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Commuter Tax Question

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Cactus-Wrench

Now LUV-Wrench :)
Joined
Feb 19, 2004
Posts
39
Hi all, had a question on taxes, hopefully this is the right area for it.
I have been in the airline industry for 15 years but started commuting about 6 months ago.
My question is about 6 months ago I moved to Florida, from Illinois. I still work in Illinois (tech for wn) so I commute up there once a week.
Am I suppose to be paying Illinois state taxes still? I live in FL, have an address and home there, and FL does not have state taxes, (they make it up in other ares like property tax, geeesh), but I still have IL state taxes coming out of my check.
So I'm confused on if you are taxed for state purposes as to where you work, where you live or both.
I know my girlfriend that is a flight attendant commutes to phoenix, and lives here with me in florida, she pays no arizona state tax.
Anyway, any tax pro's on here with input before I call our payroll department,
Thanks very much for any info :)
 
Find a good CPA in Florida. A CPA is a must for me and I consider it "IRS insurance". The fee is also tax deductible.

You should call your payroll dept ASAP and change to Florida. Problems arise when you live in a "taxed" state and try to claim residence in a non-taxed state. Example, at FedEx: Many pilots commute to MEM (TN has no state tax) and try to justify their crashpad as a residence since they are based in MEM and spend a significant portion of the year at work. The IRS will hammer you for this!

You live in Florida, vote, and have a registered car and driver's license -- I assume. You have met the intent necessary to claim Florida as your state of legal residence and should change your status immediatley. Again, contact a CPA and discuss these issues with him/her.

NKA
 
Thanks, nokoolaid, for the reply back. Kind of along the lines I figured as well, but I will look into a cpa in the FL area as well,
Reguards :)
 
It is okay to live in FL and not pay taxes in IL, unless 1/2 of your work takes place in IL. In that case it doesn't matter where you live. CA requires that our pilot's based in OAK complete a form verifying that over 1/2 of their flying takes place out of CA. For pilots and F/As there is no problem with not paying taxes in the state they commute to, it may be more difficult for mechs and others.
 
737tanker said:
CA requires that our pilot's based in OAK complete a form verifying that over 1/2 of their flying takes place out of CA.
I have been based in CA and live in WA for 8 years. I have never had to fill out a form and have never been contacted by the state of CA. I pay CA SDI.

For flight crews based in one state and living in another it is very different. California wanted flight crews to pay taxes. A pilot (AA I beleive) filed a law suit. If more than half of your flying is outside of the state of CA then out-of-state commuters do not pay CA state income tax.

I live in WA. WA residents that work in Portland OR have to pay OR state income tax.
 
NoKoolAid said:
Find a good CPA in Florida. A CPA is a must for me and I consider it "IRS insurance". The fee is also tax deductible.

You should call your payroll dept ASAP and change to Florida. Problems arise when you live in a "taxed" state and try to claim residence in a non-taxed state. Example, at FedEx: Many pilots commute to MEM (TN has no state tax) and try to justify their crashpad as a residence since they are based in MEM and spend a significant portion of the year at work. The IRS will hammer you for this!

You live in Florida, vote, and have a registered car and driver's license -- I assume. You have met the intent necessary to claim Florida as your state of legal residence and should change your status immediatley. Again, contact a CPA and discuss these issues with him/her.

NKA

Why would the IRS care about a state matter? You'll still have to pay fed taxes regardless of where you live.

FWIW, I worked for a company with offices that were located in Montgomery County, MD, and lived within the city lines of Washington DC. I paid DC income taxes, and paid nothing to Maryland. Because of the geography of the area, the company had lots of commuters from neighboring states. I think the rule was that if you lived in a neighboring state, you paid taxes to the state which you claimed residence. If you came from farther away, you paid taxes to MD.
 
smellthejeta said:
. I think the rule was that if you lived in a neighboring state, you paid taxes to the state which you claimed residence. If you came from farther away, you paid taxes to MD.

If you live in NH and work across the border in MA you paid taxes in MA, if you live in RI and work across the border in MA you pay taxes in RI. The reason for that is states give credit for paying taxes in the state that you live, but in the case of NH there are no state taxes so MA taxes the commuters.
 
I may be wrong, but I think if you earned the money in Ill. you will have to pay tax in Ill. Most states allow you to take a tax credit, but where you would pay nothing in FL, you cannot take a credit. Sorry.
 

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