How to start a church in Pennsylvania

Short answer: To start a church in Pennsylvania, you form a nonprofit corporation by filing Articles of Incorporation – Nonprofit (Form DSCB:15-5306/7102) with the Pennsylvania Department of State and paying the $125 filing fee, then advertise the incorporation in two newspapers, 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 a church never files Form 990. That last point carries real weight in Pennsylvania: because a bona fide church is exempt from filing Form 990, it is also excluded from the state’s charitable-solicitation registration (BCO-10) — a filing ordinary nonprofits must make. The state-level pieces worth claiming are the sales tax exemption (Form REV-72) through the Department of Revenue and the property tax exemption through your county board of assessment. Pennsylvania has no separate state income-tax application.

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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania.

The formation steps that are the same anywhere

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

1. Incorporate as a nonprofit corporation (the Pennsylvania-specific part — covered in detail below, including the advertising requirement).
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 — a board of at least three mostly-unrelated directors or trustees, 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 Pennsylvania layer on top.

Incorporating a church in Pennsylvania with the Articles of Incorporation

In Pennsylvania, you create the church as a legal entity by filing Articles of Incorporation – Nonprofit (Form DSCB:15-5306/7102) with the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations. The filing fee is $125 as of 2026, and a one-page docketing statement (Form DSCB:15-134A) must accompany the Articles; confirm the current amount on the Pennsylvania Department of State fee schedule, since fees change. You can file online through the state’s Business Filing Services portal or by mail to Harrisburg.

The Articles ask for the church’s name, its registered office address in Pennsylvania, the incorporators, and whether the corporation has members. 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, and Pennsylvania’s sales tax exemption application specifically asks for the dissolution language, so getting it right on the state filing saves a rewrite. The full breakdown of what these documents need is in articles of incorporation for a church. Pennsylvania’s Nonprofit Corporation Law permits a corporation to form with as few as one director, but a board of at least three mostly-unrelated directors is the practical standard and the pattern the IRS expects.

Pennsylvania’s newspaper advertising requirement

Here is the step that surprises churches coming from almost any other state: Pennsylvania law requires you to advertise the incorporation in two newspapers of general circulation, one of them a legal journal where one exists in the county. Publishing either the intent to file or the actual filing of the Articles of Incorporation satisfies the rule (Pennsylvania Department of State, nonprofit corporations). It is a real, distinctive Pennsylvania requirement, and skipping it leaves the church out of compliance even though the state will still record the filing.

You do not send the proofs of publication to the Bureau. Instead, you keep them with the church’s corporate minutes as proof the requirement was met. Budget for this step, because it is the one new Pennsylvania organizations most often underestimate — the newspapers set their own rates, so plan on roughly $200 to $350 for the two notices combined as of 2026, and confirm with the specific newspaper and legal journal in your county before you commit.

Does a Pennsylvania church register with the state to fundraise

For most churches, no — and this is where a church diverges sharply from an ordinary Pennsylvania nonprofit. The state’s Solicitation of Funds for Charitable Purposes Act normally requires charities to register with the Bureau of Charitable Organizations on Form BCO-10 before asking Pennsylvania residents for donations. But the Act excludes bona fide, duly constituted religious institutions — and organizations that form an integral part of one — that are exempt from filing an annual IRS Form 990 (Pennsylvania Department of State, excluded or exempt organizations).

A church qualifies squarely: it is automatically tax-exempt and does not file Form 990, so the BCO-10 registration a regular nonprofit has to file and renew every year simply does not apply. The registration and its annual renewal are two recurring steps a Pennsylvania church skips entirely. If you want the exclusion confirmed in writing, you can request approval using Form BCO-9, Request for Approval of Exemption/Exclusion, submitting your Articles of Incorporation, bylaws, and IRS documentation showing the organization is recognized as a church — but the exclusion applies whether or not you ask for the confirmation letter. Note that “registering” still happens in one sense: filing the Articles registers the church as a legal entity with the state. What Pennsylvania waives for a church is the separate fundraising registration.

Claiming the Pennsylvania sales tax exemption for your church

A Pennsylvania church can buy items for its religious purpose free of the state’s 6% sales tax, but the exemption is not automatic — you apply to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue using Form REV-72, Application for Sales Tax Exemption (Institution of Purely Public Charity). Religious organizations are among the institutions the REV-72 covers, and the application can be filed electronically through the state’s myPATH portal for faster processing (Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, apply for non-profit sales tax exemption).

The application asks for the church’s Articles of Incorporation — specifically the clause preventing surplus assets from passing to any individual on dissolution — and a recent financial statement. A federal 501(c)(3) determination letter is helpful supporting documentation if the church has one, but a church is not required to hold that letter to be exempt federally, and it applies for the state sales tax exemption on the same REV-72 as any other charity. Once the Department of Revenue approves the application, the church is assigned a sales tax exemption number, and it claims the exemption at the register by giving each vendor a completed Pennsylvania Exemption Certificate (Form REV-1220) carrying that number. The vendor keeps the certificate on file, which is what relieves them from charging the 6% tax on qualifying purchases. On income tax, the path is simpler still: a church is exempt from Pennsylvania’s corporate net income tax without a separate state application, and there is no personal-style state filing for the entity to make.

Claiming the Pennsylvania property tax exemption through the county

A Pennsylvania church that owns its building can exempt that property from local real estate tax, but this one runs through your county board of assessment appeals, not the Department of Revenue or the Department of State. Pennsylvania law exempts “all churches, meetinghouses or other actual places of regularly stated religious worship” along with the ground necessary for their use, under the Consolidated County Assessment Law (53 Pa.C.S. § 8812). The exemption is not automatic — you have to apply for it, and you apply with the local board of assessment in the county where the church owns property, not with the state.

Two details matter here. First, deadlines are set locally and vary by county — many fall around August 1 of the year before the tax year you want exempted, so check your county’s assessment office rather than assuming a statewide date. Second, the exemption reaches property “actually and regularly used” for religious worship; the sanctuary and the ground annexed to it qualify cleanly, while portions of a property put to unrelated commercial use may not. File the application with your county board of assessment, keep the approval with the corporate records, and reapply if the church acquires new property.

Pennsylvania filing at a glance

The table below maps each Pennsylvania 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	PA Department of State (Bureau of Corporations)	Articles – DSCB:15-5306/7102 (+ docketing DSCB:15-134A)	$125
Advertise the incorporation	Two newspapers (one a legal journal)	Legal notice of incorporation	~$200–$350 (varies by county)
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	PA Department of Revenue	Form REV-72 (then REV-1220 to vendors)	No fee
Property tax exemption	County board of assessment	Local exemption application	No fee
Charitable-solicitation registration	—	Not required — churches excluded (BCO-9 optional)	—

Setting up the books once the church exists in Pennsylvania

Once the church is formed, advertised, 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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania? Plan for two state costs. Filing the Articles of Incorporation (DSCB:15-5306) with the Pennsylvania Department of State costs $125 as of 2026, and the newspaper advertising adds roughly $200 to $350 depending on your county — so the Pennsylvania-specific paperwork runs around $325 to $475. The EIN from the IRS is free, and the sales tax (REV-72) and property tax exemptions carry no filing fee. Because a church is excluded from charitable-solicitation registration, there is no BCO-10 fee either. Optional add-ons raise it: the IRS determination letter is $275 (Form 1023-EZ) or $600 (full Form 1023). A small Pennsylvania church can realistically be stood up properly for a few hundred dollars beyond the optional federal letter.

Does a Pennsylvania church have to register with the Bureau of Charitable Organizations? No, in almost every case. Pennsylvania’s charitable-solicitation law excludes bona fide religious institutions that are exempt from filing IRS Form 990, and a church meets both tests, so it does not file the BCO-10 that ordinary nonprofits must file before fundraising. The church still registers as a legal entity when it files its Articles of Incorporation with the Department of State — that is what creates the entity — but the separate annual fundraising registration and renewal do not apply. A church can request written confirmation of the exclusion with Form BCO-9 if it wants documentation.

Do you need 501(c)(3) status to start a church in Pennsylvania? 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 applies for the Pennsylvania sales tax exemption on the REV-72 like any other charity, and the determination letter is helpful supporting documentation rather than a prerequisite. Many Pennsylvania churches still apply for the 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 Pennsylvania? Practically, anyone can start a church in Pennsylvania — 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 the Articles of Incorporation, the newspaper advertisement completed, an EIN, adopted bylaws, a board of at least three mostly-unrelated directors or trustees, 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. Pennsylvania forms, fees, and deadlines change, and a church’s specific facts matter — confirm the current requirements with the listed agencies and consult a qualified attorney or accountant before you file.

Vestrybooks sets up a new Pennsylvania 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.