[TOD4wDTQ]

Let me reply from a legal standpoint, Fr. David was going in this direction but I will try to be slightly more explicit.

A local church group is nothing more than a group of individuals and in many states, has no legal status. The group can call itself anything that is legally permissible but it is still just a collection of people (some might call it a partnership made up of all the individuals but that is stretching.) In the U.S., being as we are so litigious, if someone was hurt by the negligent act of one of the members of this group (like, say, they got food poisoning at the ladies annual bake sale) the injured party might well sue all the ladies connected with the bake sale as well as anyone else that was a member of the group. There is no legal entity that is the church, just the individuals.

To give some structure to help solve this problem all states now allow for a group of people (or in many cases just one person) to form a corporation. The corporation is a legal entity, a legal 'person.' Just like you and me it can hold property, and do just about anything that you can do. This corporation can, depending on the particular state, be organized (usually) as either a for profit or a not-for-profit corporation. (It is not unusual for a not-for-profit organization to be the sole share-holder i.e. owner of a for-profit corporation. This is done where the activity in the profit making corporation is not strictly church related and therefore maybe not tax-exempt.)

Okay, so now there is a legal entity that holds title to (i.e. owns) the church property, makes important payments, such as the salary of the Priest, can have a bank account, etc. Smaller churches frequently operate in just such a manner. Then, as Father pointed out, along comes a person who wants to give to the church but also being wise in the way of the world wants to make sure that the I.R.S. will allow him/her to deduct the contribution from his/her income tax. The contribution can be made to any organization but then if the contribution is challenged by the I.R.S. as to whether or not it went to a tax exempt organization (and there are many other organizations besides churches that are tax exempt) the donor has the burden of proof that the contribution went to a tax exempt organization.

I.R.S. has long taken the stance that if the organization, prior to receiving the donation, is approved by the I.R.S. as a tax-exempt organization, then then donor does not have to show anything more than the fact that the contribution was made to such an organization.

So, no church has to file for a tax-exempt status under section 501c3 (and under one of the subsections) but it costs very little and gives donors a 'safe haven' in making his/her contribution.

BTW, as mentioned above, states and cities frequently tax churches on non-religious income, property owned by the church but used for non-religious purposes, even in one on going case are trying to tax a church for parts of their parking lot that just might be being used for non-religious purposes.

You should be aware that the Orthodox Church has, since the time of Constantine, been in a close relationship with secular authorities and the notion of 'separation of Church and state' is a fairly recent and western concept (that the Orthodox Church probably has not come fully to grips with.) I would guess that there has probably been a previous thread that addresses the relationship of the church and state.

If this doesn't answer your questions I'll try again.