Charitable tax dodging!

[yelimS]

Say I’m starting a charity. This charity earns money by doing work. So I’ll keep my old employer, but on a freelance basis. Supposedly I don’t have to pay taxes on my earnings anymore because they’re now going to charity. The charity, of course, being helping the poor guy known as yelimS live a better life. Poor chap can’t help it, he’s born into a world where he needs food and shelter and entertainment every day.
So the question is: who decides what a charity is? Do I have to do more sensible things than being nice to people? Why are they more sensible? Would it work if I started a charity to help a friend, and he started one to help me?
I know few, if any, of you can answer for Norway, but that doesn’t matter. Fire it up!

[Fear_Itself]

@yelimS

So the question is: who decides what a charity is?

The IRS. To be eligible for tax exempt status, your charity must apply for and be granted a 501(3)(c) exemption:

To be organized exclusively for a charitable purpose, the organization must be a corporation, community chest, fund, or foundation. A charitable trust is a fund or foundation and will qualify. **However, an individual will not qualify. ** The articles of organization must limit the organization’s purposes to one or more of the exempt purposes set forth in IRC Section 501(c)(3) and must not expressly empower it to engage, other than as an insubstantial part of its activities, in activities that are not in furtherance of one or more of those purposes. This requirement may be met if the purposes stated in the articles of organization are limited in some way by reference to IRC Section 501(c)(3). In addition, assets of an organization must be permanently dedicated to an exempt purpose. This means that should an organization dissolve, its assets must be distributed for an exempt purpose described in this chapter, or to the federal government or to a state or local government for a public purpose. To establish that an organization’s assets will be permanently dedicated to an exempt purpose, the articles of organization should contain a provision insuring their distribution for an exempt purpose in the event of dissolution. Although reliance may be placed upon state law to establish permanent dedication of assets for exempt purposes, an organization’s application can be processed by the IRS more rapidly if its articles of organization include a provision insuring permanent dedication of assets for exempt purposes. For examples of provisions that meet these requirements, download Publication 557, Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization.

You are only a charity if the IRS says you are a charity.

[chrisk]

@Fear Itself

The IRS. To be eligible for tax exempt status, your charity must apply for and be granted a 501(3)(c) exemption:You are only a charity if the IRS says you are a charity.

Surely the IRS doesn’t make decisions about Norse charities.

However, the Norwegian Tax Administration might