Court: No Tax Deductions for Religious School Fees

From MercuryNews.com:

A federal appeals court says a Jewish couple can't claim tuition paid to their children's religious schools as a tax deduction.

Michael and Marla Sklar of Los Angeles had attempted to claim the tuition payments for their five children as a charitable contribution to a religious organization.

But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision in rejecting that claim Friday. It ruled that the couple paid only for their children's education and had not shown that any of the tuition was used by the schools as a gift.

The Justice Department, which represented the IRS, says the ruling shows that religious schooling is not tax deductible.

IL Resident Declares their Home a Church and Gets Tax Breaks

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois State government allowed a Lake Bluff resident to convert his home into church, that correlated to a $80,000 in property tax reduction. Below is a snippet from the news story.

“When George Michael placed a cross on the side of his lakefront mansion, neighbors assumed the decoration was simply a display of the man's religious faith.

What his neighbors didn't know is that Michael had decided to convert his $3 million residence into the Armenian Church of Lake Bluff, qualifying him for a nearly $80,000 break on his annual property tax bill.

Now, locals are questioning whether the property is a church at all. Village officials wonder how they'll be able to make up the lost revenue, and residents worry that their share of the tax burden will grow as a result.

Meanwhile, Lake Bluff officials notified Michael that if he is running a church, he will need to pay more than $115,000 in fines for failing to get the village's permission, setting up a possible court battle.”