[00:02:16] Stephanie Gutierrez: Welcome to this episode of the Modern Day Missionaries podcast. In today’s episode we talk about one of the topics that’s been most requested from our missionaries, and that is on taxes.

We talk with CPAs Maggie Walker and Brooke Calhoun, and will pick their brain, not just on taxes, but also on social security, on housing allowance, the types of questions that missionaries have when they go overseas. I remember that was our personal experience when we went overseas.

So we asked the big questions. Do I opt out of social security? What happens if I do? What happens if I don’t? Do I get a housing allowance? How do I qualify? What does that look like? What benefits does it give me? How can I reduce my taxable income while on the field? How do 1099s work?

We got a ton of great information today. So you’re going to want to take some mad notes and we believe this is going to be helpful for you, not only with tax season just around the corner, but really, as you plan for your financial future and get yourself or your family set up to be able to thrive financially on the field.

So get ready for today’s episode with Brooke and Maggie.

[00:03:30] Stephanie Gutierrez: Hey Brooke, hey Maggie. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today.

[00:03:34] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Well, thank you. We appreciate you having us on to talk about fun things like taxes.

[00:03:40] Stephanie Gutierrez: Oh my goodness. I know. This has actually been a hugely requested topic from our missionaries. We’ve been waiting. We were like, who can talk to us about taxes? So when we connected with you guys, we were excited. I know it may not sound as exciting as some of the other juicy topics we’ve hit, but taxes are what people want to know about, especially this time of year. We’re releasing this right before tax time when everybody’s thinking about it. So you guys have answers that we want to know.

So can we just jump right on in? Because this is your background; I mean, this is what the both of you do. I should ask, how long have you been working in the accounting tax industry?

[00:04:22] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Well, I’ve been doing it for over 20 years, so it’s been a while, but I’ve always had a computer, so that’s good. I can’t imagine having done it then without one.

[00:04:35] Stephanie Gutierrez: Oh my gosh. No kidding.

[00:04:37] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: I’ve been in accounting for about six years and then doing taxes for four.

[00:04:41] Stephanie Gutierrez: Well, and I love that you guys have both worked specifically with missionaries. I remember when I was on the field, this was a huge frustration for me. I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t know what to do.  Now, thankfully, the tax person we worked with was so kind, he’d never done it before.

He kind of just learned it all on his own, but it was a headache. And so the fact that you guys specialize in this and having done this for so many missionaries is really reassuring.

We should say too, as we get started, I know we were all talking beforehand. You guys are going to give generalities in terms of answers, things that apply kind of overall to expats, people living abroad. But for everybody who has specific questions, you’re going to need to talk specifically with your tax person. So Maggie and Brooke are not accountable. You can’t quote them and say like, Maggie and Brooke told me, I heard it on the podcast. They’re doing the best they can to be as general as possible. But for anybody who’s done taxes, you know, it’s not general. It’s very specific and there’s loopholes, but we are going to hit big topics that will be helpful.

And not only are we hitting on taxes, we’re going to talk a little bit about housing allowance, about social security, all kinds of stuff. So get out your pen and paper, this will be a note taking day.

First question. Do you need to file a U.S. tax return if you’re living abroad?

[00:06:02] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Yes, you do, for the most part. If your income was below the threshold, you wouldn’t necessarily need to file. But for the most part, yes, if your income is above the threshold, then you will need to file a U.S. tax return.

[00:06:18] Stephanie Gutierrez: And do you know what that threshold is? I think I thought it was about $20k. Is that right?

[00:06:24] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: It’s probably a little bit lower than that. I mean, it goes up a little bit every year, but it’s probably around between $12k and $14k.

[00:06:32] Stephanie Gutierrez: Okay. So that’s something that someone can look up. So if it’s below that, then they don’t need to, but for the most part, people will need to. And if you aren’t raising that much, we want to just encourage you at Modern Day, you can do it. Fundraise for your family. We believe that God will provide for you.

This wasn’t in my notes to ask you guys, but I was actually doing some research myself yesterday and found out something about amnesty. So for people who maybe haven’t been filing their taxes for a while. So if somebody’s listening and freaking out, I haven’t filed my taxes in five years, I’m going to get in big trouble. There’s a way to kind of retroactively do that with some type of amnesty rule. Is that correct?

[00:07:08] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Yes, there is, and I don’t know the specifics on when that ends or cuts off, but there, there is a process right now, and I think they call it streamlining, where you can be behind several years, but you can go through this process and only have to file the last three years, and they will consider you caught up.

I don’t know when that cuts off or ends. I have not done any of those for any clients, but I have a new client who just went through that process. And I know he was nine years behind and he went through the streamline process and filed 2021, 2022, and 2023, and now he’s considered completely caught up.

[00:07:46] Stephanie Gutierrez: Okay, nice. So hopefully some people are breathing a sigh of relief. There’s a way to catch up. It’s not the end of the world if you have not been paying your taxes. Be a responsible citizen, and pay your taxes.

That filing deadline of April 15th, is that the same for expats? Just like it’s for people living in the U.S.?

[00:08:05] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Well, expats actually have an automatic two month extension, so they would be due June 15th. We try to handle those people the same as we do our other clients. Just extend them to April 15th if we’re not filing just because it’s a little one off for us and I don’t want anyone to fall through the cracks.

But the official answer is that they have an automatic two month extension, so they would not really be due until June 15th. But if they do extend, then they can file through October 15th, and that is the drop dead deadline. There’s no extension past that.

[00:08:45] Stephanie Gutierrez: So just think it’s still April 15th, knowing you got a little bit of wiggle room, and then if they want to go farther, file another extension.

[00:08:53] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Yes, but we usually, for our missionaries, file their extension on April 15th, just so we know it’s done. But they do have a little extra time.

[00:09:06] Stephanie Gutierrez: I know we always had somebody helping us do ours. I did our taxes, way back in the day. But I would say once we went overseas, there were just rules that I was not aware of that I think would be hard to know and we’ll lay out some of those today. Taxes were not designed to be easy in the U.S.

I should have said this at the beginning, but we are talking about U.S. taxes because we are all American citizens, and that would apply to a lot of missionaries listening. But for people from other countries, you’ve got your own set of rules. But there are some special tax benefits that are available for U.S. expats, correct?

[00:09:48] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: There are. There is the foreign earned income exclusion, and there’s also foreign tax credit if you’ve paid tax to another country. Like you mentioned, we’re only talking about U. S. taxes, but there could be circumstances where a missionary is living in another country and they are subject to filing a tax return in that country, possibly as well.

And so if they do pay tax in another country, and there is an agreement between them and the United States, it’s possible that we could take a foreign tax credit on their tax return. And usually we evaluate that in addition to the exclusion and it can be a combination that’s used on the return. And obviously we try to use the most beneficial combination to reduce the tax as much as possible.

[00:10:46] Stephanie Gutierrez: So if you are a missionary paying taxes in the country you’re living in, that’s something that’s worth looking into.

[00:10:57] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: There is also the foreign earned income exclusion because there are some tests that you have to pass to be able to take that and there is a maximum to that. For 2023 the maximum exclusion was $120k. So if your income is higher than that, that would be an example of where possibly you would take that and then you could in addition take the tax credit for foreign tax paid.

I mean you can take it even if you’re not maxing out, but you just have to look at what would be the most beneficial combination of those two things. But yes, you do have to either live in another country for an entire year, or you can have 330 days out of a 12 month period that you’re out of the country and then you would also still qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion.

[00:11:56] Stephanie Gutierrez: So the foreign earned income exclusion, that’s income that you’re not necessarily making from the country you’re living in. Like you could be working as a contractor for the United States.

[00:12:08] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Correct. You’re just, you’re earning it while you’re in another country,

[00:12:16] Stephanie Gutierrez: Perfect. That’s what I wanted to clarify.

So foreign income exclusion. Well, it’s so complex I’m trying to think as simply as possible so people are able to clearly understand what we’re saying in this. And I don’t want to muddle up any of your answers. So the foreign earned income exclusion is when you are making money as an American citizen from a company in the U.S., like working as a contractor or as an employee. So you’re being paid from the U. S. while living in another country. That’s a way to reduce your taxes, right? Your taxable income.

[00:13:02] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: You can exclude a certain amount of that income. So yes, it reduces your taxable income in the U. S. It does not reduce self employment tax, so that is something to note. It only affects your federal tax.

[00:13:19] Stephanie Gutierrez: Okay. And if all of this feels totally overwhelming, just go to your tax preparer and say, hey, I heard about something called a foreign earned income exclusion. Help!

[00:13:29] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Yes. Does that apply to me?

[00:13:33] Stephanie Gutierrez: Yes. Does that apply to me? And that big one is making sure that you’re living enough days outside of the U.S. I know that we are always counting our days. Were we out of the U. S. long enough? Because if you don’t hit that right threshold, then you don’t apply for it. And it’s a huge tax benefit.

So consider how many days you are in the U. S. and outside to make sure that you qualify for that.That’s a big one.

At Modern Day I know we issue a 1099 and I’m sure a lot of other missions, agencies and places do as well. Can we talk about that a little bit? How does it work? Some people have never been a contractor, never had a 1099 before. How does that work with them as missionaries and filing their taxes?

[00:14:22] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: So, most people that get 1099s are independent contractors and a missionary can be considered an independent contractor. Kind of the way it’s looked at, is who is kind of in control of what you are doing. So you would be independent if whoever is paying is collecting your money for you and paying it over to you and what you do as a missionary over there is up to your discretion.

I mean, you are deciding what you’re doing every day; the company is not telling you. As an independent contractor, you pay self employment tax. So that kind of is a main difference on your taxes. And that’s what can hit people kind of hard, the extra tax in addition to the federal.

[00:15:17] Stephanie Gutierrez: Okay. And that’s such a great point because for people who have been used to getting a W2 and working as a normal employee, if they get a 1099 for the first time, and they don’t remember they need to pay in taxes, that can be so jarring. I mean, I remember for us, when we moved back to the U.S. we didn’t have the foreign earned income exclusion and we had 1099s and I mean, it kicked us in the teeth.

I don’t think it really hurt too bad when we were overseas because our income wasn’t large enough that we had to pay much, if anything in taxes. But once we came back, then you don’t have that exclusion, your income isn’t being reduced because you’re not living overseas. But even still for a missionary, if you’re getting a 1099, make sure you’re setting aside money to pay your taxes and you can pay that in quarterly, you can pay it in at the end of the year. But if you don’t set that aside and all of a sudden you get a tax bill, it can just feel super discouraging. You can even feel angry or upset, and that’s just how 1099s work. So if it’s your first time, set your money aside.

Anything else would you guys add to that?

[00:16:31] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: I would say it would be wise to think about making quarterly tax payments with it and not saving it all year. Also keeping track of your applicable expenses that you can use to reduce your income. And that’s something that I think is easier to do throughout the year rather than waiting until the end of the year to try to recreate what happened. Because I feel like people that do that end up not remembering everything, so they’re not benefiting as much as maybe they could from the expenses that they could deduct from that income to reduce their tax.

[00:17:13] Stephanie Gutierrez: Okay, great point. And if they want to know how to send in quarterly taxes, talk to your tax preparer. I know mine helps me and they can help you figure out how to do that.

Say a little bit more about recording expenses and how that could be helpful.

[00:17:27] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: I mean, this is one too that I feel like depends on what, what the missionary is doing. Like a medical missionary is going to have way different expenses than someone, that’s in a more general area of missionary work. But anything that is applicable to what you’re doing when you’re buying supplies or things that you’re using to share the gospel with the people in your area.

Sometimes it’s going to be food because you’re having people over to do a Bible study, it’s going to be travel expenses. In some countries, people are using public transportation. It could be just a wide variety of expenses, but you want to capture everyone to make sure you’re not paying too much tax.

[00:18:24] Stephanie Gutierrez: Absolutely. You can talk to your tax preparer or you can Google and there’s, there are some resources and great articles out there about the types of things that you can claim or record as expenses.

I remember when I found out about travel because the four of us were going back home once a year and I was like, Oh my gosh, we can claim those as expenses. I mean, all those things add up to reduce the taxes that you have to pay in. You don’t want to claim something that’s not accurate, but on the same token, there’s a lot more available than we even realize. So we’ll look for some of those links to and post those as well.

[00:19:02] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: For sure there’s a lot, a lot of expenses that probably are missed. Because when you’re in another country doing missionary work, so much of what you do every day is going to be related to why you’re there and what you’re doing. So you can deduct a lot of that.

[00:19:25] Stephanie Gutierrez: I mean, so having an Excel sheet, if you’re married, pick one of the two of you who could be the Excel sheet person to jot it all down. If you’re single, it’s all on you, you got this. But it feels like a little part time job sometimes keeping track of all of those things, but it really, it’s worth it. It’s super beneficial in the end and it gives you good sense.

[00:19:46] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: The earlier you start tracking it and keeping up with it throughout the year, the less daunting it is because it’s hard to. Even if you sit down in June, it’s hard to think back on six months of what you spent your money

[00:19:58] Stephanie Gutierrez: It is. And so, and this episode’s airing near the beginning of the year. So if you haven’t started yet, go for it right now, catch up from January and a bit of February and Google it right now and start keeping those expenses.

[00:20:13] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: The advice I give to all my business clients that are a small business, is to keep a separate bank account so that all of your income and expenses related to your missionary work are all contained in one account. If you do get behind, it makes it a little easier to find it all, if you’re running it all through one account.

[00:20:36] Stephanie Gutierrez: Great idea.

[00:20:37] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Another, an F bar is a form that needs to be filed. If you have a foreign bank account or any investments over $10k, that needs to be filed as part of your return as well every year.

As $10k is not as much as it used to be, there are several people who have that and need to file that form with their tax return.

[00:21:10] Stephanie Gutierrez: Okay. And that’s good to know. So for your new missionary and you’re going with your regular tax preparer and they’ve never done something like this, there’s a ton of things they’re going to need to know about and research. And they can, if they’re the type of tax preparer that loves to learn all these new things.

Otherwise I would say it is a great idea to go with somebody who has this type of experience because I know a lot can get missed. Things like this, the FBAR, the foreign earned income exclusion, all those things. In all of this, does it matter what country somebody’s living in or because people are from the U. S., do all those same rules apply just kind of generally? What are the differences with people living in different countries or are there any?

[00:22:00] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: It does matter and there are some agreements between the U. S. and certain countries that may benefit filing situations where you don’t have to file something in the other country because there’s an agreement between the U. S. and that country.

So that’s one situation that you want to find out where you are if you are required to file anything. As far as the U.S. filing, it doesn’t matter so much where you are. But if you have to file in the other country, it will make a difference because some you’re not required to file and some you would be required to file like possibly if you owned property there you’re required to file a tax return. It’s just different for every country.

That’s just an example of one that I’ve seen. If you own a business in that country. I know one missionary that we do their tax return for, where the spouse has a business there, and so they are subject to filing a tax return in that country. So we get that tax return from them every year, and they get foreign tax credit because they paid some tax there, and there is an agreement between the U.S. and that country so they get that benefit. So yeah, it does matter. It’s hard to answer not generally because it can vary so much depending on the country.

[00:23:35] Stephanie Gutierrez: And it sounds like the more involved you are in that country in terms of owning businesses, or property, or vehicles, or things like that, that’s what will kind of add to that complexity. Whereas if you’re not necessarily involved too much in the purchasing things or owning things there, maybe it’s going to be a little less complex.

[00:23:56] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: I think it would be less complex as far as filing a tax return. But you know, there may be other things that you’re subject to. Like if you brought a certain value of items with you, you might have to pay tax on that when you arrive or something like that.

[00:24:11] Stephanie Gutierrez: Yeah, and this is where it’s really valuable to be connected to the expat community in the country that you live in for a variety of reasons. It’s good to be connected with other missionaries and just with expats in general, because they know things that you don’t know.

And you can get a lot of good insight with some of the specific nuances of the country you’re living in. So find a Facebook group if you’re on Facebook, if you’re not on Facebook, just start making connections and meeting people and looking for meetups cause you can get valuable insight from other people who live in the same country as you.

[00:24:46] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Definitely a benefit to listen to other people who have experienced the things that you’re going through now or may experience in the future.

[00:24:55] Stephanie Gutierrez: Okay. Let’s transition and talk about housing allowance now for a minute. And it’s not a complete transition because housing allowance plays into taxes, but it also can feel like kind of a separate issue in people’s minds. How do housing allowances work? Who should take them? Who can take them?

[00:25:13] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: So you do have to be a minister to get a housing allowance. It’s a great tax benefit because it is housing. However much you get for housing allowance is federally not included in your income, so it’s not included in your federal income. If you ministers also have the option to opt out of social security, which we will probably talk about later. If you are not opted out of social security, you have to pay self employment tax on it, but it saves you a bunch on the federal tax side.

A big point I like to tell our taxpayers is if you are getting a housing allowance, let’s say you’re getting $10k for instance, you want to make sure your housing expenses cover that $10k. If you only had $8 of housing expenses, then technically that extra $2k would be considered income and then you would have to pay some federal tax on that. So you would lose a little bit of the benefit there if you’re not covering all those expenses.

[00:26:28] Stephanie Gutierrez: Okay. So first step, make sure they’re a licensed minister, whether that’s with their church, whether that’s with their missions organization officially. The church can’t just be like, oh, hey, you’re a minister. And churches know this. I mean, you have to have official documentation proving that you are a licensed minister.

From there, you’re determining your housing expenses. How much am I spending a year on rent or mortgage or everything that it costs to maintain your house. So you’re adding all that up and then there is another nuance to it as well, where if you own a home, it’s seeing what is the rentable value of your house. Like it can’t exceed a certain amount.

If the government sees that you’re  declaring a $100k housing allowance, they’re going to be like, is that what you really could rent your house for? Google that, look it up, but determine what is a reasonable housing allowance. And then you submit the paperwork on that to the organization who gives you your licensed minister papers. And they have to approve that they think that’s reasonable. And then like you’re saying, Brooke, you got to make sure you’re actually spending that money. If I say I’m declaring $20k and I haven’t spent $20k, I’ve only spent $15k and then I need to be honest and pay taxes on the $5k I didn’t spend.

So you’re kind of just guesstimating, but then you’re not having to pay taxes. Let’s say it’s $20k. You’re not having to pay taxes on that $20k. So again, it’s reducing your taxable income. So it’s a huge benefit for people if they’ve never had a housing allowance before, and they are a licensed minister, which a lot of missionaries are to be able to get a benefit there.

So, let’s talk about social security because you mentioned Brooke, and I think it’s worth talking about because that is a huge question for ministers, missionaries everywhere. If I can opt out of social security, should I? I mean, initially it sounds like, yes, it is more money. It’s a no brainer. Why might it be good? Why might it be not good?

[00:28:45] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: We have this conversation a lot because there are benefits to both sides of it. I think if you do opt out you have to be very disciplined and a unique individual to be able to save for your retirement yourself. I mean, it. You’re probably not going to be collecting social security.

I mean, there are instances where you still can if you worked out of the ministerial field and you have your credits paid in, you could still get your social security benefits. But if you’re not paying into the system, then you have to be disciplined and save for yourself and be able to support yourself in your retirement.

Not that social security is going to be able to support you fully but that is a risk. If you opt out, you’re not going to have that benefit later. That is something to very seriously consider because there are a lot of people who would have good intentions to save for retirement, but you know, life happens and expenses are hard sometimes, and sink into using that money that you should be setting aside.

So it is a risk to opt out. But if you are a disciplined person and can save, you may be able to do better in your own savings for retirement than you would be getting in social security benefits later. So, we just like to kind of tell our clients all the pros and cons of it  and let them decide or ask, and a lot of them ask a lot of questions and deliberate about it, but we don’t really ever kind of go one way or the other.

We just like to lay out the facts about it.

[00:30:52] Stephanie Gutierrez: And it is, it’s a huge risk that can have benefits, but it’s a huge risk. I do think it’s good for people to know that. I mean, I can even share from our personal experience when we were young. I know Danny, my husband became a licensed minister and we were so broke.

We opted out of social security and got that extra income. So now moving back to the U.S. that’s been one of our goals is for him to get his 40 social security credits. Now, in my instance, I had worked enough years and was working part time while we were still in Peru for a company back in the US.

And I had worked enough that I had had my 40 credits because I wasn’t in a position to ever opt out. I was working for secular purposes; normal companies. And so I got my credits and now he’s having to get his. And so we’re kind of experiencing what that’s like to not have your credits. And it’s a little bit scary, not that you rely on social security but to your point, Maggie, if you’re not investing somewhere, at least social security is something that you have down the road.

So you said, be a very disciplined person. And I would even add to that, be a super disciplined person. Because I cannot even tell you how many people I’ve heard who said, I’m going to opt out of social security and I’ll just invest that amount. And I feel like almost no one does.

I mean, some do invest who just enjoy that whole process, but most of it gets eaten up by the pressures of life. Even that much more being on the mission field and you see need around you and you’re like, God will take care of my future. I’m going to give this money now. And there are times that God might ask you to do that, but then there’s also times where maybe he’s not, maybe he wants you to prepare for your future and help your kids out so they’re not having to cover your future down the line.

So when considering opting out of social security, be really thoughtful about it. And you guys don’t have to say it cause you’re so diplomatic. I’ll just say, I don’t know if you should opt out of social security. Be cautious unless you are 100% convinced and it’s set up, but you need to automatically withdraw and you’re going to invest that, do it. And I know like at Modern Day, we offer an investment plan for missionaries because we’re passionate about them preparing for their future.

So if you want to switch that over and open your investment plan, if you’re a Modern Day missionary, do it. That’s awesome. But if not, think about it. And then it’s not just your money that you get down the line, but there’s other things that come with social security as well, like Medicare.

[00:33:39] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: But one thing that you had said about how Modern Day has a plan to help people plan for retirement, and I’m assuming that some of that is probably taken out of their check before they get their check.

And I think that that’s a really good way to do it. I. When people do it that way, you get used to not having it. It’s just like a no brainer. Just set it aside before you even get your paycheck or your stipend or whatever it is. Because then you just get used to not having it and it puts you in a good discipline of putting that money aside on a regular basis.

[00:34:23] Stephanie Gutierrez: You’re absolutely right. I feel like that’s the best way to do it. So I thought of something else to kind of add to what we said about Medicare and the social security income that you get, but that would be if a spouse is like disabled or dies, you get survivor benefits, or some type of disability benefits, and you also don’t qualify for those if you haven’t put in enough work credits.

So here would be another one. I was talking to one of our missionaries Tricia Hester, who gave some phenomenal advice to married couples who are on the field. Well, that’s 10. 99 is usually issued to one of the people. So one of the people, if you don’t opt out of social security, is gaining credits, but the other spouse is not. So let’s say that you’ve been on the field for 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, even 10, and you move back and only one of you has ever gotten that 1099. That other person has not been accruing any credits if somebody were to pass away, which can happen. We’re missionaries; we put ourselves in harm’s way. I mean, it can really affect your spouse. So as an individual, as a couple it might even be useful to say, hey, let’s have one of us get the 1099 one year and then the other one, the other year, and go back and forth so that there is a variability in the income. What other suggestions might you guys make regarding that?

[00:35:57] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Well if they could split it between the two if they’re both doing the missionary work, I think that would definitely be beneficial for the reasons that you’ve said. I mean if only one spouse is getting the income, the other one’s kind of just dropped off the social security and accruing credit dropped off that completely.

So, and if you’re there for 10, 15, 20 years, that can be detrimental. If you’re coming back and you’re maybe at an age where you’re not going to be working anymore and not able to earn the credits, it would be a good idea to look into if the organization can split that between, and maybe it is a situation where some organizations would want to do it for one spouse one year and then the next year do another, the other spouse.

I don’t know if that is a factor or something that organizations don’t like to do, but if they can, I think that’s a good way to do it. And then in tracking expenses, you could just split the expenses between the two as well.

[00:37:23] Stephanie Gutierrez: Absolutely. And I would say that’s important. And as a woman, spouses who are listening, oftentimes it’s just kind of a cultural default thing. We’ll just automatically assign that income to the husband, to the man. And it can be really detrimental to the woman going forward.

You want to make sure that you’re set up as a couple, but you don’t make sure that you’re set up as individuals. And both of you being strong as individuals benefits you both as a couple. So make sure you’ve really talked to your organization. I know at Modern Day, we are able to do that because we’ve had missionaries reach out and it’s important to us that both the man and the women are well taken care of. We care about all of our missionaries, not just one. So as a couple, have that conversation together and make sure if you’re a man who’s listening and you’ve got a wife, make sure that she is set up as well, and again, it’s the survivor benefits, it’s the disability, it’s a lot more than even just the credits. So think that through as well.

[00:38:24] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: What does that look affected even like coming back if you need to? If you need to borrow money for anything, you have no income history for one of the spouses if there’s been no income, so it can affect other areas and not just social security.

[00:38:46] Stephanie Gutierrez:You are absolutely right. I spoke with a missionary who mentioned that and said she could not get out alone. She said a college student would have had an easier time getting out alone than her because she didn’t have any income history and also didn’t have a credit score because she hadn’t been using a credit card.

So I like one thing I’m glad we did is we always had a credit card that didn’t have a foreign fee and we put some things on it, and always paid it off immediately. Like you charged it, you paid it off the same day. But it kind of helped us maintain a decent credit score for when we came back as well.

So yeah, lots of things to think about, but sometimes when we’re on the field, we can forget that there’s a life afterward and whether you stay on the field until you are 80 or until you die there, or you come back early, you don’t know. We can have our plans. But we don’t know what God’s plan is. And so it’s good to think about life there, but it is also good to think about what if God were to call you back, how can you set things up for yourselves and also for your children? Because if not, your children will also pay a price for things like that.

Well, you guys, we have talked about a lot today, and I’m sure people’s heads are spinning a little bit, and the idea was not to answer every question that everyone has, but it was to get them thinking in the right direction. So for any questions that you have, there are professionals like Maggie and Brooke. You could reach out to them. They could do your taxes, and they’re awesome. On that note, how can people reach out to you if they would like you to do their taxes?

[00:40:22] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Well, they can reach us via email or call. My email is maggie@bvdmtexas.com and Brooks is the same, just brook@bdmtexas.com. We love the opportunity to talk to anybody that has questions and help in this area. You know, this is a really boring area for a lot of people, but we really like it.

[00:40:53] Stephanie Gutierrez: Well, thank you. And we know that doing missionary taxes is not probably the most lucrative choice as tax preparers. So thank you for what you do. Cause it’s a really, really, really big deal.

[00:41:05] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Oh, well, thank you. We really appreciate you letting us share about this, this topic and trying to make it fun.

[00:41:12] Stephanie Gutierrez: Yes, it was great. So fun. I mean it’s like a party over here. Talking taxes, talking money, and we will make sure to post some resources and some links where people could do a little bit of research on their own, but again, reach out and find a professional. If you need any help with any of this, know that  this is our heart at Modern Day that you are thriving in all areas of life.

And this would be one of them, in your finances, in your ability to take care of yourself while you’re on the field and in thinking about what God might have for your future. So thank you for joining us today, Maggie and Brooke and all of our missionaries. We will see you soon in our next episode.

[00:41:50] Maggie Walker & Brooke Calhoun: Thank you.