A new federal law lets members of the clergy who opted out of Social Security opt back in, but the choice only goes one way. Under the enrolled text of H.R. 227, the Clergy Act, a minister who revokes the exemption cannot elect it again. The revocation then applies to all later taxable years.
The bill was among ten that the White House listed as signed into law in October 2026. The window to revoke does not open right away.
Can a minister who comes back into Social Security opt out again?
No. The enrolled bill says that once the exemption is revoked, the person cannot elect it under section 1402(e)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code again. Normally the exemption itself cannot be undone, so the Act creates a one-time exception, and that exception does not come with a second chance.
For a pastor weighing the move, the practical meaning is simple. Self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare would be owed on ministry earnings in every year after the revocation takes effect, with no way to step back out if a church’s pay, a spouse’s income or a retirement plan changes the math later.
What changed this year: Social Security and Medicare change every year, and nobody sends you a memo. The Retirement Money Brief breaks down what changed and what to do. Bonus when you subscribe: our Claim at 62, FRA or 70? Worksheet.
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Who can revoke, and when?
The Act covers ministers of a church, members of a religious order and Christian Science practitioners who hold an exemption under section 1402(e)(1). It applies “notwithstanding” section 1402(e)(4), the provision that otherwise restricts changing such an exemption. Only an exemption in effect for the taxable year in which the Act is enacted qualifies for revocation.
Revocation takes a filed application, in the form and manner the IRS Commissioner prescribes. The deadline is the due date of the federal income tax return, including extensions, for the applicant’s second taxable year beginning after December 31, 2028. The applicant chooses whether the revocation takes effect in the first or second taxable year beginning after December 31, 2028, and it then applies to every later year.
What does a late or retroactive application cost?
An application filed after the return due date for a given year, and made effective for that year, must include full payment. The amount is the self-employment taxes under section 1401 that would have applied to that year’s net earnings from self-employment, figured as if the exemption had never existed. The Act says certain limits in section 1402(c) are disregarded in that calculation.
Because the revocation cannot be reversed, a payment made in a catch-up year is also a payment into a decision with no exit.
What does the minister get in return?
The change reaches Social Security benefits. For Title II purposes, monthly benefits are affected for months in or after the calendar year the revocation becomes effective. Lump-sum death payments based on those earnings are covered for deaths occurring in or after that calendar year.
The Act also gives the IRS Commissioner 90 days from enactment, working with the Social Security Commissioner, to send the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee a plan for informing eligible clergy of their right to revoke a prior exemption. Forms and instructions for the application itself are published through the IRS.
What is still open for ministers weighing the choice?
The text fixes the one-way rule, the 2028 starting line and the cost of filing late. What it does not settle is any individual minister’s benefit amount, which depends on that person’s own earnings record and claiming age. That is the number a minister has to run before the application is filed, since the statute allows no second try.
Running the numbers before a one-way Social Security choice?
Opting back into Social Security is permanent for a minister, and a wrong guess about benefits, claiming age or what a surviving spouse would receive cannot be reversed later. Late filing can also bring a catch-up tax bill for the year covered.
The Social Security Claiming & Family Benefits Kit includes a claiming calculator (Excel) for claiming age, break-even and survivor benefits, so the choice can be modeled with a household’s own numbers. Its Part 3, “The Age Decision: What Waiting Is Worth,” shows what claiming at each age pays.
Get the claiming calculator for a one-way ministers’ exemption choice →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 17 Medicare Money Moves Now That Part D Caps at $2,400
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
