MK forum

my understanding of how "NTM" donations work today. a percentage of all donations are kept at headquarters for the NTM "liability fund" - you know, to pay for these law suits, etc. I think that is currently set at 2% of gross donations? A portion is kept at headquarters to pay for certain publications, postage costs, etc. A mandatory amount is withheld for health insurance (i.e., cannot opt out and just pay cheaper medical in local country). There is a retirement account - don't know if contributions are mandatory or not. there is also a mandatory "field tax" paid to the local field to pay for various "field" expenses.

At the end of the day, a very large portion of all donations are withheld for various reasons and the missionary receives maybe 60% or so of the gross donations.

I don't necessarily have a problem with this. What I do have a problem with is the statement on NTM.org that 100% of all donations go to the "ministry" of the missionary. This is misleading. There are some "taxes" that come out first. Not sure people anticipate that 2% of their contribution will go to a "liability fund".

I think conditional gifts or gifts related to things like birthdays and holidays may be exempt from these withholdings...however, the donor likely does not get a tax deduction for these items.

Very interesting, Thai MK!

This plan looks quite different than what was in place when we joined NTM in 1974!

But then NTM is barely recognizable to me as being the same mission we joined almost 40 years ago.

I find all this support and tax discuss quite interesting. We were told in no uncertain terms that ABWE was not our employee and we were considered self employed clergy on our tax returns. They made us understand that if we cheated on our taxes we were solely responsible (of which I agree entirely) and yet they demanded we send our prepared return to them for a "look over" I guess. Well one of the employees of ABWE (I suppose she worked in the department of Robert Auffort, the treasurer) changed something on our taxes so of course it differed from my copy. When we found this out I was ropeable. How dare they change something and then I in the end be responsible. I wrote them a letter asking for reasons and told them if I was responsible for my taxes than I alone would be the one who did any changes. I also said I would in the future send them directly to the IRS in America. I followed through the rest of our time with ABWE and never once was asked to send our prepared tax return. Huh, maybe that is why we got fired for insubordination. Full stop.

In my day, and unless things have changed in NTM, We also were considered to be 'self-employed' and clergy.

U.S. NTM members are still considered independent contractors, I believe. Thus, they have to pay both the "employee" and employer side of FICA (social security/medicare/etc/) and NTM does not withhold federal or state tax. [can any current NTMers confirm this?].

Whether a person is an "employee" or "independent contractor" is largely a matter of common law - i.e., court made rules. It really comes down to how much "control" the employer has over the employee.

In corporate America, this distinction is a HUGE deal and companies get nailed big time for treating people as IC rather than as EE. Companies love to try getting away with treating workers as IC's because then they don't have to withhold federal/state income taxes or pay FICA or comply with other laws that govern the employer/employee relationship. They just provide a 1099 to the worker and they are done with it. NTM is probably walking a bit of a fine line on this one.

See the following IRS publication:

Topic 762 - Independent Contractor vs. Employee

For federal tax purposes, the usual common law rules are applicable to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee. Under the common law, you must examine the relationship between the worker and the business. All evidence of the degree of control and independence in this relationship should be considered. The facts that provide this evidence fall into three categories – Behavioral Control, Financial Control, and the Relationship of the Parties.

Behavioral Control covers facts that show whether the business has a right to direct and control what work is accomplished and how the work is done, through instructions, training, or other means.

Financial Control covers facts that show whether the business has a right to direct or control the financial and business aspects of the worker's job. This includes:

•The extent to which the worker has unreimbursed business expenses
•The extent of the worker's investment in the facilities or tools used in performing services
•The extent to which the worker makes his or her services available to the relevant market
•How the business pays the worker, and
•The extent to which the worker can realize a profit or incur a loss

Relationship of the Parties covers facts that show the type of relationship the parties had. This includes:

•Written contracts describing the relationship the parties intended to create
•Whether the business provides the worker with employee-type benefits, such as insurance, a pension plan, vacation pay, or sick pay
•The permanency of the relationship, and
•The extent to which services performed by the worker are a key aspect of the regular business of the company

of course, there are always different rules that apply to "clergy"...so who knows. you know, the lawn mower guy in PNG...he is "clergy". as is the teacher, supply buyer, child molester, computer programmer, and everybody else.

I find all this tax "stuff" intriguing. You know, ABWE was our employer but for tax reasons ABWE was not our employer. How they could deny they were our employer is up for grabs. It is like the retirement, when we got terminated we were not allowed to take our retirement with us. That meant that upon retirement we would be drawing from ABWE (that left a bad taste for my husband). We had a few pastors and a very good financial man that came to our rescue and got our retirement out of ABWE. From what I can remember we were the first for this to happen. He was shocked how little we got back but said something like this, "It was because they guaranteed us $10 a month for every year we served upon retirement." He said this company was legal but immoral in this accounting of retirement. He reckoned because our retirement money was invested especially in the "80's that we should have had "heaps" more. In the end he put that money in a separate account and called it "dirty money" and any new money we added to our retirement went into a different account. He talked with Bob Auffort at ABWE and was astonished at their attitude. Another thing I remember is you had to be with ABWE 10 years before you would receive any retirement. I suppose this was legal. At the end of the day ABWE is usually trusted by the churches in money, sex scandals, etc., etc., etc. I reckon these mission organisations are "a law unto themselves." Full stop.

All very interesting to me as an Accountant of 15 years, tax preparer, Mortgage processor and underwriter..........

Very interesting! I have been employee and contractor myself which makes it more interesting in the case of my parents own last check when we we left NTM. A zero check for a broken bike that never was broken done by field leadership NOT headquarters. The very same field leadership that one of the men was my offender. I don't know if headquarters even knew about it. This is why the conversation was brought up by me. I wanted to know the system as I believed it may have been and yes the way things were set up led to many different abuses and that is SAD.

We hit the two million mark on Christmas Day.

It's now two months later, and we've added another half-million!

"Amazed" doesn't begin to describe how I feel.

My dear dear Raz,

What else did you expect. The gifted eloqence of people such as yourself and even the mad ramblings from Downunder are surely a magnet for the curious and those wishing to be informed.

As the saying goes, "the truth wins out in the end" and that is all we are doing, just telling the truth.

Not that hard really. Now onward and upward, for we have nothing to fear but fear itself. And so bravely we go, further than any such conglomeration of MKs and supporters have gone before.
Yes the band is playing, the flag is unfurling, a tear is rolling down the cheek and . . .

Oops sorry got carried away Ummm yes, it is quite an achievement.