However, the IRS has backed off of Scientology because they scared the IRS.

Edit: Upon further investigation, there was a lot of back and forth that led to them getting tax exempt status. I think Leah Remini’s show said something, or I had read it somewhere, that the church engaged in some scary shit that got the IRS to go easier on them eventually. I didn’t look hard enough to find any sources, hence my strikeout.