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Most ministers of religion or members of the clergy are either office-holders or employees and so their earnings are taxable under ITEPA 2003 as employment income and are subject to Class 1 National Insurance.

For the purposes of the tax system, a minister does not have to belong to any particular religion or denomination, so could equally well be a Church of England vicar, a Roman Catholic priest, a rabbi or an imam. But a monk or nun does not count as a minister of religion for tax purposes, nor do ordinary lay people employed by a church or other religious organisations.

Where tax law or HMRC guidance talks about a ‘church’ in this context, it means any building specifically used as a place of worship, including a synagogue, mosque or temple.

The tax and National Insurance rules set out below only apply to ministers of religion who are currently working as such. If a minister of religion takes up a different type of job, for example