Tax Type
Retail Sales and Use Tax
Description
Churches; Purchases by organization providing administrative and clerical assistance to churches
Topic
Exemptions
Taxability of Persons and Transactions
Date Issued
02-15-1985
- February 15, 1985
RE: Ruling Request: Sales and Use Tax
Dear ****
This will reply to your letter of January 29, 1985 concerning a ruling on the applicability of § 58-441.6 (effective July l, 1984) to purchases by the ***** ("Taxpayer").
FACTS
Taxpayer is an administrative arm of the which is comprised of 68 congregations (churches).
In addition to publication and printing services, Taxpayer provides administrative assistance and clerical support for its congregations. Taxpayer's representative states that although Taxpayer is not a church per-se, it is an extension of the local churches it serves which could not otherwise afford such facilities or services.
DETERMINATION
Effective July 1, 1984, Section 58-441.6(gg) of the Code of Virginia, (now Section 58.1-608(38)), exempts from Virginia retail sales and use tax, tangible personal property purchased by a nonprofit church for use:
(1) in religious worship services by a congregation or church membership while meeting together in a single location, and
(2) in libraries, offices, meeting or counselling rooms or other rooms in the public church buildings used in carrying out the work of the church and its related ministries...
The "religious worship service" exemption contemplates those services conducted by the churches or congregations themselves, such as regularly scheduled services, weddings, baptisms, funerals, and special services conducted during religious holidays. There has been no showing that Taxpayer's facilities are used as a church for religious worship services in the ordinary sense, as contemplated by the Code.
The "public church buildings" exemption applies only to those public buildings actually used in carrying out the work of the church and its related ministries. Although Taxpayer's facilities provide the administrative and clerical support necessary for its congregations to carry out the work of the church and its related ministries, Taxpayer's facilities are not themselves primarily used for such purposes. Instead, Taxpayer's facilities exist primarily to provide administrative and clerical support to its member congregations (churches).
Based on the foregoing, I find that Section 58.1-608(28) does not exempt Taxpayer's purchases from the retail sales and use tax.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
W. H. Forst
Tax Commissioner
Rulings of the Tax Commissioner