How to start a church in Arkansas

Short answer: To start a church in Arkansas, you form a nonprofit corporation by filing Articles of Incorporation — Form NPD-01-501-c-3 with the Arkansas Secretary of State and paying the $45 online (or $50 by mail) filing fee, then get a free EIN from the IRS, adopt bylaws, seat a board, and open a bank account. A church is automatically tax-exempt under federal law, so the IRS determination letter is optional and there is no annual Form 990. The genuinely Arkansas-specific pieces are the state filing and the property tax exemption your church claims through the county assessor. One honest warning most guides skip: Arkansas generally does not exempt a church’s purchases from sales tax, so budget for that.

The federal formation steps are the same in every state — incorporate, EIN, bylaws, board, books. This guide covers those briefly and then spends its time on the Arkansas pieces that carry the real value. For the full national walkthrough of each universal step, read how to start a church; below, the focus is what changes inside Arkansas.

The formation steps that are the same anywhere

Starting a church in Arkansas follows the standard church-formation checklist, and most of it is federal, not state-specific:

1. Incorporate as a nonprofit corporation (the Arkansas-specific part — covered in detail below).
2. Get an EIN — a free federal tax ID from the IRS, applied for directly at irs.gov. Never pay a third party for one; the EIN is always free.
3. Adopt bylaws — the church’s internal rulebook for decisions, leadership, and money. Start from a proven document rather than a blank page; see church bylaws for what to include.
4. Seat a board — the Arkansas Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1993 sets the floor at three directors (Ark. Code Ann. § 4-33-803), and a majority of unrelated directors is the practical standard, so the church is governed by a body rather than one person.
5. Skip or pursue the 501(c)(3) letter — a church is automatically tax-exempt and does not have to file Form 1023, though many apply for the determination letter as documentation (IRS Publication 1828).
6. Open a bank account in the church’s legal name using the EIN and formation documents.
7. Set up the books on fund accounting from day one, before the first offering arrives.

Each of these is walked step by step in the national formation guide linked above. The rest of this page is the Arkansas layer on top.

Incorporating a church in Arkansas with Form NPD-01-501-c-3

In Arkansas, you create the church as a legal entity by filing Articles of Incorporation — Form NPD-01-501-c-3 with the Arkansas Secretary of State, handled by its Business & Commercial Services (BCS) division. The filing fee is $45 if you file online or $50 by mail as of 2026; confirm the current amount with the Arkansas Secretary of State, since fees change. You can file through the state’s online portal or mail the form to the BCS office in Little Rock.

Form NPD-01-501-c-3 asks for the church’s name, its registered agent and registered office in Arkansas, the incorporators, whether the corporation will have members, and a statement of purpose. Arkansas offers two versions of the nonprofit articles: a plain NPD-01 and the NPD-01-501-c-3, which is the one already written with the IRS-required language built in. Use that version and keep the language rather than stripping it out — two clauses do the heavy lifting for tax-exempt status and belong in at formation, not as an amendment later:

• A 501(c)(3) purpose clause stating the church is organized exclusively for religious and charitable purposes.
• A dissolution clause stating that if the church closes, its assets pass to another 501(c)(3) organization or to government, not to any individual.

The IRS looks for both, so getting the language right on the Arkansas filing saves a rewrite. Arkansas articles for a religious entity also state that the corporation is a religious corporation (one of the three statutory choices, alongside public benefit and mutual benefit). The full breakdown of what these documents need is in articles of incorporation for a church.

Does an Arkansas church register with the state to fundraise

Arkansas requires most charities to register with the Secretary of State before they solicit contributions from the public — but churches are one of the categories the state carves out. A general nonprofit asking the public for money files the charitable registration (Form CR-01); a church taking offerings from its congregation generally does not. Religious organizations, along with certain educational and governmental ones, can claim exempt status rather than register fully.

That exemption is not automatic paperwork you can ignore, though. If a church wants the state to have its exempt status on record, it files Form EX-01, the Exempt Organization Verification, with the Secretary of State’s BCS division, and there is no fee (Arkansas Secretary of State, charitable entities). A worth-flagging point: in Arkansas this registration goes to the Secretary of State, not the Attorney General — the Attorney General’s office handles complaints and enforcement about charitable solicitation, but the filing itself lives with the Secretary of State. Note that “registering” still happens in one sense — filing the Articles registers the church as a legal entity with the state. What most ordinary churches skip is the separate fundraising registration and its annual report.

The honest answer on Arkansas sales tax for churches

Here is the part most guides bury: Arkansas generally does not give churches a sales tax exemption on the things they buy. Federal 501(c)(3) status does not carry a sales tax break, and Arkansas is one of the states where a church pays sales and use tax on its supplies, equipment, and goods the same as any business would. The Department of Finance and Administration’s own rule on charities and churches is explicit that sales to a church are not exempt unless the items are bought for resale (Arkansas DFA rule 30-1117, exemptions — charities and churches). The narrow route to buying tax-free is the resale exemption — items the church buys to resell — which requires a resale certificate or a DFA letter opinion, not a broad blanket the way property tax works.

One recent change nudged the edges, but it does not help a typical congregation: Act 1007 of 2025, effective June 1, 2025, created a narrow sales tax exemption for qualifying 501(c)(3) organizations with an annual operating budget of $200,000 or less that provide charitable community-based services to Arkansas residents in need — and it requires applying to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration for a certificate and recertifying every three years. Unless a church’s benevolence or service arm actually fits that box and has obtained the certificate, plan and budget as if your church’s purchases are taxable, and confirm your situation with the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration before assuming any exemption applies.

Claiming the Arkansas property tax exemption through the county

Property tax is where Arkansas churches get real relief. The Arkansas Constitution, Article 16, Section 5 exempts “churches used as such” from ad valorem property tax, and Arkansas law reads that broadly: the church building used for worship, buildings used for administration or missions, the land under them, parsonages, and church educational or activity buildings are all exempt when used for church purposes (Arkansas Constitution, Article 16, Section 5).

The exemption is grounded in the constitution, but you claim it locally, not with the Secretary of State or the DFA. You apply through the county assessor in each county where the church owns property, providing documentation that the property is owned and used by the church for exempt purposes; the assessor determines whether the property qualifies. Because the standard is use, property used partly for commercial or investment purposes rather than church purposes can lose the exemption on the commercial portion. Contact the assessor in your county for its current application and process, since procedures vary by county — the constitutional exemption is statewide, but the paperwork that grants it is a county-office matter.

Arkansas filing at a glance

The table below maps each Arkansas step to its agency, form, and cost. Treat the fees as accurate as of 2026 and confirm with the listed agency, since state fees change.

What you’re doing	Agency	Form	Fee (as of 2026)
Incorporate the church	Arkansas Secretary of State	Articles — Form NPD-01-501-c-3	$45 online / $50 mail (confirm)
Get a federal tax ID	IRS	EIN application (online)	Free
501(c)(3) recognition (optional)	IRS	Form 1023 or 1023-EZ	$600 / $275 user fee
Charitable-solicitation exemption	Arkansas Secretary of State	Form EX-01 (churches exempt)	No fee
Property tax exemption	County assessor	County application (Ark. Const. Art. 16 § 5)	No fee
Sales tax on purchases	Dept. of Finance and Administration	Generally taxable (narrow Act 1007 exception)	Generally taxable

Setting up the books once the church exists in Arkansas

Once the church is formed and the property-tax exemption is filed, the work shifts from one-time paperwork to the monthly routine — and that routine is where churches actually fail or hold together. A church holds money in trust for the people who gave it, much of it tagged for a purpose (the building, missions, benevolence), so it tracks money by fund rather than as a single bottom line. Set the books up on fund accounting before the first offering, keep the giving records your donors need for their own taxes, and document that the board reviews the finances. None of the Arkansas exemptions excuse a church from keeping clean records; the IRS still expects records that substantiate income and expenses (IRS Publication 1828).

FAQ

How much does it cost to start a church in Arkansas? The required state cost is small. Filing the Articles of Incorporation (Form NPD-01-501-c-3) with the Arkansas Secretary of State costs $45 online or $50 by mail as of 2026, the EIN from the IRS is free, and the property tax exemption through the county assessor carries no filing fee. So the bare legal minimum to form an Arkansas church is roughly the $45 filing fee plus your time. Optional add-ons raise it: the IRS determination letter is $275 (Form 1023-EZ) or $600 (full Form 1023), and insurance runs a few hundred dollars a year. Budget separately for sales tax on purchases, since Arkansas generally does not exempt churches from it.

Is an Arkansas church exempt from sales tax? Usually not. Arkansas does not give churches a blanket sales tax exemption, so a church pays sales and use tax on the supplies and goods it buys, the same as a business. The narrow ways around it are the resale exemption (for items the church buys to resell) and, since Act 1007 of 2025, a limited exemption for qualifying small 501(c)(3) organizations with a budget of $200,000 or less that serve residents in need — which requires a certificate from the Department of Finance and Administration. Confirm eligibility with the DFA before assuming any exemption fits, and otherwise budget for the tax.

Do you need 501(c)(3) status to start a church in Arkansas? No. A church is automatically tax-exempt under federal law and does not have to file Form 1023 or hold an IRS determination letter to be exempt, and it files no annual Form 990 (IRS Publication 1828). Many Arkansas churches still apply for the determination letter as documentation for banks, grant-makers, and large donors, but it is optional — see are churches tax exempt for the fuller picture.

Can I just start my own church in Arkansas? Practically, anyone can start a church in Arkansas — there is no state license or denominational permission required, and the First Amendment protects the right to form a religious organization. What you do need, to operate as a real and exempt church, is the structure: a nonprofit corporation formed on Form NPD-01-501-c-3, an EIN, adopted bylaws, a board of at least three mostly-unrelated directors, a bank account in the church’s name, and books set up on fund accounting. The freedom to start one is unlimited; running one properly is a checklist.

---

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Arkansas fees, forms, and rules change, and county procedures vary — confirm the current requirements with the Arkansas Secretary of State, the Department of Finance and Administration, your county assessor, and a qualified professional before you file.

Vestrybooks sets up a new Arkansas church’s books on fund accounting from day one — funds, reconciliation, and the board reports — so the financial side is right before the first offering. See how it works.