Are churches exempt from disclosing their finances?

The easiest way to view the finances and salaries of charities is to review the Form 990 tax returns filed with the IRS and required to be made available to the public. Churches are exempt from the filing requirement. If you are a “member” of a church corporation with legal rights analogous to those of a shareholder, you would probably have a right to review the books to get the information, but many churches are not so organized and participants have no such rights.