How do I classify my house as a church as to avoid paying property taxes?

[Minimalist]

Not like these morons tried it.....20 years ago.

3 Indicted in a Scheme for 'Friars' to Evade Taxes
By ARNOLD H. LUBASCH
Published: May 02, 1990

The Church and Order of St. Matthew called its members friars who took a vow of poverty, but a Federal grand jury said yesterday that they were tax cheats.

In an indictment filed in Brooklyn, the grand jury charged three officials of the organization with inducting hundreds of members, including New York City sanitation and transit workers, into a ''religious order'' to evade taxes on millions of dollars of income.

The indictment said the members were called ''friars'' who took a ''vow of poverty'' and did not pay income taxes even though they continued to receive salaries from secular jobs.

It said the friars gave their payroll checks to officials of the order, the officials deposited the checks into bank accounts and then gave the money back to them in cash ''less a fee of approximately $20'' a week from each friar.

Over $1 Million in Fees

More than $1 million in fees was obtained by the defendants over five years, said Andrew J. Maloney, the United States Attorney in Brooklyn, who announced the indictment.

The defendants were identified as John Brennan, 58 years old, of Uniondale, L.I., who was called the vicar provincial of the order; Claude Sommerlatte, 42, of Lindenhurst, L.I., the financial director, and Anthony Rousseau, 58, of Manhattan, the secretary. If convicted, each could face up to five years in prison for conspiracy and up to three years on each of many tax-fraud counts, as well as fines.

Larry Schilling, a lawyer working with Ramsey Clark in representing Mr. Brennan, said yesterday that the defendants had acted ''openly in good faith'' and that the case should be treated as ''a civil tax dispute.''

The indictment focused on the Church and Order of St. Matthew in Elmont, L.I., identified as an outgrowth of the Life Science Church, which was involved in a similar tax-fraud case years ago. The indictment said tax refunds that members got were also deposited into the group's accounts and then paid back to the members in cash.

The prosecutor handling the case, Dave S. Hattem, said the Internal Revenue Service later obtained the back taxes, with interest and penalties, from most of the members.

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/02/nyregi...taxes.html