Trade or business

" A trade or business is generally an activity carried on for a livelihood or in good faith to make a profit. The facts and circumstances of each case determine whether or not an activity is a trade or business. The regularity of activities and transactions and the production of income are important elements.

So determine if something qualifies as trade or business questions may be asked and answered:

Is it done for profit?
What are the facts of each case?
What are the circumstances of each case?
What is the regularity?
Is it for the production of income which is the profit?

The IRS defines it as:

"The term trade or business generally includes any activity carried on for the production of income from selling goods or performing services. It is not limited to integrated aggregates of assets, activities, and goodwill that comprise businesses for purposes of certain other provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. Activities of producing or distributing goods or performing services from which gross income is derived do not lose their identity as trades or businesses merely because they are carried on within a larger framework of other activities that may, or may not, be related to the organization's exempt purposes."

Was Paul a Tentmaker?

What are the facts in Paul's case?
What are the circumstances of his tent making?
What is the regularity of his tentmaking in relation to Paul's personal work day?
Is it for the production of income which is the profit for himself?

Can a member of an Order work manufacturing or producing a product that can be sold or traded?

I start here because it is simple to see that someone thinks that " using his skill to work with a family of tent makers and provide for himself and his companions" is not trade or business.

This is not true.

It is not the "nature and extant of the work" that makes it the "trade" of " trade or business" description but the status of individual doing it and his purpose.

If you helped sew a tent with a social security number in your pocket or government ID that you got with the number while you sat on the floor sewing tents to get a meal and a place to sleep then you are engaged in the "trade" of "trade and business".

That is because you are members of a "religious order" where you have to share all your labor with the head of the order because you have given him the power to exercise authority over yourself and all the members of that governmental order and have the number or ID to prove it. Because your order is in debt you cannot just throw the evidence away for you are a member of record and the leaders have borrowed against you surety because your order offered entitlements not charity, opperated by an exercising authority not charity.

Your order is your government.

It is common knowledge that it is not getting money that makes it "trade and business". If you paint the dentist office to get your teeth fixed both activities are trade and are taxable if you are both members of the government. A Federal Employee with a recorded number to prove it. Your labor is not yours so when you trade it your work is taxable.

If someone is truly a member with others in a group that has waived their right to their Federal SS benefits including the use of the number to obtain ID etc. you may not be obligated to pay taxes on your labor under certain conditions. Your labor naturally is yours. Produce something with your labor and sell it does not make in commerce.

COMMERCE is not just a trade by contracts but is done with an intent to realize a profit. A profit is a "benefit" beyond the exchange of the value of a thing. Profit is gain and to trade for gain is an expression of intent.

Could Paul be making tents for religious purposes?

Not for personal gain but for the others in His Religious order?

One would not look at the operation of making the tent but what he was doing along with the rest of His order.

If Paul is " using his skill to work with a family of tent makers and provide for himself and his companions" [what would be an order] would not be "trade and business", whether he was using a needle and a thread on the floor of a house or running a large sewing machine manugfacturing tents.

The Levites were allowed to take donations and sell them or trade them to others for other things that they need more to do their job. They have already given themselves to God and given up the benefits offered by the gods of the world.

The term religious must include the two basic connotations. One it must be because of spiritual conviction and two the majority of what he does or the effort he expends must go to charitable purposes. Why half? Because half of every man's day should be his own.

So as a Tentmaker Paul's "circumstances" of tent-making was not to profit himself but to lift the burden form those who should be supporting him and his work for Christ? Paul clear devoted most of his time to serving the Church and not himself, being persecuted, jailed, beaten suffering shipwreck, hunger and thirst for Christ as of a result of his ministry.

This is all covered in The Free Church Report in greater detail than here.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
A member or Ordained, Licensed or Commissioned minister of any religious order who is under a vow of poverty may do work outside the order under the direction of an order^[1] and remain excluded from the nature of employment. He or she is not permitted to enter into a relationship as employee with any third party employer. They must remain faithful and chaste under the direction of an Order as loyal bondservants of Christ holding all things in common within His estate by not electing social security coverage under 3121(r) of the Internal Revenue Code or filing an SS16.
: “The general rule derived from these rulings is that where a member of a religious order enters into an employment relationship with a third party who is unrelated to the order, but who looks to the member rather than to the order for the performance of the duties, the member’s earnings are subject to FICA taxation, even though the order directed the member to apply for the position and to perform the duties thereof.”^[2]
The term “trade or business” does not include services by a member of a religious order who has taken a vow of poverty when these services are performed in the exercise of the duties required or assigned by the order.^[3]
The nature and extant of the work is immaterial.^[4] This is simply the requirements of Jesus Christ and natural necessity of the whole body.
The estate of the ministers of His Holy Church is the estate of Christ and the Father. Their labor and rights are vested in Him as a common brotherhood for His purposes and the promotion of His doctrines. In the giving up of their own freedom they are dedicated in faith to setting the captive free and returning every man to his family and every man to his possessions.

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Footnotes

↑ “SSA operations manual RS 01901.600 Ministers and Members of Religious Orders B, 4. Service of missionaries, domestic or foreign, when performed by a duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister for that missionary organization is excluded from employment and is deemed to be self-employment.
Even though a missionary organization may not meet the definition of a church or religious order, the service is still excluded as service in the exercise of the ministry.” See SSA operations manual RS 01901.600
↑ SSR 85-10c: SECTION 210(a)(8)(A) (42 U.S.C. 410(a)(8)(A)) COVERAGE -- SERVICES OF MEMBERS OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS WHO WORK FOR THIRD PARTIES 20 CFR 404.1023(e) SSR 85-10c Samson v. U.S., 743 F.2d 884 (Fed. Cir. 1984) this booklet.
↑ SSH 1122.2 The term “trade or business” does not include services by a member of a religious order who has taken a vow of poverty when these services are performed in the exercise of the duties required by the order.
↑ Code of Federal Regulations, Title 20— Section 404.1023 paragraph (e) Work in the exercise of duties required by a religious order. Work performed by a member of a religious order in the exercise of duties required by the order includes all duties required of the member of the order. The nature or extent of the work is immaterial so long as it is service which the member is directed or required to perform by the member’s ecclesiastical superiors.

[1] “SSA operations manual RS 01901.600 Ministers and Members of Religious Orders B, 4. Service of missionaries, domestic or foreign, when performed by a duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister for that missionary organization is excluded from employment and is deemed to be self-employment.
Even though a missionary organization may not meet the definition of a church or religious order, the service is still excluded as service in the exercise of the ministry.” See SSA operations manual RS 01901.600

[2] SSR 85-10c: SECTION 210(a)(8)(A) (42 U.S.C. 410(a)(8)(A)) COVERAGE -- SERVICES OF MEMBERS OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS WHO WORK FOR THIRD PARTIES 20 CFR 404.1023(e) SSR 85-10c Samson v. U.S., 743 F.2d 884 (Fed. Cir. 1984) this booklet.

[3] SSH 1122.2 The term “trade or business” does not include services by a member of a religious order who has taken a vow of poverty when these services are performed in the exercise of the duties required by the order.

[4] Code of Federal Regulations, Title 20— Section 404.1023 paragraph (e) Work in the exercise of duties required by a religious order. Work performed by a member of a religious order in the exercise of duties required by the order includes all duties required of the member of the order. The nature or extent of the work is immaterial so long as it is service which the member is directed or required to perform by the member’s ecclesiastical superiors.

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Trade or business

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