In 2012, the IRS had about $1.15 billion in outstanding penalties, including the IRS’ largest audit case against the Church of Scientology for $12.2 million. And the IRS estimated that the total amount owed in outstanding liabilities for all types of audits, including the $12.2 million case, would rise to $3.2 billion.
“If they were still doing it, we’d still have hundreds of millions of dollars in tax that they owe,” she said.
The IRS began publishing online, at least in PDF format, the data it collects, some of which includes the names and addresses of churches, but not the amount of money they owe.
The agency has not provided an official copy of the files in electronic format. The IRS says it may not publish such files unless a church seeks it.
But after contacting the Church of Scientology and several other tax-exempt religious groups and requesting public access to the IRS files, we now have an idea how much the tax agency collects each year.
The data available so far includes:
The total number of churches and other tax-exempt religious groups the IRS audited during fiscal year 2012, with their estimated assets and liabilities. There were 6,622 such religious groups audited that year. (The figure is not complete, since some religious groups are excluded from filing such returns.)
The names, addresses, and tax-exempt status of about 7,000 churches and other tax-exempt religious groups the IRS audits. Many of the houses of worship are located in Texas, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina and Indiana.
The results of tax examinations involving church and nonprofit tax returns. An examination is conducted when the IRS issues a notice that the tax return submitted is incomplete or is otherwise suspicious. The examinations usually yield a civil tax assessment in the form of a proposed tax increase, in which case the IRS typically sends a notification to the taxpayer.
The addresses, assets and liabilities, tax-exempt status and tax assessments made to churches in Ohio and Texas. The data for Texas is missing tax assessments in several counties, making it impossible to know how much the church there owes in back taxes.
IRS collection settlement agreements, and the IRS must provide reasonable documentation for any adjustment it makes to an information return. If the information return does not support the adjustments, the IRS must provide you with a detailed explanation of the adjustments. You may want to consider consulting a tax attorney for assistance.
If you would like a free consultation with an competent tax attorney, give a call at (888)489-4889.