免税[1]是指个人或机构在某种情况下可以不用向政府缴纳税收。例如某些慈善组织可以不用向政府缴纳财产税和所得税,某些地区的人在购买商品后途径海关时不用缴纳关税。有时候某些机构、公司和组织只会被免除部分种类的税,但是其他的种类的税依然要交,例如美国某些组织可以不用缴纳联邦所得税, [2] 但是各种消费税依然要缴纳。 [3]
As an example, UK charities law (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) defines the types of organizations which may qualify as registered charities, and places limits on their actions.
26 USC 501(a). The exemption from Federal income tax is longstanding. This exemption formed part of the Revenue Act of 1894. The 1894 Act was the first broadly applicable U.S. tax on corporate income, but was soon declared unconstitutional. Since ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913, the exemption for charitable, religious, and educational organizations has been included in all subsequent Federal income tax law. See Belknap, Chauncey, "The Federal Income Tax Exemption of Charitable Organizations: Its History and Underlying Policy," 1954, reprinted (very large file) as pages 2025-2043 of the Research Papers of the Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs, Volume IV, 1977.
26 USC Subtitle D (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) excise taxes are imposed on particular goods or services, generally without exemptions. Certain of these taxes apply primarily to tax-exempt organizations. See, e.g., 26 USC 4911, tax on excess expenditures to influence legislation. 26 USC 3101 and 3301 generally impose social security and unemployment taxes on all organizations. Note that income from certain types of services, such as services as a minister, may be exempt from the definition of income for these taxes. Employees of certain nonprofit and governmental organizations are eligible to participate in different sorts of deferred compensation plans than employees of other organizations. Compare 26 USC 401, IRS Publication 560 (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) and others vs. 26 USC 403(b), IRS Publication 571 (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆).