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Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
Hernandez v. Commissioner
Citation:
490 U.S. 680 (1989)Facts
The Church of Scientology was founded in the 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard and operates through a “mother church” in California and numerous branch churches worldwide. Scientologists believe that an immortal spiritual being exists in every person, which can be realized through a process called “auditing.” Auditing involves one-on-one sessions between a participant (called a “preclear”) and a Church official (called an “auditor”), using an electronic device called an E-meter to identify areas of spiritual difficulty. The Church also offers “training” courses where participants study Scientology tenets and seek qualifications to serve as auditors.
The Church charges “fixed donations” for these services, with prices varying based on session length and sophistication. For example, in 1972, auditing rates ranged from $625 for a 12.5-hour session to $4,250 for a 100-hour session. The Church promotes these services through various media, encourages advance payment with a 5% discount, and refunds unused portions of prepaid fees (minus an administrative charge). These payments constitute the Church’s primary source of income.
The petitioners each made payments to Scientology branch churches for auditing or training sessions and sought to deduct these payments on their federal income tax returns as charitable contributions under § 170. The Commissioner disallowed these deductions, finding that the payments were not charitable contributions but rather fees for services rendered. The Tax Court upheld this determination, finding that petitioners had received consideration for their payments in the form of religious services.
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