President Donald Trump signed H.R. 227, known as the Clergy Act, on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. The law gives ministers who once opted out of Social Security a way to apply to the Internal Revenue Service to come back in, with the change starting in a tax year that begins after 2028.
It is a one-way door. Once a minister revokes the exemption, the law says it can never be claimed again, and Social Security coverage applies to every later year.
What the Clergy Act lets ministers do
The White House listed the bill among ten signed on October 20 and described it as allowing a 2-year period in which ministers of a church, members of a religious order and Christian Science practitioners may submit an application to the IRS to revoke their exemption from Social Security coverage. The application goes to the IRS, not to the Social Security Administration.
The two-year label is the White House’s description. The enrolled bill text sets the timing by tax year instead of by calendar date, and it leaves the form and manner of the application to the IRS Commissioner.
Who can use the window?
The bill covers a duly ordained, commissioned or licensed minister of a church, a member of a religious order, and a Christian Science practitioner. Each must hold an exemption under section 1402(e)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code that is in effect for the tax year in which the Act became law.
For a pastor who opted out decades ago, the open question is whether to use this window to opt back in. Coverage would mean paying into Social Security on ministry earnings from 2029 or 2030 onward, in exchange for monthly benefits built on those earnings. A minister who is already past 62, or who has a spouse with a record of their own, may see a very different result from one in the middle of a career.
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Which tax years can the change cover?
The text says a revocation can take effect in the applicant’s first or second taxable year beginning after December 31, 2028. For a minister who files on a calendar year, that means 2029 or 2030. The minister picks which one in the application itself.
The application is due by the federal income tax return due date, extensions included, for that second taxable year. A minister who files late for a year the revocation covers has to include full payment of the self-employment taxes that would have applied to that year’s net earnings, figured without the usual exceptions in sections 1402(c)(4) and (5) of the tax code.
What happens to benefits once coverage starts?
The Act says the revocation applies to service in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2028. It also reaches monthly Social Security benefits based on those wages and self-employment income for months in or after the year the revocation takes effect, and lump-sum death payments for deaths in or after that year.
That means earnings in the years before the revocation do not build a benefit. Only the years after coverage begins count toward a retirement check, a spouse’s benefit or a survivor’s benefit. A minister who revokes late in a career may have too few covered years to change much, and the IRS is the free place to ask how the application works, at irs.gov.
When will ministers hear about the window?
Section 3 of the Act tells the IRS Commissioner, in consultation with the Commissioner of Social Security, to send the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee a plan within 90 days of enactment, which lands around January 18, 2027. The plan is to explain how eligible clergy, members of religious orders and Christian Science practitioners will be told of their right to revoke a prior exemption election.
The bill leaves the application form and the filing steps to the IRS Commissioner. Since the earliest effective tax year begins after 2028, ministers have time, but the decision cannot be reversed once it is made.
Weighing a return to Social Security as a minister?
A minister who opts back in takes on new payroll-style tax for the rest of a career, and the revocation cannot be undone. Choosing without a clear picture of what the covered years would pay at 62, at full retirement age or at 70 is how a permanent choice turns into a regret.
The Social Security Claiming & Family Benefits Kit includes a claiming calculator (Excel) for claiming age, break-even and survivor benefits, plus the 2026 earnings-test rules, so a minister can see what waiting is worth and what a spouse or survivor would receive before filing anything with the IRS.
Run the break-even math on coming back into Social Security with the claiming calculator →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
