How to start a church in Minnesota

Short answer: To start a church in Minnesota, you form a nonprofit corporation by filing Articles of Incorporation under Chapter 317A with the Minnesota Secretary of State and paying the fee — $70 by mail or $90 expedited (online or in person) as of 2026 — then get a free EIN from the IRS, adopt bylaws, seat a board, and open a bank account. Minnesota also offers an older religious-corporation route under Chapter 315 if you’d rather incorporate that way. A church is automatically tax-exempt under federal law, so the IRS determination letter is optional. The Minnesota-specific pieces worth claiming are a sales tax exemption through the Department of Revenue (Form ST16) and a property tax exemption through your county assessor — and, unlike most nonprofits, a church is generally exempt from registering with the Attorney General to fundraise.

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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota.

The formation steps that are the same anywhere

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

1. Incorporate as a nonprofit corporation (the Minnesota-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 — Minnesota requires a nonprofit corporation to have three or more directors, so a one-person board is not an option here; aim for a majority who are 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 Minnesota layer on top.

Incorporating a church in Minnesota under Chapter 317A

In Minnesota, you create the church as a legal entity by filing Articles of Incorporation under Chapter 317A, the Minnesota Nonprofit Corporation Act, with the Minnesota Secretary of State. The filing fee is $70 by mail or $90 for expedited service when you file online or in person, as of 2026; confirm the current amount with the Minnesota Secretary of State, since fees change. The state offers a fill-in Articles template you can mail to St. Paul or submit through the online filing portal.

The Articles ask for the church’s name, its registered office address in Minnesota, and the name and address of each incorporator. To satisfy the IRS later, the document also needs two clauses that the bare state template does not force you to include, so write them in:

• 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 Minnesota filing saves a rewrite. The full breakdown of what these documents need is in articles of incorporation for a church. Most new Minnesota churches use the Chapter 317A route because it is the modern, well-supported nonprofit statute and its language maps cleanly onto what the IRS expects.

The Chapter 315 religious-corporation option

Minnesota is one of the states that keeps a separate, older path to incorporate a church: Chapter 315, the religious-associations statute, which dates back to territorial days and has several methods for different denominations, synods, and congregations to incorporate. Under Chapter 315, a congregation typically elects trustees and files a certificate of incorporation — one signed by the presiding officer and secretary — that is recorded with the county recorder where the church sits and filed with the Secretary of State (Minnesota Statutes Chapter 315).

So which route should a new church pick? For most congregations forming today, Chapter 317A is the simpler, cleaner choice — it is the general nonprofit act, its Articles template already lines up with the IRS clauses, and it is the statute lawyers and filing services know best. Chapter 315 exists mainly for congregations tied to a denomination that has long used it, or those that want the traditional trustee structure. Either produces a valid Minnesota religious corporation; the difference is form and filing mechanics, not whether the church is legally real.

Does a Minnesota church register with the Attorney General to fundraise

Here is the step that trips up general nonprofits but usually spares churches: Minnesota requires most charities to register with the Attorney General’s Charities Division before soliciting donations from the public. A church, though, is generally exempt from that registration.

The exemption exists because Minnesota’s charitable-solicitation law ties it to the federal Form 990 rules — a religious organization that is not required to file an IRS Form 990 under Internal Revenue Code section 6033 is exempt from registering to solicit (Minnesota Attorney General, charities). Since churches are excused from filing Form 990 in the first place, an ordinary congregation taking offerings and asking members to give does not file a fundraising registration. Charitable trusts organized for exclusively religious purposes under Chapter 315 or 317A are likewise exempt. That removes a step — and an annual renewal — that most Minnesota nonprofits have to handle. One caution: the Attorney General’s office asks that a church that believes it is exempt still notify the office and submit an exemption form rather than simply staying silent, and the exemption form itself carries no fee. Note that “registering” still happens in one sense — filing the Articles registers the church as a legal entity with the Secretary of State. What a church skips is the separate fundraising registration.

Claiming the Minnesota sales tax exemption with Form ST16

A Minnesota church can buy items for its exempt purpose free of state sales tax, but the exemption is not automatic — you apply to the Minnesota Department of Revenue using Form ST16, Application for Nonprofit Exempt Status – Sales Tax. A federal determination letter does not by itself make your Minnesota purchases tax-free; being exempt from federal income tax and being exempt from Minnesota sales tax are two separate approvals (Minnesota Department of Revenue, qualifying for nonprofit exempt status).

Form ST16 asks the church to show it is organized and operated exclusively for charitable, religious, or educational purposes, that no earnings benefit a private individual, and that it stays out of prohibited political activity — criteria a church meets on its own facts, which matters for a new church that has chosen not to file Form 1023. Allow about 60 days for the Department to issue a determination after you apply. Once approved, the mechanism for using the exemption is Form ST3, the Certificate of Exemption: the church gives a completed, signed ST3 to each vendor at the time of purchase, and the vendor sells without charging sales tax. The exemption covers the church’s own purchases for its exempt purpose — it is not a license to buy anything for anyone tax-free.

Claiming the Minnesota property tax exemption through the county

A Minnesota church that owns its building can exempt that property from local property tax, but this one runs through your county assessor, not the Department of Revenue or the Secretary of State. You file an application with the assessor in the county where the church owns property, and the church must meet the requirements for exempt “institutions of purely public charity” and church property set out in Minnesota Statutes section 272.02 (Minnesota Department of Revenue, property tax programs).

Expect the assessor to ask for supporting documents — a completed exemption application, proof of the church’s status, the Articles of Incorporation, and information on how the property is used. The burden is on the church to prove the property qualifies, so keep the paperwork tidy. Because the process and any local deadlines are handled county by county, confirm the current application and timing with your county assessor before filing.

Minnesota filing at a glance

The table below maps each Minnesota 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	Minnesota Secretary of State	Articles of Incorporation (Chapter 317A)	$70 mail / $90 expedited (confirm)
Incorporate (alternate route)	Secretary of State + county recorder	Certificate under Chapter 315	Varies (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
Sales tax exemption	MN Department of Revenue	Form ST16 (then ST3 to vendors)	No fee
Property tax exemption	County assessor	Local exemption application	No fee
Charitable-solicitation registration	MN Attorney General	Exempt for churches (notify + exemption form)	No fee

Setting up the books once the church exists in Minnesota

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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota? The required state cost is small. Filing Articles of Incorporation under Chapter 317A with the Minnesota Secretary of State costs $70 by mail or $90 expedited as of 2026, the EIN from the IRS is free, and the Form ST16 sales tax exemption and the county property tax exemption carry no filing fee. Churches are also generally exempt from the Attorney General’s charitable registration, so there is no fundraising-registration fee either. That puts the bare legal minimum to form a Minnesota church and claim its exemptions at roughly $70 to $90 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.

Does a Minnesota church register with the state? Yes and no. The church registers as a legal entity when it files Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State — under Chapter 317A, or the older Chapter 315 religious-corporation route — which is what creates the entity and keeps it in good standing. But a church is generally exempt from the separate charitable-solicitation registration that most nonprofits file with the Attorney General before fundraising, because a church is not required to file an IRS Form 990. The Attorney General’s office does ask an exempt church to notify it and submit an exemption form rather than simply staying silent.

Do you need 501(c)(3) status to start a church in Minnesota? 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). It can still apply for the Minnesota sales tax exemption on Form ST16 on its own facts, and it meets the county’s church-property requirements without a federal letter. Many Minnesota churches apply for the determination letter anyway 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 Minnesota? Practically, anyone can start a church in Minnesota — 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 under Chapter 317A (or Chapter 315), 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.

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This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Minnesota forms, fees, and requirements change, and a church’s facts vary — confirm the current rules with the listed agencies and consult a qualified professional before you file.

Vestrybooks sets up a new Minnesota 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.