Re: Hurricane Bertha

Jonathan Kirwan wrote:
On Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:04:34 -0700, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Joel Koltner wrote:
"Jonathan Kirwan" <jkirwan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:of1t741bd1pl2rdrild2r222f6alogre9a@xxxxxxxxxx
"But when you give to
the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is
doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who
sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Sure sounds to me as though this ought to encourage churches to quit "passing the hat" and making peoples' contributions so public.
A good church does not make that public. They do record contributions that arrive in the form of traceable tender such as checks or wires. Because the IRS requires that. So, naturally, a few folks at church in the treasurer's group know what we give but nobody else does. Not even our pastor.

I can imagine the need for it, internally. But I seem to recall that
even Form 990 doesn't actually need to be filed and, if filed, doesn't
need much information. Maybe I'm wrong. But that's my recollection.


This details it some more:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p598.pdf

Section 6104(d) requires a tax return and it must be publicly available if an exempt organization takes in more than $1000 from unrelated trade or business. Almost every church does that. One example in our church is that we let non-church groups use our facilities for a (very small) fee but it adds up. Realtor meetings and such. The fees are just to offset cleaning costs and such but it does add up. Of course support groups such as AA usually don't pay anything. Other churches may have day care income from which workers are paid and so on.

Then there are the logging of contributions. Churches must count all that and log per taxpayer because the IRS requires itemizer to have written statements from charitable organizations for any contribution above a miniscule amount. They must carefully split between true giving and events where people receive something in return, such as a meal or a book. Those aren't charitable contributions. All this has resulted in our church needing a business managers who knows tax stuff.

What really stunned me was when our pastor told me a long time ago that his status is "self-employed", just like you and I. Meaning his tax return ain't any easier than ours. That may be different in the catholic church but I don't know.


This, I know: A church doesn't even need to file with the IRS in
order to secure the tax status of a 501(c)3. The IRS web page tries
to provide some reasons why a church might want to do so, but
recognizes there is no requirement for it. More, a bill signed into
law in 2000 by Clinton makes it very difficult for any local gov't
entity to regulate what a church decides to use its property for.


Quite different out here. Our building permit for an added facility was held up for years. A main obstacle was that we plan to provide a sport facility that can be used by anyone regardless of religion. It's for kids. The government doesn't seem to care, they just closed a skate board park for "liability reasons". Kids need some place to vent off their energy and if we don't provide it nobody will. Certainly not the local government which is kind of sad.


Being a church is VERY GOOD MEDICINE for any business. Sadly, this
makes them VERY TEMPTING for people with... less than honerable
intentions.

BTW, Jon, well said.

On the point about the nugget of what it means to be Christian?
Thanks. I just wish I met a few more of them than I seem to.

I have closely watched your comments about your faith, when you are
kind enough to share it, and you express it with a rare natural
beauty. Even the humble, and only in appropriate conversational,
fashion by which you rarely speak about it contributes nicely.

I have been impressed.


Thanks, very kind. I try just to live it and not force faith on people. IMHO that and volunteer help are the only way.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.
.

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