In the last article, do we briefly explain the fundamental principles of religious tax immunity in Brazil?You can consult it by clicking here [1]. Nevertheless, when we apply the issue of fiscal immunity in the routine of religious organization, we perceive situations that raise concrete doubts, in particular about the answers that religious law has to offer in the face of certain surprises in the daily life of the Church.
Is it not enough to know that the Church has this constitutional right to tax immunity ?, it is important to understand how it develops in all the activities of the ecclesiastical body, worship is the main expression that identifies a community of faith, however, facts are being generated that involve the income of the churches, and that you must know how the Church will proceed before each of them , so that your right is not reduced, not even hidden.
- Religious tax immunity prevents the State from imposing standards of tax impact on the subject.
- Reaching all the generating fact that any church heritage has in its main rule.
- Which may include buildings.
- Chapels.
- Temples.
- Vehicles.
- Computers.
- Sound equipment.
- Machines.
- Diverse equipment.
- Furniture and utensils.
- Provided that the social fact prescribed in the tax rule for the creation of the generating event is linked to the final activity and needs of the Church and the religious phenomenon.
Religious tax immunity also achieves the taxable event involving church income, including tithes, offerings, contributions and gifts received, amounts received for services rendered, marriages, baptisms, and any other object whose outcome of the sale is used for activities essential to religious worship [2] and having the passive Church (religious organization) as a personal criterion.
Religious tax immunity applies to all goods, income and/or services that are subject to religious organizations and are directly related to their religious activity previously described in their social object. All purchases, acquisitions and service contracts made and/or contracted on 20 and for its essential purposes enjoy religious tax immunity.
The residence of the Minister of religious denomination who performs the function of religious leadership in a particular religious organization according to its own statutory rules, provided that it is owned by the church or rented in its name, is also carried out by religious tax immunity. , in the understanding of the Federal Supreme Court in this regard:
The fact that the property is used as the office and residence of the members of the entity does not exclude the immunity provided for in article 150, VI, c, 4 of the Federal Constitution. [3]
In the event that the Church is a tenant of the property where it carries out its liturgical or other practices related to its essential activity, as set out in its statutes, it is also immune from the payment of this fee; this if contractually it is your obligation and the registration of communal taxes registers the religious organization as a subject of the debt. Indeed, as we have seen in the concept of tax immunity, at the time of the religious phenomenon, through the legal person. religious organization is present in the parent rule (personal criterion) of tax impact, the competition of the active subject is eliminated, the taxable act is invoiced and the taxable fact is not applied. Thus, the property rented for religious organization and used for religious purposes is immune. Religious tax immunity is due to the destination of the property, regardless of the owner.
The income of religious organizations invested in its essential activities is also immunized, as an example that can be cited in which the Church acquires an urban property, leases it to a third party, and the income of that rent applies entirely to the dissemination of its religious faith in or any other entrepreneurship in evangelization campaigns. The property tax on this property ceases to apply when its income is intended for ecclesiastical purposes due to the immunization rule.
The assets on which the offices of religious organizations are based, including convention offices acting as moderators and representatives of religious organizations themselves, are also immune from any exception of the type imposed by the same constitutional basis. , because whose main objective is the dissemination of their faith.
Other religious tax immunity is related to property tax on motor vehicles: Ipva. If the motor vehicle is in the name of the religious organization and the vehicle is used for the essential activity of the church and the religious phenomenon, there is a limitation of the state to collect this tax, thus affecting religious tax immunity. , it is sufficient to request immunity from the respective public age, by collecting only documents proving (i) that the vehicle is in the name of the religious organization; (ii) that the vehicle is used as part of the organization’s core business; and (iii) the legitimacy of the subject to sign the application, i. e. any other documents required by state tax authorities is illegal because it imposes conditions for granting immunity that do not exist in the constitutional text or in the national tax code.
It is not in favor of the tax authorities, and once the documents have been gathered, the IRS is required to immunize the taxpayer and return any abuses that could be paid in the same vehicle up to the date of proof of ownership and essential activity.
There are also other taxes, as well as other activities within the framework of the Churches, which follow the same logic as those listed in this article: the Tax on Patrimonial Transfers and the Rights that correspond to them (ITBI), among others. Is it because activities are related to the essential structure of the Church, or can it simply be said to be related to an essential activity?The church.
It is this characteristic that justifies the scope of tax immunity over any activity that, in our legal order, is subject to a certain tax, in secular life what determines the payment of a particular tax is the nature of the activity and the disposition thereof. Already in the spiritual order, in which the Church fits,?to bear human faith and spirituality?what determines the non-payment of the tax is simply “being a Church”, recalling the nature of the Ent, in which man goes from physics to metaphysics, that is, to sacred theology.
Man seeks, through the community of faith, the wisdom that comes from God, which, according to the confession of Christian faith, is incarnate wisdom; In view of these very high things, it is not for the State to collect taxes. , even in all the activities carried out by the denominational community.
A church not only survives by meditating outside. These things require time, money, and goodwill, and they are expressions of faith. that is, the practice of the essential theory of the Church, which defines its substance as unavailable for tax collection.
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[2] 724 above? Even leased to third parties, real estate belonging to one of the entities covered by article 150, VI, “C” of the Constitution, provided that the amount of income applies to the essential activities of these entities. Available in:
[3] BRAZIL. Federal Supreme Court, 2016
By: TR Vieira and Jean Regina. © Return to the Gospel. Website: voltemosaoevangelho. com All rights are reserved. Original: What church activities are carried out with religious tax immunity?