How to Establish a Tax-Exempt
508(c)(1)(A) Compliant Faith-Based Organization:
Setting up a Tax-Exempt 508(c)(1)(A) Compliant Faith-Based Organization: Your Comprehensive Guide
Welcome to our website, your ultimate destination for comprehensive guidance on setting up a tax-exempt 508(c)(1)(A) compliant faith-based organization. Our mission is to assist individuals and groups interested in establishing religious organizations that are exempt from federal income tax.
Our step-by-step guide is designed with simplicity in mind, ensuring that you can effortlessly navigate the process of setting up your faith-based organization. We cover all aspects, including legal requirements, tax-exempt status, and compliance with IRS regulations. Our detailed instructions will walk you through obtaining tax-exempt status, drafting articles of association and bylaws, and establishing a board of directors.
Course Objective:
Create and Manage a Lawful Tax-Exempt Self-Supported 508(c)(1)(A) Faith Based Organization
Establish Control and Operation of Your Faith Based Organization as a Not-for-Profit Entity
Understand the Procedures for Maintaining 508(c)(1)(A) Compliance
Gain Independence from Government Regulation and Expand Advocacy Opportunities
FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE, WE NOW OFFER COMPLETED SAMPLE FORMS.
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The Completed Sample Forms clearly illustrates how the form might be prepared and serves as a useful guide when you are unsure about the information required to complete your form.
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Speed up your document preparation and avoid costly mistakes by referring to the Completed Sample Forms whenever you have a question.
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Completed Sample Forms are available in pdf format.
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What are the benefits of creating your own 508(c)(1)(A) compliant faith-based organization/church/ministry?
If you're wondering, "what is a Self-Supported Faith-Based Organization/Ministry?" and "how can it benefit you?" Let us explain:
- IT IS NOT TAXABLE! There is no law requiring the SSM to file ANY tax return, as far as we can tell.
- Accept all types of assets as donations or gifts. All types of assets may be donated to your SSM. (This includes real estate, stocks, vehicles, boats, planes, clothing, furniture, and money.)
- Take advantage of a tax break. All donations to your SSM from yourself, friends, relatives, clients, patients, and fund raising events are fully deductible from the donor's taxes, as allowed by law.
- Reduce your business's tax liability. Your business's tax liability will be reduced if you make the SSM the lawful owner of the majority of the stock or ownership in an existing business.
- Establish bank accounts all over the world. There is no need for a "off-shore" trust or corporation because SSMs can exist anywhere in the world. However, it is possible that you will need to physically open the account in another country and provide the bank with a local address for your SSM.
- Gifting to other Countries. Gifts to overseas charitable projects cannot be deducted by US taxpayers unless they are made through another charitable entity, such as the SSM.
- Personal remuneration for your labors. A SSM has the authority to pay anyone who works for it. This can be accomplished by utilizing the "Workers Contract" that is provided in all Self-Supported Ministries. Because FRNs (Federal Reserve Notes) are used as "payment" (exchange), the transaction should not be a taxable event under US law. FRNs are referred to as "Obligations of the United States." Unless you or your entity is a corporation or a public organization, "obligations" are not taxable. Not regulated by the Government. Do you remember the Amish? They are free to construct whatever they want on their property without fear of government "code enforcement." They do not require any permits to operate. The government has abandoned them. The SSM should be operated in the same manner as their "work." If they can do "it," then so can the SSM.
- Allow your SSM to pay for all of your expenses. All expenses necessary for the SSM's operation and growth are permitted. Yes, you can request that the SSM pay for all of your transportation, clothing, food, and lodging. (Remember, you're now working for God.) Bank accounts are personal. The SSM's checking account does not have a social security number associated with it. The bank, on the other hand, may want to check your own social security number for personal identification purposes only. Every bank should open an account without a "DBA" attached to it. Remember that the SSM is not a commercial enterprise.
- Attorneys will have a difficult time collecting any judgments against you personally if you place all of your assets in an SSM. (That is, if they are able to collect anything at all.) "You can't get blood out of a turnip," as the saying goes.
Unlike a 501(c)(3) organization, A 508(c)(1)(A) Faith Based Organization (FBO), more commonly referred to as a not-for-profit, unincorporated, unregistered, non-privileged, non-denominational religious fellowship and ministry, simply put, is a religious organization of two or more people who get together for a shared purpose: Matthew 18:20 “For wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, here am I in the midst of them.”
Anyone, including you, can construct or form a legal fiction with two or more others. And you do not need permission from the State to do it. Meaning, you do not have to incorporate your organization for it to qualify as a legitimate business.
A church or ministry isn’t always a building or even a congregation. The church/ministry may or may not have buildings, ceremonies, a creed, robes, and/or vestments. You are not required to disclose this information to anyone. Section 508(c)(1) exempts in subsection (A) churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches.
There are numerous different ways to form a faith based organization, a church, integrated auxiliary, or association of churches, just as there are many different ways to form a corporation.
A STATE or the federal government cannot enact legislation that favors one religious practice over another. The courts will not praise or condemn a religion, no matter how good, zealous, or absurd it appears to be. It would be a violation of the First Amendment guarantee if the courts did so.
It is an established legal principle that “the power to tax is the power to destroy”. The government only has the power to destroy that which it has created. IRS publication 557 states, that you do not have to register with the IRS, and that a church/ministry is “exempt automatically”. Therefore, if a church or ministry forms a 501(c)(3) Church corporation with the STATE, they “sign away” in a “legal contract” the rights of their organization.
According to Norton v. Shelby Co., a 501(c)(3) organization/corporation is a “creature” of the legislature, created by the state and therefore controlled by the state. It has no constitutional rights except for a limited first amendment right to advertise; (Va. State Board of Pharmacy v. Va. Citizen’s Council or the “Ashwander Doctrine”). In other words, this fictional “person” has no rights. It only has privileges - which can be taken away at any time by the state. However, a private organization such as the “Self-Supported Ministry” or "Faith Based Organization if it is not a 501(c) (3) corporation, may also have the same rights as a man. This type of organization is not public, it is private.
Many have advocated and advertised the 501(c)(3) Church corporation from its inception in 1954 with the Johnson Amendment as the only choice for forming a Faith Based Organization/Church/Ministry. This is inaccurate and misleading. A church could be organized as a 508(c)(1)(a), 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), a 501(d), and even a for profit corporation. The rights and protections of the 508 (c)(1)(a) Faith Based Organization are confirmed and established by federal law, IRS publications, and numerous court cases. It is tax exempt and donations given to it are tax deductible for donors.
Everson vs. Board of Education, 330 US 203.91, LEd 2nd 71. “Neither this court nor any branch of this government will consider the merits or fallacies of a religion. Nor will the court compare the beliefs, dogmas, and practices of a newly organized religion with those of an older, more established religion. Nor will the court praise or condemn a religion, however excellent or fanatical or preposterous it may seem. Were the court to do so, it would impinge upon the guarantee of the First Amendment”.
Universal Life Church. Inc., vs. United States, Judge Brattin for the Eastern District of California, found in 372F. Supp. 770, 776 (E.D. Cal 1974) “Neither this court nor any branch of this government will consider the merits or fallacies of a religion. Nor will the court compare the beliefs, dogmas, and practices of a newly organized religion with those of an older, more established religion. Nor will the court praise or condemn a religion, however excellent or fanatical or preposterous it may seem. Were the court to do so, it would impinge upon the guarantee of the First Amendment”.
Universal Life Church. Inc., vs. United States, Judge Brattin for the Eastern District of California, found in 372 F. Supp. 770, 776 (E.D. Cal 1974) “Religion is not confined to a sect of a ritual. The symbols of a religion to one are anathema to another. “The term ‘religion’ or ‘religious’ in tax exemption laws should not include any reference to whether the beliefs involved are theistic or non theistic. Religion simply includes: (1) a belief, not necessarily referring to supernatural powers; (2) a cult, involving a gregarious association openly expressing the belief; (3) a system of moral practice directly resulting from adherence to the belief; and (4) an organization within the cult designed to observe the tenets of belief. The content of the belief is of no moment”. Fellowship of Humanity vs. Alameda County, 153 Cal. A. 2nd 673, 315 P. 2nd 394, (1957).
We may now be certain that we can form our church or self-supporting ministry and operate it without incurring any liability to any government agency (in terms of establishing recognition for Tax exempt status); and that we are also legally exempt from filing any return with any government agency for whatever reason. The tax code applies to profit-making corporations operating within the federal zone. The IRS does not have jurisdiction over the Kingdom of Heaven. No law is, no law!
Include a certificate of ordination!
An ordination certificate is the official proof that you are licensed to serve as a minister and qualified to perform specific ceremonies and activities.
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