New2Flying
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2003
- Posts
- 80
Hi Everyone,
I got this in email today from Fltops.com. I thought everyone might want to read this in case it effects you. They have up to date information on there sites with everything that affects pilots. If you are interested, I left the sign-up information at the bottom of this email.
>>This FLTops TODAY notice, the purpose of which is to inform our
subscribers, keep our lists fresh and solicit input on issues currently
affecting pilots, is brought to you by the FLTops.com sponsors:
Scott Leather, http://www.scottleather.com/
the Stop-Over Store, http://www.stopoverstore.com/
Crew Gear, http://www.crewgear.com/
The Write Resume, http://www.pilotresumes.com/
Dear FLTops TODAY subscriber:
Pilots who have been furloughed or will soon be furloughed by a major
airline received some good news last week. The Internal Revenue Service
issued a ruling that will result in pilots keeping a little more money in
their pockets while they are furloughed.
The Air Line Pilots Association, the world's largest pilot union, asked the
IRS to rule on the taxability of payments made to pilots--or, in most
cases, on behalf of furloughed pilots--for continued health care coverage
while these pilots remain on furlough. Several ALPA-represented carriers
polled their rank-and-file membership shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks brought about furloughs, to see if the employed pilots wanted to
pay for continued health care coverage for their furloughed colleagues.
I cannot recall a single airline group voting down--or coming close to
voting down--this pivotal benefit. This move speaks volumes of people in
the pilot profession, who overwhelmingly chose--and have subsequently
chosen to continue--to give up a portion of their compensation so their
colleagues can continue to have health insurance benefits. Keep in mind
that this decision came at a time where many pilots were being
downgraded--captains to first officers and widebodies to narrowbodies--or
negotiating cost savings agreements with their employers, meaning they were
taking pay cuts.
I have to tip my hat to the IRS for using a common-sense approach to
resolving this matter. The IRS could have drawn a line in the sand and used
a strict interpretation that would require furloughed pilots to pay taxes
on the value of the payments being made on their behalf. Such a decision
would have rubbed salt in the wounds of thousands of furloughed major
airline pilots. Lots of people lose their jobs in any given day. For
pilots, however, the industry is so cyclical, and the ramifications of
September 11 so severe, that many can't replace their income during a
downturn of this magnitude. For pilots who may be consulting, working part
time--without employer-provided healthcare--or still looking for work to
have to pay taxes on payments made by their generous colleagues is
unnecessarily punitive in my opinion.
The IRS made the right call, and the payoff will be that these pilots will
one day pay enormous amounts of income taxes. The IRS this past week
announced a partnership with states to target abusive tax avoidance
transactions. These types of ventures--going after those who unlawfully
avoid taxes--will do much more for the nation's coffers than trying to
squeeze money out of unemployed pilots because they are getting free health
care.
Although in the interest of objectivity I go to great lengths to avoid
tooting any union's--or any individual airline's--horn unless it is
obviously deserved, I have to also tip my hat to ALPA. I have to wonder if
individual pilots--even a large number of them--could have gotten the
attention of the IRS and gotten this issue resolved this way. Although this
wasn't a legislative issue, ALPA's presence in Washington obviously paid
off.
ALPA estimates that its members paid $7.7 million in health care premiums
for furloughed pilots in 2002, and that number will increase this year.
This means that the IRS' decision probably cost it between $1 million and
$2.5 million, depending on the average marginal tax rate of the furloughed
pilots. That money, fairly insignificant when compared to the IRS' total
annual collections, is very significant to pilots during this very
difficult time.
Sincerely,
David Jones
Contributing Editor
FLTops.com
P.S. Beat the price increase! If you have considered joining FLTops.com so
you can gain full site access, do it by September 30, 2003. The first month
sign up fee is increasing to $19.95 after that date. The recurring monthly
fee of $4.95 will remain the same. Current members are unaffected by the
increase in the sign-up fee as long as their membership continues
uninterrupted. Why spend your life on the Internet searching for "free"
information, when you can find focused and high-quality airline industry
intelligence and statistics at http://www.fltops.com/signup.htm.<<<
I got this in email today from Fltops.com. I thought everyone might want to read this in case it effects you. They have up to date information on there sites with everything that affects pilots. If you are interested, I left the sign-up information at the bottom of this email.
>>This FLTops TODAY notice, the purpose of which is to inform our
subscribers, keep our lists fresh and solicit input on issues currently
affecting pilots, is brought to you by the FLTops.com sponsors:
Scott Leather, http://www.scottleather.com/
the Stop-Over Store, http://www.stopoverstore.com/
Crew Gear, http://www.crewgear.com/
The Write Resume, http://www.pilotresumes.com/
Dear FLTops TODAY subscriber:
Pilots who have been furloughed or will soon be furloughed by a major
airline received some good news last week. The Internal Revenue Service
issued a ruling that will result in pilots keeping a little more money in
their pockets while they are furloughed.
The Air Line Pilots Association, the world's largest pilot union, asked the
IRS to rule on the taxability of payments made to pilots--or, in most
cases, on behalf of furloughed pilots--for continued health care coverage
while these pilots remain on furlough. Several ALPA-represented carriers
polled their rank-and-file membership shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks brought about furloughs, to see if the employed pilots wanted to
pay for continued health care coverage for their furloughed colleagues.
I cannot recall a single airline group voting down--or coming close to
voting down--this pivotal benefit. This move speaks volumes of people in
the pilot profession, who overwhelmingly chose--and have subsequently
chosen to continue--to give up a portion of their compensation so their
colleagues can continue to have health insurance benefits. Keep in mind
that this decision came at a time where many pilots were being
downgraded--captains to first officers and widebodies to narrowbodies--or
negotiating cost savings agreements with their employers, meaning they were
taking pay cuts.
I have to tip my hat to the IRS for using a common-sense approach to
resolving this matter. The IRS could have drawn a line in the sand and used
a strict interpretation that would require furloughed pilots to pay taxes
on the value of the payments being made on their behalf. Such a decision
would have rubbed salt in the wounds of thousands of furloughed major
airline pilots. Lots of people lose their jobs in any given day. For
pilots, however, the industry is so cyclical, and the ramifications of
September 11 so severe, that many can't replace their income during a
downturn of this magnitude. For pilots who may be consulting, working part
time--without employer-provided healthcare--or still looking for work to
have to pay taxes on payments made by their generous colleagues is
unnecessarily punitive in my opinion.
The IRS made the right call, and the payoff will be that these pilots will
one day pay enormous amounts of income taxes. The IRS this past week
announced a partnership with states to target abusive tax avoidance
transactions. These types of ventures--going after those who unlawfully
avoid taxes--will do much more for the nation's coffers than trying to
squeeze money out of unemployed pilots because they are getting free health
care.
Although in the interest of objectivity I go to great lengths to avoid
tooting any union's--or any individual airline's--horn unless it is
obviously deserved, I have to also tip my hat to ALPA. I have to wonder if
individual pilots--even a large number of them--could have gotten the
attention of the IRS and gotten this issue resolved this way. Although this
wasn't a legislative issue, ALPA's presence in Washington obviously paid
off.
ALPA estimates that its members paid $7.7 million in health care premiums
for furloughed pilots in 2002, and that number will increase this year.
This means that the IRS' decision probably cost it between $1 million and
$2.5 million, depending on the average marginal tax rate of the furloughed
pilots. That money, fairly insignificant when compared to the IRS' total
annual collections, is very significant to pilots during this very
difficult time.
Sincerely,
David Jones
Contributing Editor
FLTops.com
P.S. Beat the price increase! If you have considered joining FLTops.com so
you can gain full site access, do it by September 30, 2003. The first month
sign up fee is increasing to $19.95 after that date. The recurring monthly
fee of $4.95 will remain the same. Current members are unaffected by the
increase in the sign-up fee as long as their membership continues
uninterrupted. Why spend your life on the Internet searching for "free"
information, when you can find focused and high-quality airline industry
intelligence and statistics at http://www.fltops.com/signup.htm.<<<
