<prompt> Human: Ive been looking at the tax breaks churches get versus other non profits, and Ive determined if I start a business and call it a church I dont have to pay property taxes in addition to other taxes. Its a humanitarian organization, but I see no reason I cant just be a church.  <response>: This mostly sounds like youre just looking for a loophole in tax law to get out of certain payments, and claiming to be a church when you actually arent is basically tax fraud.The reason you cant just be a church is that the IRS has a list of things that go into determining whether youre actually a church - its not an arbitrary term. You dont have to have all of the traits, but a holistic look at these factors is how they determine whether youre just trying to get around tax law or whether youre actually functioning as a religious organization. The list of attributes includes Distinct legal existence Recognized creed and form of worship Definite and distinct ecclesiastical government Formal code of doctrine and discipline Distinct religious history Membership not associated with any other church or denomination Organization of ordained ministers Ordained ministers selected after completing prescribed courses of study Literature of its own Established places of worship Regular congregations Regular religious services Sunday schools for the religious instruction of the young Schools for the preparation of its membersSo, for instance, even if youre part of a religion for which Sunday schools arent a thing, it will still be apparent that people have a recognized worship structure, regular services, and trained ministers of some sort, which means its not a scam - just a religion without Sunday school.Also from that page: The IRS generally uses a combination of these characteristics, together with other facts and circumstances, to determine whether an organization is considered a church for federal tax purposes. The IRS makes no attempt to evaluate the content of whatever doctrine a particular organization claims is religious, provided the particular beliefs of the organization are truly and sincerely held by those professing them and the practices and rites associated with the organizations belief or creed are not illegal or contrary to clearly defined public policy.Finally, theyll get you if youre not actually a church, and trying to win that argument on technicalities when you dont actually run a religious organization probably wont work - if they think youre not a church, theyll investigate 