Let’s take a look at one of the most expensive days so far in 2021 for church, ministry and Christian university aircraft trips. We tracked eight aircraft on March 19, 2021. It is possible that more than $100,000 could have been saved by flying commercial rather than using privately-owned aircraft.

 

List of aircraft owners:

A. Mt Gilead Full Gospel International Ministries
B. Mighty Horn Ministries
C. Liberty University
D. Liberty University
E. Faith Life Church.
F. Assemblies of God Financial Services Group
G. Philadelphia Church of God
H. Harvest International Ministries

Continue reading “Calculating the Cost of Ministry-Owned Aircraft Flights”

Trinity Foundation has compiled a database of more than 50 church, ministry and Christian university aircraft, but have been unable to identify aircraft that several televangelists are using. If you know the N-numbers of such aircraft, please contact us.  Thank you for supporting our work. Confidential informants are always welcome.

 

(Photo: Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Bombardier Global Express)

Twice per year the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) updates the tax rate charged on “non-commercial flights on employer-provided aircraft” which includes personal flights taken on ministry aircraft.

The latest tax update was announced in the June 14, 2021 edition of the Internal Revenue Bulletin and covers personal flights taken between January 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021.

The terminal charge was increased from $42.62 to $61.88 with an additional tax based on miles of the trip known as Standard Industry Fare Level (SIFL).

SIFL Mileage Rates for the first six months of 2021:

Up to 500 miles = $.3385 per mile
501-1500 miles = $.2581 per mile
Over 1500 miles = $.2481 per mile

The previous SIFL rates were:

Up to 500 miles = $.2331 per mile
501-1500 miles = $.1778 per mile
Over 1500 miles = $.1709 per mile

Some televangelists disclose their use of private jets on the IRS Form 990, a financial disclosure document which reveals total revenue, total expenses, and compensation of executives.

Schedule J includes a box to checkmark for the use of first-class or charter travel.

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Have you ever wondered where televangelists travel on privately owned and ministry owned jets? We take a critical look at televangelist flights in the first episode of our new 30 minute long video blog Air Traffic Out-of-Control.

For almost twenty years, Trinity Foundation has tracked televangelist aircraft and we’ve discovered TV preachers often travel after the Christmas holiday season ends. January 2nd was a busy day for televangelist and ministry aircraft.

We will also show you how to search for aircraft in the Federal Aviation Administration registry and track televangelist aircraft on the website ADSB Exchange.

Our first episode also features sermon clips in which televangelists Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar and Jesse Duplantis talk about their use of jets. Duplantis claims that 99% of the time he travels alone. Is this good stewardship?

Our next episode of Air Traffic Out-of-Control will explore the operating costs of private aircraft. We are hoping to publish it in April.

 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.