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Home > Official Documents > Church of Scientology Reply to The German Government’s Defense of its Discrimination
Church of Scientology Reply to the German Government’s Defense of its Discrimination
GERMAN GOVERNMENT: The German government has tried to discredit the Church’s tax exemption in the United States by reference to two newspaper articles.
FACT: The Church of Scientology received its exemption for one reason—it earned it. The German government’s use of newspaper reports to try to discredit the Church of Scientology’s exemption is inexcusable. The United States government has made the Church’s exemption record available for public inspection and those 11 linear feet of files form the basis upon which exemption was obtained. According to the IRS itself, its examination of the Church of Scientology was the most comprehensive in the agency’s history.
The IRS examined the Church of Scientology for two years. This examination involved the review of thousands of pages of records of churches around the globe, including Germany, and a most stringent, comprehensive, detailed and exacting scrutiny of every aspect of the Church’s policies and practices for all major Church organizations at the most senior levels of international Church management, from where the affairs of the Scientology religion are directed worldwide.
The IRS also had to be fully satisfied that the Church’s funds were not inuring to the benefit of any Church executives or any individuals for that matter. To accomplish this, compensation information for Church executives and the highest paid individuals in the Church was inspected as well as financial information concerning the highest paid vendors that the Church dealt with. The Church also provided answers to many other specific financial questions, including a massive compilation of bank records and balance sheets for all churches, and extensive information concerning the Church’s structure and organizations and the integrity of its financial records. On top of that, IRS officials even toured the Church’s buildings and conducted on-site examinations of Church operations.
Importantly, the IRS also examined—and rejected, one by one—all accusations against the Church made by apostates. Each point was taken up and thoroughly addressed. By the time the examination process came to an end, the IRS had realized that the scurrilous allegations made by apostate Church members were unsupported by any factual evidence, and it discarded them.
The magnitude of the IRS’ inquiry into the Scientology religion is without parallel in the history of United States Internal Revenue law. The IRS found that Churches of Scientology are operated exclusively for recognized religious and charitable purposes, that they operate in the public interest, and that no part of the income of churches of Scientology goes to the benefit of any individual or noncharitable entity.
Continued...
For further information contact:
Leisa Goodman
(323) 960-3500
e-mail: humanrightsofficer@scientology.org
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