Quicken/Turbotax vs. crewtaxes.com

[Jeepman]

Anyone used quicken and crew taxes? Which did you like better?

 

[radarlove]

This is the third year running on flightinfo that I've written the same thing: be very, very, very careful about deducting "transportation worker" per diem from your taxes, without FIRST adding back in the per diem you've received tax free.

There are guys that deduct the transportation hotel rate (even though the company paid for hotel) and the full per diem rate (even though the company paid per diem).

There's no free lunch--if you got paid the per diem, you don't get to deduct per diem expenses from your taxes. If your per diem is less than the transportation worker allowance, you can deduct the DIFFERENCE, but it is usually a wash.

 

[regionalcap]

Anyone used quicken and crew taxes? Which did you like better?

I used them last year and will use them again this year. They seem to be very professional and affordable. They will also get you back much more than using turbotax. I'll never use turbotax again.

 

[regionalcap]

This is the third year running on flightinfo that I've written the same thing: be very, very, very careful about deducting "transportation worker" per diem from your taxes, without FIRST adding back in the per diem you've received tax free.

There are guys that deduct the transportation hotel rate (even though the company paid for hotel) and the full per diem rate (even though the company paid per diem).

There's no free lunch--if you got paid the per diem, you don't get to deduct per diem expenses from your taxes. If your per diem is less than the transportation worker allowance, you can deduct the DIFFERENCE, but it is usually a wash.

I'll beg to differ about it being a wash. I am looking at my last year's tax form. My per diem credit was $2400. It has been about that much every year (and I have tried several tax professionals who all come up with the same figure). This includes what the company paid in per diem and only claiming 70%.

 

[Propblast]

This is the third year running on flightinfo that I've written the same thing: be very, very, very careful about deducting "transportation worker" per diem from your taxes, without FIRST adding back in the per diem you've received tax free.

When I first started doing my own taxes (ok, I'm a bit masochistic) I noted this loophole in the tax law. Because the per diem does not appear in box 13 (or maybe 12) of the W-2 as a reimbursed expense. Figuring it was too good to be true I called the IRS and talked to a tax agent who specialized in per diem and reimbursed expenses. When I pointed out the discrepancy she said, "As a pilot, I would be very careful how you do your taxes." That was enough for me - I took the conservative route and deducted the difference. A couple years later while talking to a CPA who did pilot taxes for guys at my company he revealed that he had been approached by several guys after the IRS started "probing" them about their M&IE deductions. Obviously, the warning is well worth heeding.

-PB

 

[FLYfishin]

Last year I used this guy in Maine, Charlie Plourde. He specializes in transportation industry taxes - pilots, truck drivers, ect. He was great and efficient. He charged $135 for everything - federal and state. His number is 207-653-4107. Email is [email protected].

 

[AMRCostUnit]

AA shows the IRS allowable for each layover. I add those up for the year and subtract the per diem paid ($1.80/hr) and use the result. Been doing this for 15 years with no problem.

Unit
TurboTax Junkie

 

[donger]

Taxes

Ive used Turbo Tax and found it to be very accurate. I will say however the job of figuring all the allowable per diem stuff is tedious to say the least, so much so that last year I did not even figure it out. This year I had a buddy tell me about a company that figures all this crap out for you based on your flight records from the company you work for. They charge a flat fee of $50, and for that I saved $400. Not too bad. $350 buys a lot of beer.

They give you all the information you need and warnings about what NOT to do (neglecting to report what the company pays you in nontaxable reimbursements). Two days after sending all my flight recaps in, they emailed me a report with all the details.

I took that data and entered it on the Form 2106 (not 2106EZ). followed the directions-using the 75% rule for 2006, and came up with my total to deduct on schedule A (form 1040).

Easy and painless. I am done with my taxes and besides my time, the total cost to complete was $100 ($50 for Turbo Tax, and $50 for ProDiem.com). I have rental property and a whole host of other complicated crap that makes the tax preparer bill climb sky high.

The trade off? If I get audited, I am pretty much on my own. Just my $0.02

 

[Ex737Driver]

Good places to get the tax tables for domestic and foreign per diem. This also gives you the appropiate rates so you don't confuse hotel+per diem with just per diem.

http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/pr...aDocument.jsp&programId=9705&channelId=-15943


http://www.state.gov/m/a/als/prdm/c16476.htm

 

[regionalcap]

For crewtaxes.com, they will figure out your per diem and employee expenses for only 59 bucks. Plus you get 15 dollars knocked off for everyone you refer.

 

[ironspud]

Pro-diem. Best money ever spent on tax help for crews. $50.

 

[xkuzme1]

...

http://ezperdiem.com/

I used this company to figure my Perdiem. THey worked awsome. I hightly recomend them.

X

 

[EZPERDIEM]

...but it is usually a wash.

I agree with everything you said except this part. It really depends on the company you work for and the destinations you fly to. I can tell you most of the people who use EZPERDIEM.COM are getting several hundred dollars back in their pockets.

The city-by-city meal allowance is pretty simple to figure it out. It only takes about 15 minutes of your time to enter your flight schedule for the tax year.

If you are able to benefit, a rough way to calculate your cash-in-pocket-savings is:

(Company Reimbursement - Meal Allowanace) x 75% x tax bracket

The biggest catches are:

- You have to itemize to benefit from the deduction
- Your reimbursement must be less than your meal allowance (per diem calculation)
- You have to have other employee business expenses to deduct that help bring you over the 2% limit (i.e. union expenses, uniform expenses, etc.)

You also don't need a receipt for every expense if it is less than $75. You do still need to keep appropriate records according to Publication 463, even if you don't have the receipt.

I think most regional/national airline pilots should benefit because they get a pretty low per diem reimbursement. Many major airline pilots will benefit because the OCONUS international destinations are typically more.

An example of a company that is less likely to benefit might be Southwest Airlines because they pay a high per diem and fly to mostly average paying destinations when you look at the CONUS rates.

There are just too many variables to say for sure that you will or will not benefit without you entering the data.

We actually do the per diem calculations for one of the companies mentioned in this thread, though most of our clients are do-it-yourselfers. I'm sure they all do a good job and you'll likely be happy with whatever choice you make.

Just don't assume that you won't benefit from the deduction without at least investigating.

 

[Mr Hat]

I'm doing day trips almost exclusivly right now....I did Turbo Tax and Pilot tax last year. They came back about the same. Now if your doing lots of overnights, Turbo Tax sucks.....but in my situation, I'll probably just use Turbo Tax this year and save the 300 bucks.

 

[PreContact]

Used Turbotax and entered the perdiem info provided by them in the appropriate section (business expense). There'a a check box for transportation workers which computes the 75% deduction allowed by theIRS for 2006. Printed out the final return, it was filled in correctly and I e-filed it this weekend. USAA offers a discount for the online TurboTax. I've used TurboTax since 2001, although this was the first year as an airline pilot.

 

[Stan]

One other thing to remember is AMT. For those of you that still have a good salary and are paying, or going to be paying AMT, don't pay to have your travel allowance figured because you cant deduct them.

 

[PreContact]

Forgot to mention I used www.pro-diem.com. Excellent turnaround service for computing allowed perdiem. I used their numbers in TurboTax.

 

[optimater]

If you made less than 52,000 last year, you can use the IRS website. They have a lot of free on-line tax preparations.