1985 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 420 | Tax Ct. | 1985
MEMORANDUM OPINION
GUSSIS,
1985 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 420">*422 The Church of Nature in Man (hereinafter the Church) was incorporated on December 12, 1980, pursuant to Article 9 of the New York Religious Corporations Law. The certificate named eight trustees (including three married couples) to manage the Church.
The purposes for which the Church was organized were stated to be: "The founding and continuing of a free church to be established within the County of Rensselaer, State of New York." The By-laws of the Church gave the Board of Trustees authority to hire a pastor who would conform to Church doctrine and be in charge of the Church's operations and devotional services. The By-laws also provided for annual business meetings where a budget would be adopted and the financial situation of the Church reported. Upon dissolution of the Church, all real and personal property would be "disposed of in a manner consistent with the wishes of the membership and in accordance with the laws of the State of New York . . ."
In its application for exemption dated January 30, 1981 the Church stated that its sole activity was a "weekly (in good weather sometimes daily) worship of God in our own way." All church funds were to be derived from voluntary1985 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 420">*423 donations by its members. In a statement attached to its application, The Church stated its formal code of doctrine and creeds as follows:
1) God did not create Nature, God is Nature.
2) Only change is inevitable.
3) Everything is mutually dependent upon everything else.
4) The universe has no fixed substratum of fixed substances and its only reality lies in its own phenomena.
5) Everything is alive, not only animals but also water, earth and stones. Our present society believes everything is dead, even its own people, and if in spite of that something persists in trying to live society will rub it out.
6) Man is an animal, no more, no less.
In addition, the Church stated that the benefits it would provide with respect to its exempt function would be "a place [to] worship God." The Church's financial data revealed gross contributions totaling $542.82 and total expenses of $380, leaving the Church with $162.82.
The Bylaws of the Church did not contain a provision prohibiting its net earnings from inuring to the benefit of any member. However, an amendment to its By-laws, dated January 29, 1981, was filed with the State of New York. This amendment reflecting the1985 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 420">*424 statutory language in section 501(c)(3) included a provision which prohibited any part of the Church's net earnings from inuring to the benefit of any of its members.
On March 11, 1981, the Internal Revenue Service, prior to taking any final action on the Church's application for exemption advised the Church to amend its certificate of incorporation to provide that upon dissolution its assets be distributed to other section 501(c)(3) organizations. The Church failed to comply. The Internal Revenue Service also sought proposed budgets of the Church for 1981 and 1982, a copy of its rental or lease agreement with respect to its facilities and more information about the church's past, present and future activities. In its reply, the Church stated that it had no prepared budgets, that it had no rental or lease agreements, summer services being held on members' land and, in the winter, in members' homes, that it had no priests, ministers, or other employees, and that no religious instruction was provided for members' children.
On July 24, 1981, the Internal Revenue Service issued an initial determination that the Church did not qualify for exempt status under section 501(c)(3). On1985 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 420">*425 August 13, 1981, the Church's application for exemption was referred to the National Office of the Internal Revenue Service. In its final adverse determination dated April 12, 1982 the Internal Revenue Service determined that the Church of Nature in Man was not a church for purposes of section 501(c)(3) and that it also failed to meet both the organizational and operational tests set forth in
Petitioner has the burden of proof to overcome the grounds enumerated in respondent's determination.
An organization may qualify for exemption from income taxation under section 501(c)(3) only if it is organized and operated
In addition, an organization is not organized exclusively for one or more exempt purposes unless its assets are dedicated to an exempt purpose. An organization's assets are considered dedicated to an exempt purpose if upon dissolution such assets would, by reason of a provision in the organization's articles or by operation of law, be distributed for one or more exempt purposes. An organization does not meet the "organizational" test if its articles or the law of the State in which it was created provide that its assets would, upon dissolution,1985 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 420">*427 be distributed to its members or shareholders. See
Here, the Church failed to amend its articles of incorporation or its By-laws to include a proper dissolution provision even after this defect was called to its attention on the administrative level. Petitioner's articles simply provide that the disposition of assets will be made in a "manner consistent with the wishes of the membership and in accordance with the laws of the State of New York." The broad provisions of section 18 of the New York Religious Corporations Law (Vol. 50 McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York (1952)), which provide for the dissolution of religious corporations under judicial supervision, do not require that a religious corporation's assets be distributed upon dissolution for exempt purposes or for such other purposes as limited by section 1.501(c)(3)-1(b)(4) of the regulations. Nor do the applicable non-judicial dissolution provisions governing not-for-profit corporations under New York law, which simply permit the adoption of a plan for the dissolution of the corporation and the distribution of its assets, meet the test of the regulations. See
Moreover, we believe that the Church of Nature in Man fails to meet the "operational" test under section 501(c)(3). Petitioner's meager description of its proposed activities is simply inadequate to support an objective determination as to whether it will in fact operate exclusively for exempt purposes. See
Footnotes
1. The statutory prerequisites for declaratory judgment have been satisfied: petitioner is the organization whose qualification is at issue, sec. 7428(b)(1); petitioner exhausted all its administrative remedies, sec. 7428(b)(2); and, petitioner filed a timely petition with this Court, sec. 7428(b)(3). ↩
2. All section references are to the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, unless otherwise indicated. ↩
3. All rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.↩