terribilisestelocusiste asked:


I’m trying to start a low impact, sustainable and self sufficient community. In order to avoid paying taxes I would like to claim religious exemption, but I would also like to avoid pushing religion of any sort onto my community. Could I succeed in doing this by using a religion such as the Church of the Subgenius or Discordianism?

3 Responses to “Could I attain tax exempt status for my commune by claiming a religion such as Discordianism or Subgenius?”

1. v b on January 16th, 2008 7:45 pm

   You won’t qualify as a religion when you aren’t.

   However, you do not have to be a religion to be a non-profit.

2. PepsiLime on January 19th, 2008 9:42 am

   Sure, you could succeed, and I could hit the lottery, but in the real world, you’d have to prove your tax exempt status to the IRS, and that’s not going to happen.

3. Arthur R on January 21st, 2008 8:13 am

   REAL religious organizations are automatically non-profit 501(c)(3) without filing for the IRS. If you don’t want to have contributions deductible, there are many ways to have an organization be “non-profit”, but you have to have a charter which specifies that all funds are to be used for appropriate purposes, under the list of 501(c) organizations.

   Community associations, in general, are non-profit under the tax law, usually under 501(c)(7) or 528.