Starting a Business: 501(c)(3) Guide for U.S.; Anyone in any Country can do this

punicwax (58)adminin Start a Business • 4 years ago (edited)

501(c)(3) Religious Organizations

Tax Exemption under 501(c)(3) and 508, this is an IRS Ruling Letter from the Treasury Department explaining how it works.

Filing with the IRS

If you or anyone you know wants to start a company you can fax this form
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf

To this fax #
https://www.irs.gov/filing/where-to-file-your-taxes-for-form-ss-4

You can fill out forms at PDFescape.com free Faxing at GotFreeFax.com

So you can do it all on your phone.

When you file an SS4, the FEIN you get is very literally like a Social Security Number. In 1886 this case happened, and the Supreme Court decided Corporations were people under the 14th Amendment, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 118 U.S. 394 (1886). That case made corporations people, then there was the "Citizens United" case where it was determined that Corporations need speech (because they are people, right?) So Money = Speech, corporations are people and have free speech. Then the Hobby Lobby case, where Corporations are people and have Religions. Hobby Lobby, a Corporation, and a Person, is Christian, and Believes fetuses have souls. Just like the Little Sisters of the Poor, which people act like was a narrow decision but it wasn't it was 7-2 because corporations are people.

File an SS4, as soon as possible.

After that, in Texas you can file as a Federal 501(c)(3) for automatic State Exemption

Here is an explanation of Tax Exemption with the Texas Comptroller.
https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/exempt/religious.php

Clergy Earnings Tax Exemption

This is for your Church/Temple Clergy, and yourself. It is a Self Employment Tax Exemption form for Ministers. It is to declare you are a Minister, and won't be filing taxes on Ministerial earnings or Donations, etc.
https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-4361

SBA Ombudsman

This is the Small Business Administration (SBA) Ombudsman complaint form.
https://web.sba.gov/nocms/client/dsp_welcome.cfm

If you fill out that form, the Ombudsman will submit exactly your words to the Federal Agency, and they have 30 Business days to respond, and they usually respond. This is a good way to get official records of your attempts to resolve things amicably with the Federal Agency.

If you have more info to send them (documents, etc) after you send the comment form, use this email
[email protected]

If you want to do more research, look up the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Flexibilty Act (SBREFA). This is the Law passed by Congress that created the Ombudsman in the first place, and it is usually a Law used by Small Businesses to complain about their inability to afford to comply with Environmental Regulations from the EPA. But they have a staff member almost fully dedicated to the IRS, and accept FDA and DEA complaints also.

Once you have filed your SS4 you will have a FEIN# to send the SBA so they can see you are a business. There are all kinds of loans and grants you can get too, if you remember that guy in the Question Mark suit he was all about teaching people about grants and he is actually still on Yoube. If you go through his videos it can get you started thinking about how to file things for your company.

Techsoup

Once you have your SS4 filed and they send back your FEIN, you have the option of filling out a 1040 and paying $600 to get in the IRS's Non-Profit system, then you can go to Google and get Gsuite for free, tons of free and discounted software, $5 year long hosting on a website called Acorn, etc. I am currently suing the IRS and Techsoup to see if it can be done for Free, since Religions aren't required to pay the $600. But once you are in the system you can get free office supplies donated, etc.
https://www.techsoup.org/get-product-donations