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About Harvey Mechanic
Expertise
US Federal tax issues of nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charities only. Establishing and maintaining legal requirements for such non-profit organizations in the United States, including Internal Revenue service filings and requirements. I will not be working on this free forum to answer questions about Nonprofit's unrelated or for-profit businesses or how to fill out forms. This forum is only for general questions about federal tax law, not as the law applies to your specific situation. To search my previous answers you can do a Google search:
site:allexperts.com/q/nonprofit
[with your other search terms appended].

Experience
I have been practicing law and especially the law of nonprofit organizations since 1990 when I was admitted to the New York Bar.

Education/Credentials
B.S. Columbia University in New York City, 1970

J.D. (Law Degree) Brooklyn Law School, 1990 -- Cum Laude

You are here: Experts > Real Estate > Tax Planning: U.S. > Nonprofit Law > Sell a church building and ajacent property

Nonprofit Law - Sell a church building and ajacent property

Expert: Harvey Mechanic - 11/4/2009

Question
Can a church in Virginia sell its building and all adjacent properties owned by its members after holding a meeting to vote on the proposal or do they have to release its holdings to another non profit or sell to another non profit?

Answer
I have in my profile that this free forum is only for relevant IRS federal exemption issues of 501(c)(3) organizations. The IRS does not get involved in churches sales of their property as long as the church sells the property for no less than fair market value. Otherwise, it may look like the church is trying to benefit an individual.

The IRS is concerned with something else that you did not mention, i.e. distribution of funds. As to the state of Virginia, if the church was incorporated under the Virgina Nonstock Corporations law, see:
http://tinyurl.com/yv3ceu and specifically, Virginia Code § 13.1-900 - "Sale of assets other than in regular course of business"
http://law.justia.com/virginia/codes/toc1301000/13.1-900.html

Harvey Mechanic, Attorney at Law -
Harvey108@hotmail.com

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