A U.S. district court has ordered leaders of an independent church that failed to pay employment taxes to surrender the property to the government to satisfy its liens.

Indianapolis Baptist Temple (IBT), an independent church founded in 1950, began defining itself as a "New Testament Church" in 1986 based on its belief that Jesus Christ has exclusive sovereignty over it. The IRS made a $3.5 million assessment against IBT in 1994 for unpaid social security taxes and income tax withholdings, plus interest and penalties. IBT didn't pay, and the government filed suit in 1998. IBT didn't question the assessment but argued that the First Amendment bars any application of the federal tax laws to the church. After losing at the district court level, IBT appealed to the Seventh Circuit, which granted summary judgment to the government. The appeals court ruled that applying neutral, minimally intrusive federal employment tax laws to religious entities does not violate the First Amendment's religious liberty clause. The district court then ordered IBT to show cause why the judgment should not be enforced.

[For the opinion in United States v. Indianapolis Baptist Temple, et al., No. IP98-0498 (S.D. Ind. Sept. 28, 2000), see Doc 2000-25320 (5 original pages) or 2000 TNT 193-13.

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