According to leaked documents from the Hillsong Trove, Hillsong leaders gave their pastors some tips and “unwritten rules” on how to claim their generous housing expenses as deductions in order to minimize their tax burden, plaaying fast and loose with the rules in order to make things seem not as they appear.
One such pastor who took advantage is Darren Kitto, also the Hillsong TV network’s CEO. We featured him before after he was caught expensing thousand-dollar phone bills, thousand dollars meals, and $5000-16,000 luxury hotels to the church, all on his expense card. (click to enlarge)
New to Newport Beach, along with clearly abusing the congregants with his slush fund corporate credit card, Kitto was given a generous salary of $231,099/year and a $125,000 living allowance. He was also privy to several speaking honorariums, typically receiving $10,000 per sermon.
In 2017 he purchased a beautiful four-bedroom, four-bathroom house in Newport Beach for $1,850,000 USD ($2,773,925 AUD) in the prestgious Santa Ana Heights community.
According to the documents, under the advice from Hillsong staffers, Kitto claimed $48,564 for a pool as part of his $125,000 housing allowance, which reduced his taxable income. Despite making nearly a quarter of a million dollars a year and not having to pay living expenses, he did not pay for the pool out of pocket. Instead, this pool was directly paid with Hillsong Chuch members’ sacrificial tithes and offerings. He also claimed $10,000 in “repairs and maintenance,” another $10,000 on “appliances,” and $1200 on “yard maintenance.”
It’s abusive, and when you factor in all the other credit card debt he incrued that he was expensing, sometimes another $15,000-$20,000 a month for luxury meals and 5-star restaurants, it’s a wonder that anyone would ever trust Hillsong again.
