I received an e-mail from someone who asked me where I obtained the Church of Scientology 990-T’s. The person asking wanted to know because, as they claimed, anyone “still in the Church” would dismiss the IRS 990-T’s posted on this blog as “Black PR.” In other words, if a “still-in” came here they would believe the IRS 990-T’s posted here were not real, that the forms were somehow manufactured to attack the Church of Scientology.

I can assure my readers that the 990-T’s posted on this site are genuine and were made available by the IRS. Moreover, I fail to see how showing anyone that the Church has $1.5+ billion dollars in book value is Black PR, but the mindset is clear to see: “Still ins” may only consider that which they are spoon-fed in OSA handlings or Church PR.

The person writing to me argued that the 990-T’s should be available on a neutral website; the apparent logic being that special steps need to be taken to satisfy the distrust and paranoia of people still in the Church of Scientology.

Aside from the fact that I have no interest whatsoever in catering to the distrust and paranoia of people still in the Church of Scientology, the key point is this: The 990-T’s are publicly available from the IRS and they are now posted online here and at many other websites. Everyone is free to download the IRS 990-T’s I have posted on this blog and repost them on a “neutral website” or any other website.

As for handling “still-ins” on the 990-T’s my recommendation is this: Print out the 990-T’s, hand them to the still-ins, and have the still-ins ask Church management if they are Black PR or if they are real. OSA can address the questions.

For the record: I was able to legally obtain the 990-T’s due to the following IRS regulation, the text of which I have cut and pasted below. Source: IRS webpage.

Public Inspection and Disclosure of Form 990-T

Section 501(c)(3) organizations (charities) must make available for public inspection Forms 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return. IRS guidance provides as follows:

• Guidelines in Treas. Reg. § 301.6104(d)-1 and Notice 2007-45, for making annual returns available for inspection and copying generally continue to apply, except that a return covered by the guidelines includes an exact copy of a Form 990-T filed by a charity after August 17, 2006. The return also includes any schedules, attachments, and supporting documents that relate to the imposition of tax on the unrelated business income of the charity. Schedules, attachments and supporting documents that do not relate to the imposition of the unrelated business income tax do not have to be made available for inspection and copying.
  • For more information about which attachments to Form 990-T are subject to disclosure, see Public Inspection of Attachments to a 501(c)(3) Organization’s Form 990-T
• A charity must make Form 990-T available only for the three years beginning on the last day (including extensions) for filing the return.

The IRS must make Forms 990-T filed by charities publicly available; use Form 4506-A to request copies. Copies of Forms 990-T on DVD may be purchased from the IRS.