Has anyone ever successfully gotten a mission or church of Scientology to disclose it's financial statements? It might be interesting information for protests. The document I've attached (PDF so I can't copy & paste bits) is the article of incorporation for the Scientology church in Phoenix circa 1971. It's the only filed with the county recorder. They are incorporated as a non-profit corporation.
I tried to do a little research and I think non-profit corporations have to disclose at least some of their financial statement information. I think it can be directly requested from the IRS. Has anyone ever tried this? Would it be of any use? I thought it might be interesting data to hand out at protests, but I don't know.
I found the following Q& A on a legal website:
http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/bu.../non-profit-disclosing-financial-records.html
Question:
Do 501(c)(3) non-profit corporations have to make their financial statements available to the public?
Answer:
Yes. Non-profit corporations must submit their financial statements, which include the salaries of directors, officers and key employees to the IRS on Form 990. Both the IRS and the non-profit corporation are required to disclose the information they provide on Form 990 to the public. This means that non-profits must make their records available for public inspection during regular business hours at their principal office.
In addition, a number of websites make these financial statements available including GuideStar ( www.guidestar.org ) and the Foundation Center ( www.foundationcenter.org ). Finally, you can request a Form 990 from a specific non-profit corporation by writing to the IRS, including the name of the organization and the tax year you wish to review:
Commissioner of Internal Revenue
Attn: Freedom of Information Reading Room
1111 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20224
Also, the AofI mentions that they have to have a board of directors and can not have more than $1Million in debt at a given time. I'm not sure if that is per loan or in total.
I tried to do a little research and I think non-profit corporations have to disclose at least some of their financial statement information. I think it can be directly requested from the IRS. Has anyone ever tried this? Would it be of any use? I thought it might be interesting data to hand out at protests, but I don't know.
I found the following Q& A on a legal website:
http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/bu.../non-profit-disclosing-financial-records.html
Question:
Do 501(c)(3) non-profit corporations have to make their financial statements available to the public?
Answer:
Yes. Non-profit corporations must submit their financial statements, which include the salaries of directors, officers and key employees to the IRS on Form 990. Both the IRS and the non-profit corporation are required to disclose the information they provide on Form 990 to the public. This means that non-profits must make their records available for public inspection during regular business hours at their principal office.
In addition, a number of websites make these financial statements available including GuideStar ( www.guidestar.org ) and the Foundation Center ( www.foundationcenter.org ). Finally, you can request a Form 990 from a specific non-profit corporation by writing to the IRS, including the name of the organization and the tax year you wish to review:
Commissioner of Internal Revenue
Attn: Freedom of Information Reading Room
1111 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20224
Also, the AofI mentions that they have to have a board of directors and can not have more than $1Million in debt at a given time. I'm not sure if that is per loan or in total.
