Pilots and their CELLPHONES

[Ralgha]

No mention of cell phone usage on the US Governemnt site. IMO, you can DEDUCT your cell phone bill (or percentage of it) off of your taxes as a business expense if you want to. I'm not so sure how the IRS would look at it if you deducted the whole thing, but for sure that $20 call to dispatch in CA would qualify. I'm deducting the $1.45 call I made to the hotel in Toronto for a pick up....

If you use 200 minutes/month calling the company, and you have a 400 minute plan, simply deduct half the monthly cost of your cell bill.

Good luck with that. If I were the IRS I'd tell you to go screw yourself. That phone call to the hotel was not required to be from your cellphone, you CHOSE to do that so you could save $1.45 in taxes. Those 200 minutes were not REQUIRED to be from your cellphone. Had you not made them, you still would have paid for them, but this way you get to deduct them from your taxes. FRAUD!

 

[IFlyFL410]

I've been writing my cell phone bill off every year for 5 years now, and have never had any trouble in doing so. With our plan, I never have to worry about minutes, so I'm all about the conveniance (sp?) of not leaving the cockpit.

 

[threegreen]

What else can the people on this forum bitch and moan about???

90% of what goes on here is people bitching and moaning about how life isn’t fair. Or people putting each other down.

This is such a negative environment. 10% of the posts are people helping each other out.

Agreed! Who gives a rats ass if you have to pick up the phone once in a while and talk about work! I personally think the work involved in totaling and tracking work calls would be more costly to my precious time than the few dollars (if that) extra that is on the phone bill. Haven't you heard of picking your battles.

 

[pookie]

How do you people afford cell phones??

 

[flyboyzii]

I've been writing my cell phone bill off every year for 5 years now, and have never had any trouble in doing so. With our plan, I never have to worry about minutes, so I'm all about the conveniance (sp?) of not leaving the cockpit.

Same here. My cell phone is for "work purposes only." I write it off. IRS has bigger fish to fry than me. Even if they do audit me. Who cares?

 

[405]

All regional airlines should install cigarette lighters in cockpits so you can charge your phones, too.

 

[wheelsup]

Good luck with that. If I were the IRS I'd tell you to go screw yourself. That phone call to the hotel was not required to be from your cellphone, you CHOSE to do that so you could save $1.45 in taxes. Those 200 minutes were not REQUIRED to be from your cellphone. Had you not made them, you still would have paid for them, but this way you get to deduct them from your taxes. FRAUD!

Oh ok, next time I will send smoke signals to the hotel for a pick up, or I suppose I could just sit around and wait for another crew to call? That's be swell in the -40C Canadian winter .

And I won't save $1.45 in taxes. I will deduct the $1.45 from my income, which will reduce the tax I pay. I will save around $0.36 or so. Doesn't sound like much does it? Combine that $1.45 with the $5000 or so I will be writing off this year and it adds up.

I suppose you wouldn't write off a headset purchase either, would you? Or dry cleaning services for your uniforms? How about uniform purchases in general? Resume paper, travel to an interview, etc. All deductible...as I understand it.

I'm glad there's people like you out there that pay more than their share of the taxes - that means I have to pay less ...

~wheelsup





~wheelsup

 

[av8er2]

Oh ok, next time I will send smoke signals to the hotel for a pick up, or I suppose I could just sit around and wait for another crew to call? That's be swell in the -40C Canadian winter .

And I won't save $1.45 in taxes. I will deduct the $1.45 from my income, which will reduce the tax I pay. I will save around $0.36 or so. Doesn't sound like much does it? Combine that $1.45 with the $5000 or so I will be writing off this year and it adds up.

I suppose you wouldn't write off a headset purchase either, would you? Or dry cleaning services for your uniforms? How about uniform purchases in general? Resume paper, travel to an interview, etc. All deductible...as I understand it.

I'm glad there's people like you out there that pay more than their share of the taxes - that means I have to pay less ...

~wheelsup





~wheelsup

Come on you know the meaning of this post. The company really benefits from our cell phones and doesn't pay a dime.

 

[Icelandair]

Maybe it was a weekend and the minutes are free anyway.

 

[wheelsup]

Come on you know the meaning of this post. The company really benefits from our cell phones and doesn't pay a dime.

You're right, it's totally gone off on another tangent. I agree, the time saved is incredible by using the cell phone. If everybody in the pilot group stopped using their cell for a month management would certainly take notice. Short of doing that, there isn't much that can be done. If anything, you'd get a bit healthier .

Maybe it was a weekend and the minutes are free anyway.

But that person is still paying for the service, no matter if they are using minutes or not. If they used their phone only on the weekends, so the minutes were free, but never paid their phone bill, there would not be any "free" minutes to use...the phone company would shut off the service. In a normal business environment, the company would provide a cell phone. However, this is aviation so we are expected to work for free and provide the company with extra lift to help them get the job done . I'm not bitching, it's the way it's always been, and probably always will be. I will just write it off, no biggie.

~wheelsup