Church pays $12.5m to IRS

Washington - The Church of Scientology paid $12.5 million (£8 million) to the Internal Revenue Service and agreed to drop thousands of lawsuits filed against the federal taxing agency to retain its tax-exempt status in 1993, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. In exchange, the IRS agreed to cancel payroll taxes and penalties it had assessed against some church entities and officials, and audits of 13 church organisations, among other provisions of the secret deal, the Journal reported.