Facts
The Church of Scientology, founded by L. Ron Hubbard, believe that an immortal spiritual being exists inside everyone. The Church uses the "auditing" practice to help interested people become aware of this spiritual being. The Church uses the "training" courses to help participants to become auditors. The Church charges for those services due to the belief that, any time a person receives something, that person must pay something back in return. The income generated by those services constitutes the Church's primary source of income.
The taxpayers made payments to branch churches in exchange for auditing or training services. The taxpayers tried to deduct these payments on their Federal Income Tax returns under the charitable contribution deduction.
Read more about this topic: Hernandez V. Commissioner
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