Yes the IRS has audited many EK pilots. I personally know of 3 and they all seemed to know many others. There seems to be an IRS office in NC that is gunning for EK pilots. They claim that all flying done over international waters is taxable. That kind of kills the whole purpose of flying overseas. Fortunately for EK most of our flights have different routing depending on the winds. How the IRS could prove that on a particular date you over flew the bay of bengal vs flying over India, Bangladesh, and Yangon is beyond me.