How to start a church in Indiana

Short answer: To start a church in Indiana, you form a nonprofit corporation by filing Articles of Incorporation (Form 4162) with the Indiana Secretary of State through the INBiz portal (about $31 online as of 2026), then get a free EIN from the IRS, adopt bylaws, seat a board of at least three directors, and open a bank account. A church is automatically tax-exempt under federal law, so the IRS determination letter is optional and no annual Form 990 is required. The pieces that are genuinely Indiana-specific are the state filing, a Business Entity Report you file every other year to stay in good standing, and two state-level exemptions worth claiming: a sales tax exemption through the Indiana Department of Revenue (Form NP-20A) and a property tax exemption through your county assessor (Form 136).

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 Indiana 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 Indiana.

The formation steps that are the same anywhere

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

1. Incorporate as a nonprofit corporation (the Indiana-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 — Indiana requires at least three directors, ideally a majority unrelated, 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 Indiana layer on top.

Incorporating a church in Indiana with Form 4162

In Indiana, you create the church as a legal entity by filing Articles of Incorporation (Form 4162) for a domestic nonprofit corporation with the Indiana Secretary of State. Filing runs through the state’s INBiz portal, and the fee is about $31 online as of 2026 (a $30 base fee plus a $1 card charge), or $50 if you mail a paper form; confirm the current amount with the Indiana Secretary of State, since fees change. Online filings are typically processed within a day, while mailed forms take about a week.

Form 4162 asks for the church’s name, its registered agent and registered office in Indiana, the names of the initial directors (Indiana requires at least three under Indiana Code 23-17-12-3), and a statement of the nonprofit purpose. Two clauses do the heavy lifting for tax-exempt status and should go in at formation rather than 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, not to any individual.

The IRS looks for both, so getting the language right on the Indiana filing saves a rewrite. The three-director minimum lines up with what the IRS wants to see anyway, since it treats a one- or two-person board as a governance red flag. The full breakdown of what these documents need is in articles of incorporation for a church.

Filing the Indiana Business Entity Report to stay in good standing

Indiana asks every nonprofit corporation to check in periodically so the state’s records stay current, and this is the one recurring state filing an Indiana church has to keep on its calendar. It is the Business Entity Report (State Form 48725), filed through INBiz, and for nonprofits it is due every other year in the church’s anniversary month — the biennial schedule is lighter than the annual reports many states require. The fee is small: about $22 online or $20 by paper as of 2026, per the Indiana Secretary of State.

The report itself is short — it confirms the church’s address, its registered agent, and its officers or directors, plus a brief description of the church’s religious activities. Missing it is the mistake to avoid: a church that skips its Business Entity Report can eventually be administratively dissolved by the state, which quietly undoes the corporation you paid to create. Because it comes around only every two years, it is easy to forget precisely because it is rare, so put the anniversary month on a recurring reminder.

Does an Indiana church register with the state to fundraise

Here is where Indiana is genuinely easier than most states. Many states make a charity register with a state agency before it can solicit donations. Indiana does not. A church that raises money using its own staff and volunteers is not required to register or report its fundraising to the state, which removes a whole annual filing that churches in other states have to carry (Indiana Attorney General, charitable fundraising).

The exception is narrow and does not touch an ordinary congregation. If a church hires a professional solicitor — an outside firm paid to raise money on its behalf — that firm must register with the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division. The registration burden sits on the paid fundraiser, not on the church. So as long as your appeals go out under the church’s own name through your own people, you skip the state charity-registration step entirely. Note that “registering” still happens in one sense — filing Form 4162 registers the church as a legal entity. What Indiana skips is the separate fundraising license.

Claiming the Indiana sales tax exemption for your church

A federal 501(c)(3) status exempts a church from federal income tax, but it does not make purchases tax-free in Indiana. That sales tax exemption is a separate registration with the Indiana Department of Revenue (DOR), and the process was rebuilt in 2022 and 2023, so older guides describe it wrong.

The first step is Form NP-20A, the Nonprofit Application for Sales Tax Exemption, filed electronically through the DOR’s INTIME portal at intime.dor.in.gov. Once the DOR accepts the application, the church is registered as exempt and can begin buying tax-free for its religious activities (Indiana DOR, nonprofit tax forms). A church detail worth knowing: Indiana applies a $100,000 sales threshold that forces some nonprofits to start collecting sales tax on their own sales, but places of worship are exempt from that threshold, so an ordinary church does not get pulled into charging sales tax on the things it sells.

The certificate part changed, and this is the piece people get wrong. As of January 1, 2023, registered nonprofits issue Form NP-1, the Nonprofit Sales Tax Exemption Certificate, to vendors — not the old Form ST-105. Form NP-1 is generated inside INTIME for each specific vendor and combines proof of exemption with the certificate itself. A vendor that asks for your “exemption certificate” should receive an NP-1 generated for them, not a generic ST-105.

Staying registered takes one more recurring filing, and it is light. The old annual NP-20 report is gone; in its place is Form NP-20R, the Nonprofit Organization’s Report, filed through INTIME every five years to keep the exemption active (the first due date depends on the last two digits of your EIN). A five-year cadence rather than annual is part of what makes Indiana a low-overhead state to run a church in — but mark the date, because letting NP-20R lapse can cost you the registration.

Claiming the Indiana property tax exemption through the county

A church that owns its building can exempt that property from local property tax, but this one runs through your county assessor, not the DOR or the Secretary of State. You apply with Form 136, the Application for Property Tax Exemption (State Form 9284), filing it with the assessor in each county where the church owns property (Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, exemptions).

Timing matters here. You file Form 136 before April 1 of the assessment year you want the exemption for, and there is no state filing fee. Indiana is friendly on renewals: once a church’s property is granted exemption for religious use, it generally does not have to reapply every year — the property carries the exemption forward as long as its use does not change. If the church later changes how the property is used or transfers ownership, it must notify the assessor with Form 136-CO/U. Expect the assessor to want supporting documents with the first Form 136 — typically your Articles of Incorporation, bylaws, and a breakdown of how each part of the property is used — so keep those handy. Confirm the current deadline and document list with your county assessor before filing.

Indiana filing at a glance

The table below maps each Indiana 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	Indiana Secretary of State	Articles of Incorporation — Form 4162 (via INBiz)	$31 online / $50 paper (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
Stay in good standing	Indiana Secretary of State	Business Entity Report (every 2 years)	$22 online / $20 paper
Sales tax exemption	Indiana DOR	Form NP-20A (via INTIME)	No fee
Buy tax-free from vendors	Indiana DOR	Form NP-1 certificate (per vendor)	No fee
Keep the exemption active	Indiana DOR	Form NP-20R (every 5 years)	No fee
Property tax exemption	County assessor	Form 136 (State Form 9284)	No fee
Charitable-solicitation registration	—	Not required for ordinary churches	—

Setting up the books once the church exists in Indiana

Once the church is formed and the exemptions are 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 Indiana exemptions excuse a church from keeping clean records; the IRS still expects records that substantiate income and expenses (IRS Publication 1828). The Indiana dates to keep on the calendar are the biennial Business Entity Report and the five-year NP-20R — both come around rarely enough to be easy to forget.

FAQ

How much does it cost to start a church in Indiana? The required state cost is small. Filing Articles of Incorporation (Form 4162) through INBiz costs about $31 online as of 2026, or $50 by paper, and that is essentially the whole up-front state bill — Indiana charges no fee to register for the sales tax exemption (Form NP-20A) or the property tax exemption (Form 136), and there is no state charity-registration fee for churches using their own people to fundraise. The EIN from the IRS is free. 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. A small Indiana church can realistically be stood up properly for about $31 in state filing plus your time, before any optional federal letter.

Does an Indiana church have to file an annual report? Not annually — Indiana uses a biennial schedule. A church files a Business Entity Report with the Secretary of State every other year in its anniversary month (about $22 online), which keeps the corporation in good standing and prevents administrative dissolution. Separately, on the tax side, the church files Form NP-20R with the DOR every five years to keep its sales tax exemption alive. There is no annual state report, and because a church is automatically exempt, there is generally no federal Form 990 to file either.

Do you need 501(c)(3) status to start a church in Indiana? 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 (IRS Publication 1828). Many Indiana 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. Note that the sales tax exemption is a separate Indiana registration regardless, filed with the DOR.

Can I just start my own church in Indiana? Practically, anyone can start a church in Indiana — 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 4162, 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. Indiana forms, fees, and deadlines change — confirm the current requirements with the listed agencies or a qualified professional before filing.

Vestrybooks sets up a new Indiana 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.