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The tax status of the Church of Scientology in the United States has been the subject of decades of controversy and litigation. Although the Church of Scientology was initially partially exempted by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from paying federal income tax, its two principal entities in the United States lost this exemption in 1957 and 1968.
In 1967 the Internal Revenue Service revoked the Church of Scientology's tax-exempt status because it failed to meet the criteria in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. [4] In 1993, the IRS granted Scientology a 501(c) nonprofit status, giving it the same favorable tax treatment as other nonprofit organizations.
After being recognized as a tax-exempt religious organization in 1957, Scientology's tax-exempt status was lost in a 1967 IRS audit. [5] As part of the effort to regain tax exemption during the late 1970s, Scientologists repeatedly infiltrated the IRS, copying large numbers of documents and at one point placing an electronic bugging device in an IRS conference room. [5]
Scientology cites its tax exemption as proof the United States government accepts it as a religion. [160] In January 2009, removal of the tax exemption was rated as number 9 in items for the incoming Barack Obama administration to investigate, as determined in an internet poll run by the presidential transition team soliciting public input for ...
The corporation is composed of several individual Scientology organizations and entities, among them churches, such as the "Church of Scientology of Los Angeles", which delivers services to public members of Scientology. [2] In its application for tax exemption, CoSWUS described the structure of the corporation as follows:
Scientology's designation as a tax-exempt religion has given it protections during FBI investigations and in court cases. In 2009, the FBI investigated Scientology on claims of human-trafficking ...
The Church offers the tax exemption as proof that it is a religion. (This subject is examined in the article on the Church of Scientology). In 1982, the High Court of Australia ruled the State Government of Victoria lacked the right to declare the Church of Scientology was not a religion. [64]
The Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, D.C., had obtained tax-exempt status in 1956 on the claim that it was "a corporation organized and operated exclusively for religious purposes, no part of the earnings of which inures to any individual".