Re: Religious exemption/denial of use of facilities
Warren Williams (ww@NETDOOR.COM)
Wed, 17 Sep 1997 08:53:57 -0500
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Property tax laws vary from state to state, and administration of those
laws is usually handled on the county level.
I did a little bit of web research; the California State Board of
Equalization (the agency that administers and collect your taxes in
CA) has a publication entitled "Property Tax Exemptions for
Religious Organizations"; pamphlet 48 in Adobe Acrobat format at:
http://web01.ca.gov/boe/docs/pdf/pam48.pdf
California allows three types of "religious" exemptions from property
tax:
The Church Exemption, which may be claimed on property that is owned,
leased, or rented by a religious organization and used exclusively
for religious worship services.
The Religious Exemption, which may be claimed on property owned by a
religious organization and used exclusively for religious worship
services or religious worship services including preschool, nursery
school, or parochial school activities.
The Welfare Exemption, which may be claimed on property owned by a
religious organization and used exclusively for one or more of the
above activities and/or any other religious activities.
The Church Exemption and Religious Exemption are administered by the
assessor of the county in which the property is located.
My "guess" based on what you've said about the situation, is that the
church, its tax advisors, and/or the county tax assessor are looking
at a "Church Exemption", and are focusing on the following
requirement:
"The Church Exemption is available for buildings, land on which they
are situated, and equipment used exclusively for religious
worship..."
It also says the following about the Church Exemption:
"The Church Exemption may remain available in some instances in
which other organizations use the church's property: Incidental use
by nonprofit, charitable local civic groups such as scouts...on a
not-to-interfere basis so long as absolutely no charge is made for
the use."
I didn't find anything about what is meant by "some instances"; you'll
need to check with a tax accountant or attorney to get more guidance on
this.
Good luck!
Yours in Scouting
--
Warren Williams <warren@scout.net>
a CPA, although I don't normally handle tax matters, and I'm
definitely not experienced in California tax law!
http://www2.netdoor.com/~ww/
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
