(Screenshot: Garth Coonce, founder of TCT Ministries, died in 2023. Coonce acquired a beach condo from Dove Communications for $100.)
In a rare disciplinary action, the IRS has revoked the tax exemption of religious cable TV broadcaster Dove Communications, Inc. after ministry leadership engaged in excess benefit transactions and other misconduct.
The IRS announcement was reported in the latest issue of the Internal Revenue Bulletin which also revealed that Center of New Life Philosophy Church & Education (Akron, Ohio), Praise Place (Kentwood, Michigan), and Live Ministries (Rocklin, California) lost their tax exemptions due to violations of the United States tax code.
Dove Communications is an affiliate organization of TCT Ministries, based in Marion, Illinois, which broadcasts the cable channel TCT.
Normally, the reason for the revocation would be a secret because IRS revocation letters sent to penalized non-profit organizations are subject to government secrecy due to the 1974 Privacy Act. Investigative reporters are unable to obtain IRS revocation letters with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
However, TCT Ministries disclosed in their 2022 and 2023 Form 990s that ministry leadership engaged in excess benefit transactions and litigation exposed some of the ministry’s financial abuses.
In January of 2024, MinistryWatch reported, “TCT Ministries, a nonprofit, faith-based television network, has sued four of its board members for abusing their board positions and violating their fiduciary duties for their own financial benefit.”
According to the IRS, an excess benefit transaction occurs when “an economic benefit is provided by an applicable tax-exempt organization, directly or indirectly, to or for the use of a disqualified person, and the value of the economic benefit provided by the organization exceeds the value of the consideration received by the organization.”
TCT Ministries shares ownership of a Cessna 680A jet with other companies through a NetJets fractional ownership program. The jet, identified by tail number N562QS, allegedly provided personal, non-ministry flights for the Coonce family which ran the non-profit organization.
TCT Ministries 2022 and 2023 Form 990s disclosed an investigation was being conducted with plans to file amended 990s after the investigation is completed.
Trinity Foundation conducted its own investigation and discovered that in 2001, Dove Communications purchased a beach condo in Clearwater, Florida, for $400,000. In 2013, Dove Communications transferred the beach condo to its CEO Garth Coonce for $100. Then Coonce sold the condo in 2022 for $1.2 million.
(Screenshot: Pinellas County Property Appraiser)
The IRS rarely revokes the tax-exempt status of religious non-profit organizations due to violations of the tax code. Instead, most non-profits that lose their tax exemption do so because of a failure to file 990s for three consecutive years.
The IRS refused to revoke the tax exemption of televangelist Todd Coontz’s Rockwealth International Church even though Coontz was convicted of tax evasion.
Ten years ago, the IRS revoked the tax exemption of religious broadcaster World Religious Relief, the parent organization of The Word Network, after the ministry’s CEO Kevin Adell engaged in massive self-dealing by receiving $15.7 million in compensation in three years from his for-profit companies providing production and distribution services to The Word Network.
When the IRS was auditing World Religious Relief, Adell created Church of the Word. The new entity began operating The Word Network. By claiming church status, his broadcast ministry avoids filing 990s.
By creating Church of the Word, Mr. Adell took a page out of the playbook of another, even larger broadcaster, the Daystar TV Network whose legal name is the Word of God Fellowship. By claiming to be a church, Daystar also does not have to file the form 990 either.
Trinity Foundation urges donors to stop supporting television networks and other ministries that hide how they spend their money. As supposedly Christian organizations, they should have nothing to hide.