501C3EZ Blogs

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...

Every organization exempt from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code section 501(a) must file an annual information return except: A church irs application , an interchurch organization of local units of a church, a convention or association of churches   An integrated auxiliary of a church   A church irs application -affiliated organization that is exclusively engaged in managing funds or maintaining retirement programs   A school below college level affiliated with a church or operated by a religious order   Church-affiliated mission societies if more than half of their activities are conducted in, or are directed at persons in, foreign countries   An exclusively religious activity of any religious order   A state institution, the income of which is excluded from gross income under section 115,   A corporation described in Section 501(c)(1) that is organized under an Act of Congress, an instrumentality of the United States and is exempt...