All pension contributions received in the Board’s office by the close of business on Thursday, December 28, 2017, will be posted to the participant’s account and will apply against the participant’s 2017 contribution limits. Contributions received in this office after that date, regardless of when they were mailed, will be posted against the participant’s 2018 contribution limits. For pension posting matters, the date of receipt by the Benefits Board determines when the amount is posted.
However, that does not prohibit those amounts from being claimed as contributions in the year they were deducted for tax purposes. For example, a pastor has $100 withheld from his salary on December 31, 2017 through a salary reduction agreement. The pastor’s W-2 form would be reduced by that $100 in Box 1 (while reporting the same in Box 12), even though the contribution to the pension plan was not actually posted at the Benefits Board until after January 1, 2018.
To ensure that your electronic contributions and loan payments are posted in 2017, they will need to be sent to us no later than Monday, December 25, 2017.
It should be noted that the regular IRS rules for charitable contributions are slightly different. If you want a contribution to count as a charitable gift in 2017, it must be given to the church in 2017 or it must be mailed to the church in 2017, even though it may not be received until after the New Year. The date of postmark determines the year in which you receive credit for the contribution to your local church. On the other hand, on the first Sunday in January, you cannot date your check for December in hopes of getting credit for 2017.
Church of God Benefits Board, Inc. 