The Internal Revenue Service has warned churches and other houses of worship they risk losing their tax-exempt status if they engage in partisan election-year politics.
The IRS, in a routine advisory issued every four years since 1992, said religious groups are “prohibited from participating or interviewing in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office.”
Churches, charities and schools known as 501©3 groups for their section of the tax code, may hold nonpartisan voter education forums or voter registration drives, but may not endorse any candidate.
Nonprofit groups may not make donations to campaigns, raise funds for candidates, distribute campaign literature or “become involved in any other activities that may be beneficial or detrimental to any candidate,” the IRS said in an April 26 notice.
In 1995, the IRS revoked the tax exempt status of the Church at Pierce Creek in Binghamton, N.Y., after the church paid for a full-page ad in USA Today in 1992 criticizing then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton.
(RNS)
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