I could use a little help here - maybe someone in our TPM community can explain this:

In my reading and research on Dangerous Pastor Steven Anderson (whose "church" is wayyyy too close to my home and my office, btw) yesterday, I was prompted to do some checking on the tax-exempt status of his "Faithful Word Baptist Church".  Some commenter (here or over on the New Times site) claimed that FWBC doesn't have tax-exempt status because it is an "independent Baptist church" (and such congregations don't avail themselves of that govt-granted benefit).

I didn't do much checking on the latter point, but I did check FWBC's status, and it seems contradictory to me.  Anderson registered FWBC as a non-profit with the Arizona Corporation Commission. (http://starpas.azcc.gov/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=wsbroker1/names-detail.p?name-id=12540118&type=CORPORATION)  And, his 2008 budget was only $32,000, of which he took $700 as salary (per his 2008 annual report filed with the Commission - he isn't required to attach financials any longer).

However, he has not applied for tax-exempt church status with the IRS, and he has not even registered with them as a non-profit charity (as other independent Baptist churches HAVE done).  (http://www.irs.gov/app/pub-78/forwardToSearch.do)

Soooooo, if he's claiming to be a non-profit with the state govt, yet not with the IRS, is he filing the proper returns and paying the correct taxes?  Is he misleading donors as to the church's status and the deductibility of their contributions?  (Sure, he hasn't had a big operation to date, but I'm guessing that his notoriety will bring a stack of donation-bearing envelopes to his desk.)   Can he have it both ways?  Anyone know?