What Is the Federal Excise Tax on Charter Flights?

The 7.5 percent applies to amounts paid for taxable transportation of persons — in practice, the charter price including most of what the operator bills you to deliver the flight. A separate 6.25 percent rate applies to the transportation of cargo. Because these are percentage taxes set in statute, they do not move with inflation, which is why the 7.5 percent figure has been stable for many years.

The per-passenger fees do move. The IRS adjusts them annually and publishes the amounts in a revenue procedure; Rev. Proc. 2025-32 set the 2026 figures. For 2026 the domestic segment fee is $5.30 per passenger per segment, the international arrival and departure facilities tax is $23.40 per passenger, and the reduced rate applying to transportation between the continental United States and Alaska or Hawaii is $11.30 per passenger. A segment is a single takeoff and landing, so a trip with a fuel stop incurs the fee more than once.

Whether excise tax applies at all turns on how the flight is conducted. Commercial carriage under Part 135, where the operator holds operational control, generally triggers the 7.5 percent transportation tax. Non-commercial Part 91 flying is generally outside it and instead sits in the fuel tax regime. This is not a loophole to go looking for — an operator quoting you a charter with no excise tax line should prompt you to ask exactly what rule set the flight is being flown under, and who holds the certificate.

Rates and fees change. Verify the current year's numbers against the IRS revenue procedure, the Form 720 instructions, or the NBAA federal excise tax guide before relying on them, and ask your operator to show the tax as a separate line on the quote so you can check the arithmetic yourself. Do not treat a broker's tax characterization of your flight as tax advice; confirm anything material with a qualified aviation tax professional.