SuperPower Fraud

Exposing the fraudulent practices of the corporate Church of Scientology

Part 4: The US Tax Scam

The various corporations and entities of Scientology are tax exempt since 1993. This includes CSRT. The following applies to them:

 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf

Churches and religious organizations, like many other charitable organizations, qualify for exemption from federal income tax under IRC section 501(c)(3) and are generally eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. To qualify for tax-exempt status, such an organization must meet the following requirements (covered in greater detail throughout this publication)

the organization must be organized and operated
exclusively for religious, educational, scientific, or other
charitable purposes,........

.......the organization’s purposes and activities may not be illegal or violate fundamental public policy.

In its 1993 filing to the IRS for exemption, CSRT stated the following about the Super Power Expansion Project:

http://www.xenufrance.net/csrt-scientology-religious-trust-jo-epstein-to-irs-1993.pdf

At present, CSRT is engaged in a fundraising program to raise $40 million to construct a 150,000 square foot facility to be used by Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization ("CSFSO"). This facility will consist of two buildings. One will be custom designed for the ministry of Scientology religious services to CSFSO's parishioners. The other will be a contiguous auditorium capable of seating 2,500 people for congregational religious events, meetings and religious celebrations. When completed, CSRT will lease the two buildings to CSFSO on reasonable terms as determined by CSI.

By 2011 the Church of Scientology Religious Trust had collected an estimated $177 Million  for the Super Power Expansion project.  This exceeds the stated need for the new buildings (both the Super Power Building and L. Ron Hubbard Hall) by more than 4 times.

Per IRS code 501(c)(3) excessive fundraising qualifies as UBI (Unrelated Business Income) and needs to be declared as such.

“Sometimes, activities that ARE related to exempt purposes can still generate UBI if they are conducted on a larger scale than is reasonably necessary to perform an exempt function. In this instance, the portion that is more than needed is considered an unrelated trade or business.”

As we have shown on this website, the Church of Scientology perverts the truth in order to induce its parishioners to part with their money. Falsely claiming the new building is needed for the release of the Super Power Rundowns, intentional delays, incurring massive penalties, glossy promotional pieces, promises of opening dates come and gone – all to maintain a lie and extract more money from parishioners.

Surely this fraud falls within this section of the IRS Code: "activities may not be illegal or violate fundamental public policy."   The US taxpayer is contributing to this scam by the church avoiding taxation on money that is far in excess of what is needed for the purpose they claim it is for.