Are places of worship exempt from charging and paying sales tax?

Ministers and staff definitely do pay income taxes, same rates as anybody else. Even if you tip a pastor for a wedding, writing “Love Gift” on the check, he must still report that as income.

@Acrylic What about the sales tax? If the church buys toilet paper for their bathrooms, can they buy it tax free like diplomats?

Edit: I’m not sure Diplomats get TP tax free, but I know they can buy a lot of goods tax free. I used to sell clothing at the local mall, and that was tax free for diplomats.

@JLeslie Yes they can. At least in most states.

@JLeslie Yes. If they have the proper paperwork and filings by law, their store purchases are sales tax-free. That’s the same for Goodwill, church of scientology, planned parenthood, and every other corporation with a 501c3 not-for-profit status. Churches follow the laws put on the books by politicians just like everyone else.

I wasn’t implying places of worship don’t follow the law, I was asking about the law.

Churches and religious institutions are exempt from paying sales tax. That’s Federal, so it is in every state.

I’m not sure if they are supposed to charge sales tax on their items they may sell. I have a CPA in the family so I will ask him when I see him later. I know if I’m with friends and they buy something from the St. Patrick’s Cathedral gift shop, they pay tax so I am guessing the church is not breaking a law by doing it.

U.S. answer. Sales tax is imposed at the state level, and state legislatures determine which transactions are taxable and who’s required to pay the tax. There’s no federal mandate that requires a state to exempt charities.

So, @jleslie, Are places of worship exempt from charging and paying sales tax? The answer is: look to the applicable state law.

Most states do have a sales tax exemption for charities. As a general rule, a charity will be exempt on the goods that it buys, but it collects and remits sales tax on items that it sells on a regular and continuing basis. I emphasize, though, that these generalities aren’t uniform or set by any federal standard; the prevailing state law applies.

What you’re asking may be fairly straightforward, but the answer isn’t really that simple – Which is why most of the responses so far are only half correct.

Full exemption for relgious entities only applies to federal tax on general revenue received by an organization.

Churches are required to withold FICA payroll taxes on personnel considered employees. And individual income earned by those employees is also subject to income tax. Policy also varies widely at the state level. Some allow complete exemption for sales and income taxes, some give no special consideration for churches, while other states make taxing determination on a case-by-case basis.

The most common taxes that churches pay are payroll taxes for their employees. Churches must withhold and file taxes for their employees, though ministers do qualify for some special treatment.
Churches can also be subject to taxation on unrelated business income for money received that is not strictly related to nonprofit purposes.

” Churches are subject to pay sales tax if they have not obtained sales tax exemption from their state. Further, churches may be required to collect and file sales tax on items sold by the church, unless those items qualify for exemption. Churches may be subject to pay property tax if they have not obtained property tax exemption for their facilities from their state or local municipality. In some states, churches are also subject to taxes for the personal, non-real estate property they own, unless they have qualified for exemption.”

https://www.clergyfinancial.com/do-churches-pay-taxes/