four-year degrees. Tuition is waived at Church-owned schools…
The amount of any funds reimbursed to you should be kept strictly confidential and should not be discussed with missionaries, other mission presidents, friends, or family members.
…
Housing, Transportation, and Insurance
Mission home. Your mission home is either owned or leased by the Church…
Caring for your family is your wife’s primary responsibility. She should not feel an obligation to participate in mission activities at the expense of family needs. If a babysitter is needed occasionally so that she can participate in an activity, the cost of the babysitter may be reimbursed.
Tax Issues
Because you are engaged in volunteer religious service, no employer-employee relationship exists between you and the Church. As a result, any funds reimbursed to you from the Church are not considered income for tax purposes; they are not reported to the government, and taxes are not withheld with regard to these funds.
In countries where a tax return is required, the Church Tax Division (801-240-5208) or the local Office of General Counsel can assist you.
To avoid raising unnecessary tax questions, please follow these guidelines closely:
- Do not share information on funds you receive from the Church with those who help you with financial or tax matters. Any exceptions should be discussed with the Church Tax Division.
- Never represent in any way that you are paid for your service.
- If you are required to file an income-tax report for other purposes, do not list any funds you receive from the Church, regardless of where you serve or where you hold citizenship.
Because selling or renting your home can create significant tax issues, seek assistance from a tax expert.
If you have any questions about tax matters, contact the Church Tax Division, which has tax rulings and research that support the validity of not reporting as income the funds you receive as mission president. Because most tax advisers are not aware of this information, their advice may be incorrect.
Tithing and Other Offerings
You do not pay tithing on money reimbursed to you by the Church.
If you have income that should be tithed, you should normally pay tithing to the ward where your membership records are located.
However, if you are serving outside your own country and your membership records are in the ward where you are residing, you should generally make tithing contributions directly to Church headquarters.
Mission President’s Handbook, 2006 (Leaked)
https://mormonleaks.io/wiki/documents/0/03/Mission_Presidents_Handbook_2006.pdf
The pretense that the mission presidents are unpaid volunteers is akin to saying the CEO’s of corporations aren’t millionaires when paid only a $200,000 salary but are gifted $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 bonuses and stock options. What does the IRS say about such lucrative back-door payments (i.e., “reimbursements”)?
“A minister who receives a housing allowance may exclude the allowance from gross income to the extent it is used to pay expenses in providing a home. Generally, those expenses include rent, mortgage interest, utilities, repairs, and other expenses directly relating to providing a home. The amount excluded cannot be more than the reasonable pay for the minister’s services.”
Topic no. 417, Earnings for clergy
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc417.htmlOne has to question if gardeners, tuitions, dental plans, dry cleaning, Christmas gifts and more are included in the reasonable pay clause.
Hold on, even though the mission presidents do receive a large allowance, they are told to never claim any pay, so there’s no gross income from which they can exclude these “reasonable” expenses. Tricky tricky.
The latest managing editor of Mormonthink “warned the church that payments to mission presidents should be reported to the UK tax authorities as they were ’employees’ under UK tax law.” We understood “it was discussed at a First Presidency meeting with the Presiding Bishopric and they decided to continue not reporting, and pay any fines when, and if, they were discovered.”
The disclosures found in the well-guarded Mission Presidents Handbook show that not only are the Pay Lay Missionary policies fraught with intentional concealment, but give near direct evidence that the general authorities and apostles receive generous benefits and reimbursements for most of life’s “necessary” expenses. Likewise, they wouldn’t pay tithing on moneys given them by the church. That is, general authorities don’t pay tithing (even though they regularly preach paying it to members.) Perhaps these are justifiable on some level. If so, why wouldn’t the church acknowledge them and do more than barely meet the legal requirement rather than the acclaimed “obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law”?
Mormon Disclosures: Pay Lay Missionary, by David T
https://mormondisclosures.blogspot.com/2012/12/pay-lay-missionary.html
One of the criticisms many Mormons have about Evangelical Christian churches is their perception of a “paid” clergy. Referring to Mormon missionaries and church leaders such as bishops, tenth LDS President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote, “We do not have a paid ministry” (Answers to Gospel Questions, 3:79). On the LDS Church website under the question “Why don’t Mormons have paid clergy?” the church explains, “The leader of a congregation is a bishop or a branch president. He is not paid for his service, but he donates his time to serve the congregation.”…
In December 2012, an official copy of the LDS Church’s “Mission President’s Handbook,” a publication not meant for the general public, was leaked on a blog site operated by a private individual. This official “how-to” manual explains the detailed rules for a mission president, whose job it is to work with local bishops while administering missionary efforts with stake presidents. In Appendix B under the title “Family Finances,” the manual discusses the “monthly reimbursement of living expenses” for the mission president’s family, including children under 26 who are not married and not employed full-time. It says that “living expenses include food, clothing, household supplies, family activities, dry cleaning, personal long-distance calls to family, and modest gifts (for example, Christmas, birthdays, or anniversary).”…
So, this particular mission president—who, remember, is considered a “volunteer”—is getting compensation for at least $110,000! Not bad for someone who is not supposedly getting a wage!
When it comes to tax issues, the mission president—who has his housing, insurance, vehicles, and college tuition for the children paid by the church—has very little to declare when tax time rolls around. The manual explains that this is because there is “no employer-employee relationship” between him and the Church, as he is “engaged in volunteer religious service.” Hence, “any funds reimbursed to you from the Church are not considered income for tax purposes; they are not reported to the government, and taxes are not withheld with regard to these funds.” In other words, the government apparently looks upon the mission president as a man with very little income. All of the benefits described above—worth tens of thousands of dollars—are not taxed.
There seems to be a fear that a mission president may give too much information to the IRS. The manual explicitly states on page 80: “Because you are engaged in volunteer religious service, no employer-employee relationship exists between you and the Church. As a result, any funds reimbursed to you from the Church are not considered income for tax purposes; they are not reported to the government, and taxes are not withheld with regard to these funds.”
It continues on page 82: “To avoid raising unnecessary tax questions, please follow these guidelines closely: Do not share information on funds you receive from the Church with those who help you with financial or tax matters…. Never represent in any way that you are paid (emphasis mine) for your service. If you are required to file an income-tax report for other purposes, do not list any funds you receive from the Church, regardless of where you serve or where you hold citizenship.” This idea was pointed out earlier in the manual, stating that “the amount of any funds reimbursed to you should be kept strictly confidential.”
Remember, many Mormons like to think that their leaders are not paid. Many who might read this church manual may be very shocked to hear about the many benefits the mission president receives. Their housing expenses, food, car, insurance packages, maid and gardener, and even college tuition for the children are fully covered. Perhaps this is why the manual warns the mission president to not let anyone know that he is “paid” for his service. One can only wonder what benefits other “volunteer” leaders receive under this or similar arrangements.
What does “unpaid ministry” look like? A look at the compensation of Mission Presidents, Eric Johnson
https://www.mrm.org/mission-president-handbook
Were you led to believe that the church has no paid ministry? Is being paid and having all your expenses paid considerably different? Does it bother you to find out that not only are General Authorities and other top church officials paid for their church service, but Mission Presidents are also paid? This does not extend to the volunteer youth or senior missionaries who do the actual proselytizing, only the Presidents of Missions. Does it feel honest that the church continually brags/announces that they have no paid clergy, and no trained ministry (as if it were a good thing) but simultaneously pays top leaders a generous living allowance paycheck, and gives reimbursements for nearly everything they could possibly spend money on? Share your own thoughts in your own I was a Mormon profile at wasmormon.org.
More reading:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/jnekic/annual_salary_of_most_recent_finland_lds_church/
- https://mormonleaks.io/wiki/documents/0/03/Mission_Presidents_Handbook_2006.pdf
- https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/13v7w7m/wait_my_dad_got_paid_to_be_mission_president/
- https://exploringmormonism.com/modest-living-allowance-for-mission-presidents-everything-covered/
- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/first-presidency-announces-increase-in-monthly-missionary-contribution
- https://wasmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Mission_Presidents_Handbook_2006.pdf