Giving Center accepts aircraft from outside the United States, and the operational side is well worn: deregistration abroad, registration here, and either a ferry flight or a container. The part that needs care is expectation-setting on two fronts. The timeline is longer than a domestic donation, and the tax benefit depends entirely on whether the donor has a United States filing obligation. This page covers both honestly.
The order of operations
The sequence cannot be reordered, which is what makes the timeline longer than donors expect.
Nothing can be registered in the United States while it remains on a foreign register, so a delay at step two delays everything after it. Local authorities vary enormously in responsiveness.
What we need from you
- The current registration document and the aircraft’s local registration mark.
- The certificate of airworthiness, if one is in force.
- Airframe, engine and propeller logs, and any export documentation already prepared.
- Proof of clear title, and releases for any local security interest or lien.
- For an estate or company, the authority documents under local law.
- Photographs, and the aircraft’s present location and access arrangements.
Records in another language are normal. Certified translation of the key documents is sometimes required for the registry, and we arrange that.
Ferry flight or container
Ferry. For an airworthy aircraft with the range and the equipment, a ferry flight with a type-experienced crew is usually fastest. It needs overflight and landing permits, insurance valid for the route, and in many cases a special flight permit. Oceanic routes need ferry tanks and weather windows, and that planning is ours.
Container. For a light aircraft, a project, or anything not airworthy, disassembly into a container is frequently cheaper and far more predictable than a ferry. Wings off, fuselage cradled, everything crated. Predictability matters more than speed on most of these.
Transport, permits, disassembly and customs entry are our cost, the same as a domestic donation.
The tax question, stated plainly
This is where we would rather disappoint you early than late. A charitable contribution deduction for a gift to a United States 501(c)(3) organization is of use to a taxpayer with a United States filing obligation. If you have none, the deduction has no value to you, and a gift to Giving Center is generally not deductible on your local return, because your own tax authority recognizes its own registered charities rather than ours.
- US citizens and residents abroad. Still filing a US return, so the deduction generally works in the ordinary way.
- Non-resident aliens with US income. May be able to claim against US-source income; this needs your advisor’s input, not ours.
- Foreign nationals with no US filing. No US benefit. Donors in this position still donate, and their reason is that the aircraft goes somewhere useful and the problem of disposing of it ends.
- Canada and treaty countries. Some treaties address cross-border charitable giving in limited ways. Ask a cross-border specialist before assuming anything.
We are a US charity and we do not give tax advice in any jurisdiction. What we can do is document the donation properly under US rules, which is what your advisor will need.
Realistic timelines
Do not plan a specific tax year around an international donation without a wide margin. Title transfer and delivery set the contribution date, and neither is fully in our control until deregistration is done.
What we cannot do
- Deregister an aircraft ourselves — only the local authority can, at the registered owner’s request.
- Take an aircraft with an unresolved local lien or disputed ownership.
- Provide advice on your local tax treatment, or issue documentation your own authority requires of its registered charities.
- Promise a completion date that depends on a foreign authority’s queue.
What we will do is tell you at the outset whether your situation is workable, and say so plainly if it is not.
Cross-border substantiation
Giving Center is a US 501(c)(3), EIN 92-1162407. A contribution deduction is claimed on a US return; a donor with no US filing obligation generally derives no tax benefit, and a gift to a US charity is usually not deductible locally because most jurisdictions recognize only their own registered charities. Establish the donor’s filing position before modeling anything.
Where the donor does file in the US, the mechanics are unchanged: Form 1098-C on sale or our intervening-use certification on retention, Form 8283 Section B and a qualified appraisal above $5,000, with an appraiser independent of the charity. An appraisal of a foreign-based aircraft should address the market it will actually be sold into.
Watch the contribution date. Title cannot pass cleanly until the foreign authority deregisters the aircraft, so the date is downstream of a process neither donor nor charity controls. Treat any year-end target with a wide margin.
Authority: IRS Publication 526 on charitable contributions, Publication 561 on valuation, plus the Form 1098-C and Form 8283 instructions. Nothing here is tax advice — confirm the figures with your own CPA. How the deduction works →
Related reading
Send the registration and the location
We will tell you what the deregistration path looks like in your country and whether a ferry or a container makes more sense.