IRS Focus on "Church" Definition
Describe a church. The venerable Christian radio and publishing organization Focus on the Family pressed the issue with the IRS, according to records made public in early 2018, and was successful in getting official designation as a "church." The IRS's willingness to grant Focus' request, as evidenced by recently made public church IRS application documents, may come as a surprise and calls for additional analysis of what qualifies as a "church" under the law. THE CHURCH AS DEFINED BY THE IRS The Internal Revenue Code acknowledges the existence of churches under law but does not define them. This legislative reluctance is rooted in the First Amendment's protection of religious liberty in our country. For tax purposes, the term "church" has been defined by courts to include a variety of elements or characteristics, including (but not limited to) public worship, a group or community of believers professing the same religion, observance of rel...