The answer changes everything downstream. A church is automatically tax exempt, files no annual Form 990, is not subject to the three-year automatic revocation rule, and cannot use Form 1023-EZ. A religious organization that is not a church must apply for recognition and file the 990 series every year. The IRS decides using the fourteen characteristics below, weighed together with all the facts. No single factor is decisive.
Answer each factor honestly for your organization as it operates today, not as you plan it to be. Then generate the written rationale at the bottom. Keep the rationale with your corporate records; if the IRS ever asks, a contemporaneous reasoned position is worth far more than a checkbox. Your answers save in this browser automatically.
If the factors point to church status: you are automatically exempt and need not apply, though many churches file the full Form 1023 anyway for a determination letter that grant makers and banks recognize. You cannot use Form 1023-EZ. You file no annual Form 990, and the three-year revocation rule does not reach you. You still owe payroll filings, Form 990-T on unrelated business income of $1,000 or more, and state registrations.
If they do not: you are a religious organization rather than a church. You must apply for exemption (Form 1023, or 1023-EZ if you qualify) and file a Form 990, 990-EZ or 990-N every year. Missing that filing three years running revokes your exemption automatically.
Either way, the next steps live in the IRS Forms Assistant, and your filing calendar lives in the Compliance Tracker, which already knows how to handle a church correctly. Set your organization type on My Organization so every app follows suit.