New complaint says the Utah-based faith has dodged more than $20 billion in taxes

[sunstoned]

 

This is a Peggy Fletcher Stack article that is out today.  I have not read the full 90 page report so I can comment on if these are valid accusations or not. 

From the article: 

A self-described whistleblower, whose December 2019 complaint to the IRS set off a firestorm of debate about how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stashes and spends tens of billions of dollars, is now taking his fraud allegations to the U.S. Senate.

 

n a 90-page document submitted to the Senate Finance Committee and its Subcommittee on Taxes and IRS Oversight, David A. Nielsen shares what he says is “evidence of false statements, systematic accounting fraud” and violations of tax laws and other federal statutes by Ensign Peak Advisors, the Utah-based faith’s investment arm.

On Thursday, Religion Unplugged obtained and posted a copy of Neilsen’s new document, which it reported, “reframes and renews allegations about Ensign Peak Advisors and the…church” along with making several new accusations.

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/02 ... tax-fraud/

[bsjkki]

There is nothing new here. Senate hearings. (🤦‍♀️) He will find sympathetic ears among those who do not believe churches should be tax exempt. He is serving a political agenda.

[Pyreaux]

Why hoard money? For the tax collector apparently.

[Calm]

https://religionunplugged.com/news/2023/2/8/former-employee-of-ensign-peak-advisors-submits-document-to-senate-finance-committee
 

Relevant Twitter thread, simplified reading version provided by Just An Australian (sub thread on update thread***)

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1623697204748713984.html

 

***https://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/75040-update-on-church-finances/?do=findComment&comment=1210135453

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Calm

[The Nehor]

If there is one place we can expect rational and reasoned and careful discourse over issues that require a measure of nuance, insight, and the willingness to explore issues openly and transparently it is definitely the Congress of these United States.

 

[Tacenda]

In an article I read, the most that could happen is they make Ensign Peak lose tax exemption. 

[Calm]

3 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

In an article I read, the most that could happen is they make Ensign Peak lose tax exemption. 

Why?

[Tacenda]

3 hours ago, Calm said:

Why?

I don't know, but can try to find the article, but maybe it was just in a Fox 13 News FB group that a comment was made. My brain! 

[The Nehor]

5 hours ago, Tacenda said:

In an article I read, the most that could happen is they make Ensign Peak lose tax exemption. 

This is very unlikely. The IRS very rarely investigates churches. There are at least a dozen churches that are pretty flagrantly breaking the law and the IRS usually investigates less than half a dozen religious organizations in a year and investigating a church requires clearance from high up the IRS ladder. It is possible that with the increased IRS funding they might have the manpower to do more but we’ll see.

[ksfisher]

Nielsen’s Senate filing is “purely a publicity stunt,” tweeted Sam Brunson, a Latter-day Saint and a tax law professor at Loyola University Chicago. It has been sent to the committee, Brunson said, “but that’s meaningless, because there’s no formal submission policy.”

If it gets opened, “it’ll be ignored because this isn’t the kind of thing, frankly, that Senate Finance is going to be interested in,” the tax expert said, “and they’re under no obligation to do anything.”

Brunson said he doesn’t question Nielsen’s motives but instead wonders if the former money manager fully understands the intricacies of tax laws, especially for nonprofits.

”He reads terms with a normal colloquial meaning but they have a more technical meaning,” Brunson said in an interview. “Ensign Peak doesn’t seem to violate the technical terms, even if they seem inconsistent with the common connotation of the words.”

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/02/09/investigate-lds-church-tax-fraud/

[sunstoned]

This thing is starting to have legs.  The Wall Street is now reporting:

Edited February 11, 2023 by sunstoned

[Calm]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/02/10/sec-reportedly-probes-mormon-church-over-100-billion-investment-portfolio-allegedly-saved-for-second-coming-of-christ/?
 

Quote

The SEC’s probe—which the Journal reports has reached an advanced stage—specifically looks into whether an investment arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called Ensign Peak Advisors broke the SEC’s requirements that large portfolio managers disclose certain holdings.

 

Sources close to the matter told the Journal the investigation is likely to lead to a settlement.

 

The church did not respond to a Forbes inquiry for comment, although the church had previously said the investment portfolio was intended as a rainy-day account.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/sec-is-investigating-mormon-churchs-investment-firm-ensig

Quote

The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating whether the Mormon Church broke any rules with its secretive investment arm. The Wall Street Journal reports that the church is likely to pay a fine in a settlement over whether it complied with disclosure requirements for Ensign Peak, the investment firm it owns that is said to control $100 billion in holdings. The church, which asks members to tithe 10 percent of their income, declined to confirm the probe

So the WSJ article cuts out before it says what their source was and I am not seeing it addressed by those reporting the report.  Anyone got that detail?

Edited February 11, 2023 by Calm

[Calm]

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2023/2/10/23594973/report-sec-investigates-past-latter-day-saint-investment-disclosures
 

Quote

In its latest filing, Ensign Peak reported $40.2 billion in U.S. stock holdings. The church has separate investment holdings, including farms and real estate.

The Journal said SEC regulators don’t have to prove an organization intended to violate disclosure rules. A simple failure to file the required 13-F form, or omitting information, is enough to trigger a violation, the financial newspaper said.

The church preaches fiscal management to its members, advising them to set budgets and save money. It practices what it preaches as an organization, church leaders say. The church’s decades-long policy is to never spend more in a year than it receives in tithing and to set aside a portion each year for reserves, according to the Presiding Bishopric, which oversees church finances.

In recent years the church has spent about $1 billion a year to provide humanitarian aid and another $1 billion a year to subsidize and operate educational institutions like Brigham Young University, in addition to maintaining meetinghouses and a growing list of temples around the world.

“There will be future downturns,” Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, now first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, said in 2020. “How extensive, how dramatic we don’t know. But ... if that were to happen, because of the reserves being carefully watched over, protected and wisely handled, we won’t have to stop missionary work, we won’t have to stop maintaining buildings and building temples, we won’t have to stop humanitarian and welfare work, we won’t have to stop education work.”

 

[mrmarklin]

YAWN

I'm sure that the  Church does everything in its power to comply with the law.

If there was an omission of 13-K filings (which I doubt) one simply negotiates a fine and done.  AFAIK there would be no other filings required.

[Hamilton Porter]

Well Dehlin has been trying to get incite his hoards to get a senate hearing.

[ttribe]

6 hours ago, Hamilton Porter said:

Well Dehlin has been trying to get incite his hoards to get a senate hearing.

Dehlin has "hoards?" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Stargazer]

1 hour ago, ttribe said:

Dehlin has "hoards?" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yes! You should see his "storehouse!" It's just chock full of crap.