News & Analysis as of August 3, 2025

First Amendment › Tax Exemptions

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The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech... more +

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech or the press, preventing citizens from peacefully assembling, or interfering with citizens' ability to petition the government for redress of their grievances. The First Amendment is one of the most sacred aspects of the American legal tradition and has spawned a vast body of jurisprudence and commentary. less -

U.S. Supreme Court Supports Religious Exemption for Catholic Charities in Wisconsin

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC on 7/31/2025

The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) recently determined that religious discrimination occurs when legal criteria discriminate between religions based on their “theological practices” or “inherently religious choices” as opposed...more

IRS Permits Politics from the Pulpit

Stinson LLP on 7/16/2025

In a joint motion filed on July 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stated that religious organizations may speak about political campaigns and candidates to...more

IRS Agrees That Political Speech Is Permitted in Houses of Worship

McGlinchey Stafford on 7/10/2025

The Internal Revenue Service has reached a settlement, subject to court approval, that would permit political speech in houses of worship. Background - Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code defines an organization...more

Non-Profit Snapshot: 4 Things Non-Profits Need to Know About SCOTUS’s Religious Tax Exemption Ruling

Fisher Phillips on 7/10/2025

Welcome to this edition of the FP Non-Profit Snapshot, where we take a quick look at a recent significant legal development with an emphasis on how it impacts non-profit organizations. This edition focuses on a landmark...more

Churches Can Now Endorse Political Candidates Without Losing Tax-Exempt Status

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC on 7/9/2025

On July 7, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) overturned an over 70-year-old interpretation of the Internal Revenue Code via a federal court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, which now...more

Top First Amendment Cases of the 2024-2025 Supreme Court Term

Carlton Fields on 7/2/2025

The U.S. Supreme Court in its 2024–25 term continued to robustly protect religious liberty under the First Amendment but retreated from core First Amendment principles in two cases involving the internet....more

SCOTUS Delivers a Win to Religious Organizations Seeking Certain Tax Exemptions: What Religious Schools Need to Know

Fisher Phillips on 6/27/2025

A recent Supreme Court ruling could have significant implications for religious schools and other nonprofit organizations seeking tax exemptions under state unemployment compensation systems. What standard will be applied to...more

Scope of tax exemption for religious entities: The Catholic Charities case

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP on 6/12/2025

On June 6, 2025, in a decision authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned a ruling of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which denied Catholic Charities Bureau an exemption from the state’s...more

Harvard’s Tax-Exempt Status Dispute with the Trump Administration: Implications for Nonprofits

Polsinelli on 4/24/2025

On April 16, 2025, President Donald Trump signaled a desire for Harvard University (Harvard or the University) to lose its tax-exempt status after the University refused several demands in the Trump Administration’s letter to...more

New York State Codifies the Johnson Amendment

Proskauer - Not for Profit/Exempt... on 11/12/2019

On October 23, 2019, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, signed legislation incorporating the federal Johnson Amendment into New York law. As previously described, the Johnson Amendment denies tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3)...more

No Taxation With Religious Invocation: Seventh Circuit’s Decision to Impact Ministerial Employees

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 5/16/2019

In Gaylor v. Mnuchin, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a tax code exemption for religious housing of ministers does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution....more

Parsonage Exclusion Found by Seventh Circuit to Be Constitutional

Proskauer - Not for Profit/Exempt... on 4/4/2019

On March 15, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held in Gaylor v. Mnuchin that the tax exemption for “ministers of the gospel” (defined below) under Section 107(2) of the Internal Revenue Code (the...more

Is It the End of the Johnson Amendment as We Know It?

Proskauer - Not for Profit/Exempt... on 3/3/2017

While speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 2, 2017, President Trump reaffirmed his commitment to repeal the law that restricts organizations that are tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue...more

Nashville Islamic Center’s Religious Discrimination Claims Dismissed

Robinson+Cole RLUIPA Defense on 2/3/2017

A federal district court in Tennessee recently dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction a claim by the Islamic Center of Nashville (ICN) lawsuit challenging a Tennessee property tax exemption law on religious freedom...more

Nashville Islamic Center Claims Tax Rules Impose Unfair Burden

Robinson+Cole RLUIPA Defense on 10/5/2016

The Islamic Center of Nashville (ICN) recently filed a federal complaint and request for declaratory judgment against the State of Tennessee, the Metropolitan Trustee of Nashville, and the Tennessee State Board of...more

Religious Institutions: August 2015

Holland & Knight LLP on 8/7/2015

The decision by the United States Supreme Court on same-sex marriage has been greeted with praise and disdain by different corners of the country. The faith-based community has been especially outspoken. This is not...more

Tax Exemption For Ministers Unconstitutional?

Gray Reed on 11/29/2013

The Western District of Wisconsin recently issued a decision that makes the parsonage exemption unconstitutional as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution. This ruling is controversial and hotly...more

Religious Institutions: September 2012 Update

Holland & Knight LLP on 9/7/2012

A corporation is an artificial or fictional person, ordinarily distinct from both its individual members or shareholders and its subsidiaries and affiliates, even when owned by just one person. A key reason many organizations...more

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