The housing allowance exclusion is available only to ordained
clergy-not to surviving spouses. The tax return for the year in which a clergyperson dies may include, as an exclusion from the gross income of the clergyperson, a housing allowance exclusion for the full period of time the clergyperson was alive. That is, the death of a clergyperson during the year does not invalidate the housing allowance exclusion for the entire year. The exclusion is still available with respect to the income of the clergyperson during the time he or she was alive.
Rev. Rul. 72-249
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