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'I Know It When I See It': Mail-Order Ministry Tax Fraud and the Problem of a Constitutionally Acceptable Definition of Religion

NCJ Number
110560
Journal
American Criminal Law Review Volume: 25 Issue: 1 Dated: (Summer 1987) Pages: 113-164
Author(s)
B J Casino
Date Published
1987
Length
52 pages
Annotation
This article examines the statutes governing exemptions for religious organizations and those concerning tax fraud as they are applied to mail order ministries and argues that the courts and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must adopt neutral criteria when determining the tax treatment of purported religious organizations in order to avoid establishing precedent potentially harmful to all religions.
Abstract
An examination of case law and statutes finds that many mail order ministries are income tax-avoidance shams. While many of the activities of these groups call for criminal prosecution, the courts and the IRS have not developed adequate criteria to distinguish legitimate religious organizations from those that exist to defraud. The current flawed criteria used by the courts and the IRS in fraudulent religions mail-order cases could seriously threaten legitimate religious groups. The criteria developed by the IRS to determine the legitimacy of a religious group contain 14 separate elements. Among these are that the entity claiming to be a religion must have a distinct legal existence, a recognized creed and form of worship, a formal code of doctrine and discipline, a distinct religious history, and a membership not associated with any other church or denomination. Moreover, the church must have ordained ministers selected after completing prescribed studies, established places of worship, regular religious services and religious education, and schools to prepare ministers. It is argued that the IRS criteria should be replaced by a more subjective two-part test that emphasizes equal treatment of organizations claiming to be religious. 383 footnotes.

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