Tithing on Any Income: Gross or Net, Bonuses, Rentals, Retirement (2026)

Quick Answer

Scripture never defines a tithe in terms of wages, withholding, capital gains or a 401(k), because none of those existed in the economy it describes. That is why sincere Christians land in different places on gross versus net, and on whether the tithe binds Christians at all. This page gives each position and its reasoning, then does the arithmetic under all of them.

Three commitments. Quotations are from the World English Bible, British Edition (WEBBE), public domain, unless the King James Version (KJV) is named; every one was checked against the text and given its immediate context. No verdicts on contested questions. And no claim that giving pays — giving reduces the money you have, which is what giving is.

What does the Bible actually say about tithing?

The tithe in the Law is a tenth of agricultural yield, not of money: "All the tithe of the land… is the LORD's" (Leviticus 27:30, WEBBE), and Numbers 18:21 assigns it to the tribe of Levi, who held no farmland.

Deuteronomy complicates this. In 14:23 the giver eats the tithe — "You shall eat before the LORD your God… the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil." If the journey is too far to carry grain, verses 24–26 say to "turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand," then buy food at the destination. Every third year it went instead to "the Levite… and the foreigner living among you, and the fatherless, and the widow" (14:28–29). The biblical tithe is not a flat ten percent of cash paid to an institution.

Malachi 3:10 does the most work in the most sermons. KJV: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing…" The setting is a covenant lawsuit against post-exilic Israel as a nation — the same prophet has just condemned those who "oppress the hireling in his wages" (3:5) — and the blessing promised in verses 11–12 is agricultural and national. How far that transfers to an individual's bank account is disputed; this page takes no position, beyond refusing to present the verse as an investment thesis.

Does tithing make you better off financially?

No, and be suspicious of anyone who says otherwise with a spreadsheet. A household giving 10% of $90,000 has $9,000 less than an identical household giving nothing.

Three passages get pressed into the opposite service. Proverbs 3:9–10 ("so your barns will be filled with plenty") and Proverbs 11:24–25 are wisdom literature — general observation addressed to an agrarian society, not individual guarantee. Luke 6:38, "Give, and it will be given to you," follows directly on "Don't judge, and you won't be judged… For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you" (6:37–38), which makes the subject the standard you apply to other people. Faithful givers do sometimes end up with less, and Scripture nowhere says otherwise.

Is tithing required for Christians today?

Genuinely contested; each case at its strongest:

Binding. A tenth predates Moses — Abram gave Melchizedek "a tenth of all" (Genesis 14:20), Jacob vowed a tenth (Genesis 28:22) — so it is not merely ceremonial. Hebrews 7:5–9 treats Abraham's tithe as theologically live for Christians. And in Matthew 23:23 Jesus says the Pharisees ought to have practised justice, mercy and faith "and not to have left the other undone," the other being tithing.

Not binding. Matthew 23:23 is a woe: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law…" It addresses people under the Mosaic Law, and that final clause is where traditions divide. Abram's gift was once, from battle spoils, uncommanded; Jacob's was a conditional vow. The only other New Testament mentions are Luke's parallel and the boasting Pharisee of Luke 18:12. Paul, writing to churches never under the Law, names no percentage: "let each one of you save as he may prosper" (1 Corinthians 16:2).

Both camps expect generous, proportional giving. What is disputed is whether ten percent is a command, a benchmark, or a pre-Christian pattern retained by choice. Your church may teach one firmly; that does not settle it across the church.

Do I tithe on gross or net income?

The most-asked question, and one with no biblical answer: the Mosaic economy had no tax withheld at source.

For gross: the firstfruits pattern (Proverbs 3:9) gives God the first claim, and taxes are a separate obligation to a separate authority — "Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:21). On a $90,000 salary that is $9,000, whatever your withholding.

For net: the tithe in the Law was on increase. "You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed" (Deuteronomy 14:22), and a farmer did not tithe seed he had to replant; payroll taxes are money you never controlled. On the same $90,000 with $22,000 withheld, that is about $6,800 — a $2,200 annual difference. A middle position, modified gross, removes only non-discretionary deductions: strip FICA alone and you give $8,310.

Discount one argument whichever side you take — that "the whole tithe" in Malachi 3:10 means pre-tax. "Whole" contrasts a complete tithe with a partial one. And net-tithers are not "shortchanging" anyone; that framing imports a verdict into an open question. The tithe and giving budget calculator takes whichever figure you decide is your base — run it twice, on gross and on net.

How much would a 10% tithe actually be?

If 10% is not achievable, a smaller percentage given consistently is a real practice, not a failure: "if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you don't have" (2 Corinthians 8:12).

Which kinds of income am I supposed to tithe on?

The question underneath every case is whether an inflow is increase — new value produced — or the return or transfer of something that already existed. Common positions, not a ruling:

Do I tithe on a bonus or a tax refund?

These look alike and are not. A bonus is new income — you earned it, and consistency argues for treating it like salary. Someone on $85,000 with a $12,000 bonus who gives on both gives $9,700, which is 10% of the $97,000 they actually earned.

A refund is your own money coming back. Withheld $6,000 against a $4,800 liability, the $1,200 refund is over-withholding returned, and a gross tither already gave on those dollars. Nothing stops you giving from a refund, but it is not a second obligation. One exception: if you tithe on net, the refunded dollars were subtracted from your base, so giving on the refund restores consistency.

Self-employed or 1099 — revenue or profit?

Almost everyone lands on profit, on the increase principle: a farmer tithed the harvest, not the seed. A consultant billing $150,000 against $40,000 of genuine business expenses has $110,000 of profit; 10% is $11,000, not the $15,000 revenue-based tithing would demand.

Self-employment tax runs about 15.3% of net earnings with no employer half to absorb it, so a $10,000 side profit carries roughly $1,500 a W-2 earner never sees. Some givers therefore give on profit before personal income tax, honouring the firstfruits order; others net it out first. On $110,000 that is about $11,000 versus $8,500, and both are defensible. Irregular income does not require irregular giving: set aside monthly, distribute quarterly. A loss-making start-up year produces nothing to give on.

I own the business — company profit or my salary?

For a sole proprietor, single-member LLC or S-corp owner, business profit flows to your personal return and is your income. If you take a W-2 salary from your own company plus a distribution, most owners give on the combined figure: $80,000 plus $20,000 is $100,000, so $10,000.

The open question is reinvested profit. If the business nets $80,000 and you retain $20,000 for equipment, drawing $60,000, you can give on the full $80,000 (all of it is increase) or on the $60,000 you took (the rest is working capital). Scripture does not resolve this. Choose a rule, write it down, and apply it in bad years as well as good. A gift to your church is a personal charitable contribution, not a business expense.

What about rental or side-hustle income?

Gross rent is the wrong base. A property collecting $24,000 a year against $6,000 interest, $3,000 property tax, $2,000 insurance, $1,500 maintenance, $1,500 vacancy allowance, $1,200 management and $8,000 of principal produces $800 of cash flow — so giving on gross rent means paying $2,400 out of a property that produced $800.

Two adjustments giving spreadsheets get wrong. Mortgage principal is not an expense; it converts cash into equity, so a strict increase calculation adds it back — $8,800 of economic increase rather than $800 of cash, and reasonable people give on either. And depreciation is a deduction, not an outflow: a property showing a paper tax loss can still throw off real cash. Gig work follows the same logic — a driver grossing $4,000 a month against $1,580 of fuel, vehicle wear, insurance and platform fees keeps $2,420. If you approximate vehicle cost with the IRS standard mileage rate, use the current year's rate.

Do I tithe on investment gains and dividends?

Dividends and interest are straightforward: new money produced by capital you already own, which was usually tithed as wages. A $4,000 dividend year adds $400.

Capital gains need one distinction. You give on the gain, not the proceeds: stock bought at $40,000 and sold at $60,000 produces $20,000 of increase, so $2,000 — not $6,000 on the whole sale, which would tithe your original principal twice. Unrealised appreciation is not income. The live question is whether to net out the tax: a $20,000 gain taxed at about 18% leaves $16,400, so $2,000 gross versus $1,640 after tax — the gross-versus-net argument in a different costume.

Do I tithe on Social Security and pension income?

Pensions are the easier case: deferred compensation for work performed, so most givers treat them as ordinary income.

Social Security splits people three ways. All of it: it arrives monthly and you allocate it, and slicing income into titheable and non-titheable invites rationalising. None of it: you paid FICA on the wages that funded it, so if you gave on those wages you have already given on these dollars. The surplus only: benefits typically exceed individual contributions, and only the excess is genuine increase — a retiree expecting roughly $150,000 more in lifetime benefits than they contributed, over a 20-year retirement, would treat about $625 a month as increase — the most defensible in principle, the hardest in practice.

Can I still tithe in retirement on a fixed income?

Usually yes, often at a lower percentage, and that is not backsliding. A couple with $4,200 in Social Security, an $1,800 pension and $1,200 from a 4% withdrawal has $7,200 a month against $5,500 of committed expenses — $1,700 flexible. A $720 tithe fits; matching the dollar figure they gave in peak earning years may not. Paul's rule for a relief collection applies directly: "this is not that others may be eased and you distressed" (2 Corinthians 8:13). And 1 Timothy 5:8 puts household provision ahead of giving, not behind it.

Four routes to give more without straining cash flow: donate appreciated securities rather than cash; use a qualified charitable distribution from an IRA at 70½ or older, which counts toward your RMD while staying out of adjusted gross income; give time and skill; and name causes in your will.

Do I tithe on a gift or an inheritance?

The dominant view is no: an inheritance is a transfer of principal someone else already earned and, if they tithed, already gave on. It is not increase from your labour or your capital. A church presenting a 10% tithe on a $250,000 inheritance as an obligation is asserting something Scripture does not say.

That is about obligation, not discouragement — large transfers are natural moments for substantial giving, at a figure you choose rather than one computed for you. Two edge cases: a gift given for a specific need is meant for that need; and inherited-IRA distributions are commonly treated as income once they join regular retirement cash flow.

Should I tithe while I'm in debt?

The dangerous advice here is any rule that ignores the interest rate. "Give first, pay debt second" reads identically for a 3% mortgage and a 29% credit card.

Scripture puts real weight on repayment. Psalm 37:21 — "The wicked borrow, and don't pay back, but the righteous give generously" — holds repayment and generosity together rather than ranking them, and Proverbs 22:7 observes that "the borrower is servant to the lender."

Jennifer takes home $4,133 a month, has $3,400 of necessary expenses and pays $380 in minimums against $8,000 on a card at 18%, leaving $353 flexible. Directing all of it at the card clears the balance in about 16 months rather than the better part of a decade, after which $733 a month is free. The counter-position is sincerely held: some traditions hold that giving is a first claim precisely because it is inconvenient, and that deferring indefinitely is how it never restarts. If you pause, set the restart trigger in writing, and model the payoff date in the debt payoff planner first.

Where is my tithe supposed to go?

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse" named a specific place: the temple treasury of a nation with one temple and one priesthood. No modern equivalent exists.

The local-church position: the congregation that teaches you, buries your dead and pays a pastor is the functional storehouse, and it carries fixed costs only member giving covers. The broader position: Paul never directs tithes into a local congregation; his collections went to poor believers in Jerusalem and to travelling workers, which suggests need rather than membership determines destination. A hybrid — most to your congregation, the balance to missions or a ministry you know well — is where most people land. Either way, ask for the budget.

What counts as giving beyond the tithe?

In the Old Testament the tithe was owed while freewill and thanksgiving offerings were not. New Testament almsgiving is separate again — direct compassion to the poor, assumed rather than commanded by percentage.

That becomes four tiers: baseline giving; offerings answering a specific appeal; alms, unbudgeted giving to people in front of you; and an occasional larger gift. A household on $72,000 net giving $600 a month at baseline, $50 into an offerings sinking fund, $30 in alms and one $400 gift a year gives $8,560 — just under 12% — and it stays manageable because only the first line is fixed. If the baseline already strains you, do not add tiers.

What if I can barely give anything? (The widow's mite)

Mark 12:41–44 is the most misused passage in giving sermons. Jesus watches a poor widow put in "two small brass coins" and says "this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on."

Read the three verses before it: Jesus has just warned about the scribes "who devour widows' houses… These will receive greater condemnation" (12:40). The widow's gift follows immediately on a condemnation of a religious establishment that consumed widows' resources — which makes it hard to read as an instruction for poor people to give more, and easy to read as an indictment of institutions that extract from them. What it teaches is that proportion, not amount, is measured. If you are genuinely at the edge, stabilising your household is the faithful act, and nobody should be made to feel $10 a month is a failure.

How do I know if I'm giving too little — or too much?

Two people giving $500 a month are doing different things. On $180,000 that is 3.3% and changes nothing about how you live; on $48,000 it is 12.5% and shows up in every discretionary decision.

Comfortable giving comes from surplus and requires no trade-off; sacrificial giving requires an actual choice. Both appear in Scripture without condemnation; which fits depends on season, not sincerity. Early career with debt, a young family, irregular income, a recent crisis or a reluctant spouse argue for the comfortable end; low debt, a funded reserve and spousal agreement open the sacrificial end. Two floors: giving that leaves your household unable to meet its obligations is not sacrifice, and giving you never notice is not proportional.

What if giving feels like a burden?

Then something is wrong with the amount, the recipient, or the reasoning. Paul is explicit: "Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Three usual causes. The amount exceeds your real margin — reduce it, because a sustainable 5% for thirty years is a larger total than 10% abandoned in month four. You do not trust the recipient — change it, or ask for the budget. Or you are treating giving as a way to earn standing, which no amount will satisfy.

Should I give first, before other bills?

The firstfruits pattern is about order, not amount. Israel brought the first of the harvest, not what survived the year; Malachi 1:8 shows the alternative: offering "the blind for sacrifice… the lame and sick," then being asked whether the governor would accept it.

The modern equivalent is sequencing. Two households on $3,750 net a month: one pays everything and gives what is left, averaging $50 a month; the other moves $190 to a giving account on payday and runs the month on $3,560. The second spends about $140 a month less on discretionary items and gives $1,680 a year more. The mechanism is behavioural — money that never reaches the spending account does not compete with spending. This assumes basic stability, so build a small buffer first if you have none.

How do I fit giving into a monthly budget?

Give it a line, not a leftover. Net income, minus fixed necessities, equals flexible margin; set the giving figure inside that margin before allocating discretionary spending; automate the transfer on payday.

Keep the giving fund in its own account and the emergency fund separate from both, so emergencies never come out of giving. The tithe and giving budget calculator runs this sequence, so you can test a percentage before committing.

Should I automate my giving?

Yes, for a boring reason: intention loses to inertia. Giving driven by remembering lands well short of the intended annual figure and generates guilt on top of the shortfall. A transfer on the same day each month hits the figure exactly.

Use your bank's recurring transfer or the recipient's own facility; ACH beats a card, since processing fees come out of the gift. Raise it by rule, not by feel — "one point a year, or 10% of any raise." The risk is that automated giving becomes invisible; the fix is to look once a month at what each transfer funds.

Should I give anonymously?

Jesus's instruction is about motive, not mechanics: "when you do merciful deeds, don't sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do… they have received their reward. But when you do merciful deeds, don't let your left hand know what your right hand does" (Matthew 6:2–3). The rebuke targets giving performed for an audience, not ever being known to give.

Two honest tests. If you could give this anonymously, would you still want to? If nobody ever knew, would you still be glad you gave? Taking the charitable deduction does not violate this — it is a mechanism, not a motive.

Does volunteering count as giving?

It counts as generosity; it is not a substitute for money, and it is not tax-deductible. "As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms" (1 Peter 4:10) is broader than finance by design.

Counting it corrects a distortion: a parent on a modest income who mentors, hosts and covers childcare may be giving more in total than a high earner who only writes a cheque. For a rough figure, multiply hours by a defensible rate — 96 hours a year at $60 is about $5,760 of value. The IRS allows a deduction for out-of-pocket costs while volunteering, never for your time.

How do I teach my kids to give?

By making it concrete, chosen and visible. Ages 4–7: physical acts — coins into the plate, a toy chosen for a shelter — with a one-sentence reason. Ages 8–12: introduce proportion with an allowance split roughly 50% spend, 30% save, 20% give, and let them choose the recipient; a child who picks the cause learns ownership, one handed a mandate learns compliance. Ages 13–18: move to real earnings and real autonomy, and let them defend the percentage and the recipient.

Two mistakes undo all of it: compelling a percentage, which teaches that giving is a tax, and modelling the opposite of what you say.

What about donor-advised funds, QCDs and legacy giving?

Timing and tax-efficiency tools: they change when and how giving is taxed, not whether it is generous.

A donor-advised fund takes a lump contribution, gives the deduction that year, and lets you recommend grants later — useful for lumpy income and for "bunching" several years of giving into one to clear the itemising threshold. Note for 2026: DAF contributions do not qualify for the new non-itemiser deduction below, which excludes funds over which you retain advisory privileges. A qualified charitable distribution sends money straight from an IRA to a charity at 70½ or older, capped at $111,000 per person for 2026. Appreciated securities given directly avoid realising the gain; bequests cost nothing in your lifetime. General information, not tax or legal advice.

Is my tithe tax-deductible?

Sometimes, and the 2026 rules changed in two ways that matter to ordinary tithers. If you take the standard deduction — $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household for tax year 2026 — you can now also deduct up to $1,000 ($2,000 filing jointly) of cash gifts to qualifying organisations. That is new for 2026, and the first time in years non-itemisers get anything for ordinary church giving. If you itemise, a new floor applies: only contributions above 0.5% of adjusted gross income are deductible in 2026.

Unchanged: the recipient must be a qualifying organisation, you need a written acknowledgement for any single gift of $250 or more, and gifts to individuals are never deductible. Some Christians decline the deduction on conscience grounds; that is legitimate, and it costs real money. Verify against IRS Publication 526 and Topic no. 506 — this is not tax advice.

A worked example: one household, three defensible answers

The Okonkwos, 2026. Salary $118,000 plus a $9,000 bonus. Their rental collects $21,600 against $14,400 of interest, tax, insurance, maintenance and vacancy, plus $5,400 of principal. The brokerage pays $2,800 in dividends and they realise a $6,000 long-term gain, and they receive a $2,100 refund. Withholding on wages and bonus is $31,000.

The spread between the widest and narrowest defensible base is $5,380 a year — a car payment, not a rounding error, and no verse resolves it. The gap reconciles exactly to five judgement calls:

Offered as a read, not a ruling: the middle column is the most consistent with the increase language of Deuteronomy 14:22, the third the most sustainable, the first the most demanding and the most often taught. Pick one, write down why, and apply it in a bad year as well as a good one — then run your figures through the tithe and giving budget calculator.

Sources

• IRS, Publication 526, Charitable Contributions — deductibility and substantiation
• IRS, Topic no. 506 — the 2026 non-itemiser deduction and the 0.5% AGI floor
• IRS, Tax inflation adjustments for 2026 — standard deduction (Rev. Proc. 2025-32)
• IRS, IRA FAQs — distributions — qualified charitable distributions
• Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible, British Edition (WEBBE) and the King James Version, both public domain; every reference was checked against the text.

Nothing here is tax, legal or investment advice, and nothing here rules on a disputed theological question. On the tax, confirm with the IRS or a qualified professional; on the theology, your own tradition and conscience decide.