NationStates Jolt Archive

I've noticed that as of late there seems to be a lot of suggestions in creating cults. The First Reformed Church Of The Living Dead, a cult based on NS just to name two. I say we actually form one. Post it on the internet. Even get tax-exempt status. Who is with me on this? ........................ *Cough* *Cricket chirps* ;)

I've noticed that as of late there seems to be a lot of suggestions in creating cults. The First Reformed Church Of The Living Dead, a cult based on NS just to name two. I say we actually form one. Post it on the internet. Even get tax-exempt status. Who is with me on this? ........................ *Cough* *Cricket chirps* ;)

what! thats blasphemy! thats heresy! thats immoral! thats- ... DID YOU SAY TAX-EXEMPT STATUS? OMG!!!!!SHIFT+1! COUNT ME IN!

Tax exempts. I saw the light. I believe.

Well, cults - as defined by law - cannot obtain 501(c)3 tax exempt status.

Here's how it works in the US ...

You decide you want to form a church. So be it. You're a church! *poof* like magic. No forms, no filing, no nothing. By simple declaration, you are a church and are exempt from filing any taxes on church income. You still have to pay sales tax and your personal income tax, however.

All corporations, non-profit or otherwise, must have an FEIN (Federal Employers Identification Number) which can be obtained by filling out form SS-4 and sending it to the IRS. This is a free service.

If you want to get rid of that nasty sales tax, you must contact the office who handles non-profit corporations for your State. In Texas, this is the Secretary of State's office. You go to the website, fill out the appropriate form for your Articles of Incorporation as a non-profit organization and send it in with the $25 filing fee. You will notice that you need a President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Name yourself President and pick two friends who you can trust not to hamstring you (will be discussed later).

Then you wait.

While waiting, it would be a good idea for you to write up Bylaws for your organization. The Bylaws describe what you are, what you do, what happens if the corporation is dissolved, officer compensation, what kind of membership options there are to the general public and the requirements of said membership (for example, the average Christian church would say you have to accept Jesus in order to become a member while other places may require a tithe or dues).

Once nicely drafted and adopted by your Board of Directors, you print out a nice copy and wait for the approval of your non-profit status.

Once that arrives, you make a copy of it and your bylaws and go to the IRS website and download form 1023 with schedule A or B (depending on your organization). You fill out the form. It takes a while because it asks some serious questions about who you are and what you do. You send in the form along with the $150 fee - unless you plan on making more than $10,000 your first year, then it's a $500 fee.

You send it in with all the required papers (such as your bylaws, religious tracts, codified law, etc).

Then you wait.

After some time and such, the IRS will contact you with a yes or no. If no, they will tell you why, and you may rectify the situation and try again. If yes, then you are given a tax number.

You take that tax number and an application for State and Local tax exemption to whatever office handles such things in your state and then ...

You wait.

When it's all said and done, you have a lot of government interference in your religion and you've wasted 18 months of your life on something you never had to do in the first place.

My advice: Just say you're a church and you are then make money on the internet selling religious degrees to people. The US does not accredit religious degrees and every church has the right to decide to whom they wish to grant religious titles (reverend, rabbi, father, pope, etc) and what the criteria for said titles are. The same holds true for religious degrees (Doctorate of Divinity, Doctorate of Religious Humanities, etc). The recipient has the full right to use "Dr." in front of their name and you can decide that you church's only criteria is a donation of $50.

Ain't the US grand?

I thought most of our NS addiction was already tempted by a cult following? ;)

Ok. Then we call ourselves a church. As long as we will be able to do our Masters bidding. Get tax exempts.