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There are 501(c)(3) "non-profit religious corporations" and 508(c)(1)(a) "non-profit religious churches". Only 501(c)(3) must submit documents to the IRS becaus

• chimeracoder 9y ago
  > As a side note, 508(c)(1)(a) can also speak about politics while 501(c)(3) are forbidden from doing so. Er, that's not exactly true. 501(c)(3) aren't forbidden from speaking about politics. There are restrictions on the ways in which they can (e.g. no overt party affiliation) and the degree to which they can do so. For example, they can spend time lobbying, but only 10% of their time and only 10% of their budget (I don't remember if it's still 10%, but that used to be the number). Oftentimes, 501(c)(3)s will have a separate, associated entity that they use for their political lobbying, to avoid having to keep track of their resources when mixed and prove that it's under this threshold.
• dragonwriter 9y ago
  501(c)(3)s are not required to be corporations. 508 doesn't provide an alternative kind of tax exempt organization, it identifies rules governing 501(c)(3), and 508(c) identifies exceptions to the rules governing which 501(c)(3) orgs are presumed to be “private foundations” unless they notify the Treasury otherwise. All organizations described by the exception in 508(c)(1)(a) are, by definition, organizations also described in 501(c)(3), and so governed by the rules applicable to such organizations. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/508 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/508