Your ministry is not automatically tax-exempt merely because the ministry is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation and obtains an employer identification number. Your organization is tax-exempt only if it meets certain requirements of Federal law. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is authorized to recognize tax exemption.

Some ministries that are eligible for tax exemption do not need to have their exemption recognized by the IRS. But most ministries elect to pursue recognition of tax-exempt status to provide evidence of their status to donors and others. Ministries not required to pursue exempt status include:

• A church, an interchurch organization, a local unit of a church, a convention or association of churches, or an integrated auxiliary of a church.
• An organization that is a subordinate organization covered by a group exemption, but only if the central organization timely submits a notice covering the subordinates.

Ministries desiring to request recognition of tax exemption from the IRS generally file Form 1023 Application for Recognition of Exemption.