Cuervo
What about our altar rooms from which we work? It requires upkeep and has an overhead.
right off the top i would expect
business expenses tax write offs, just as if you were any other small business would deal with that. after all
your "alter room" and such could be considered equal to say a home office, (if it is a room in your house for example). or if you were in a storefront
or something would be equal to a normal business office.
Why can't the money being donated for my services fall under the same rules as a church?
that i can't answer well as i am not sure what all is needed for that status. i do know you need a "board of directors" (things like a chairman and
vice chairman of the board, a secretary (who must take notes of required meetings, not sure if you send the minutes to someone or if they just come
and check every once in awhile), and a "treasurer" (who is responsible for all finances and must send financial reports i think every quarter)), and
rules and bylaws have to be established. i also know that it is a time consuming thing to get, and there are all sorts of "hoops" you need to jump
through, no mater if you are a "religious organization" or any other type of "charitable" organization. in fact in some areas it is getting harder and
harder to get that status as a "religious organization". in one case i know of a new church had to take over an old church that had died out, but was
currently still active as an entity, including keeping the name of that church even tho it was in a different area originally. if you were to get that
status you would still have to report how much you got in donations as well as exactly how those donations were spent, (and there are strict rules on
exactly what that money could be spent on, and organizations like the IRS are
very picky about that stuff). and of course anything that was for
"you" would be considered personal income and thus counted as "income" for income-tax purposes, including things like a "supplied house" for you to
live in (in that case they take the value of "rent" and apply that into your "pay"). hope i at least answered a bit of your question.
oh and i forgot about having to have
annual meeting in which members/supporters have to vote on things like rules, and policy changes, some
types of financial decisions (sometimes extra meetings are needed for some things like spending finance, or rule changes), as well of course of
voting for board members, and
leaders. you could even find yourself "thrown out" of being the "leader" even tho you started it, if your
membership/supporters or board of directors decide to. this has happened in many churches and other organizations through the years.
also i'm not sure if there needs to be some sort of actual
charitable works involved, but i bet there is.
edit on 1-3-2014 by generik
because: forgot anual meetings/ charitable works