How much to pay guest ministers
July 15, 2007
Q. We often have guest ministers who speak at our services and we try to pay them responsibly. Where do we go for the latest figures on what we should pay for professional services, not only for Sunday speakers, but also for weddings, etc.?A. Go to the Unitarin Universalist (UU) Ministers Association's website. The recommended fees are advisory. Here are some of them:
Scale of Fees for Professional Services (adopted June 2004)
1. Within the parish to non-members/contributors:
a. Wedding: $300; with rehearsal $350; alternatively, 10 percent of total wedding budget.
b. Funeral or memorial service: $200; with committal or eulogy $250.
2. Societies without regular ministers:
a. Wedding: $300; with rehearsal $350 plus $.445 per mile.
b. Funeral or memorial service: $200; with committal $250 plus $.445 per mile.
c. Sermons, other program services: $200 (one service), $250 (two services) plus $.445 per mile.
3. Societies temporarily without ministers:
a. Wedding: $300; with rehearsal $350 plus $.445 per mile.
b. Funeral or Memorial Service: $200; with committal or eulogy $250 plus $.445 per mile.
c. Sermons, Sunday Morning Service: $200 (one service), $250 (two services) plus $.445 per mile.
d. Other Program Services: $50 per presentation hour plus $.445 per mile.
Update from Fall 2007 Issue:
I read the most recent edition of Interconnections and wanted to offer a correction to something written in the "Questions & Answers" section. In your scale of fees for professional services, you offered outdated information about IRS mileage rates. The 2007 mileage rate is 0.485/mile. I have included a link to the IRS website, and also the news release that announced this rate.
Cordially,
Justin Osterman
WASHINGTON--The Internal Revenue Service today (Nov. 1, 2006) issued the 2007 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2007, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be 48.5 cents per mile for business miles driven, 20 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes; and 14 cents per mile driven in service to a charitable organization.
For more information contact interconnections @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
