Tax question

[AOPAPILOT]

A great point to remember, pilots need to pick a state that has no income tax, and make that the home base. The NWA pilots were smart to list Florida as their home, but dumb to have the wife and kiddies in school in Minnesota. Cover your tracks and you will be OK. No need to stretch the law. It is there to take advantage of. Read the IRS.gov site. If you can read the approach plates, you can understand the information from the IRS.

 

[f18pugsley]

Checks,

I don't save dining receipts either (since I don't drink, I almost never spend more for food than the standard meal allowance). All you need is a means to prove which days you were at your unit (flight schedule or something like that), then duduct the standard meal allowance for each day you were there.

Where you stay has no bearing on the meal allowance. Just don't try to be tricky and try to claim you were paying your relatives rent while you were staying there (unless you really were and have receipts to prove it). When I go to drill weekend, I get a free room at the BOQ since I live more than 50 miles away. This doesn't reduce the amount of food I will eat over the weekend. The IRS doesn't know if you are getting your free room from the unit or your family.

Also, make sure you don't claim the days you were on det and got per diem. The only exception to that is if you get stuck with the Navy's 'Smart Per Diem' where you only get some amount less than the standard per diem rate. If that is the case, then you can deduct the difference.

 

[Bad-Andy]

Remember, as a crew member, if the amount of the bill is less than $75, you don't need a receipt. All you need is a "written documentation" somewhere of it. I jot stuff down in my crew book, and transfer it to a homemade spreadsheet on the laptop. I got audited once as a first year regional F/O. The guy called me a liar when I told him I made less than 15k. After showing him the W2's and the crew book along with an organized spreadsheet, he ended up oweing me about $20. Haven't been audited since...

 

[AAflyer]

I have been filing my own taxes for 3 years now via Turbo Taxand the internet. I have not been audited yet (Knock on wood). How many of you filed electronically have ever been audited?

Second, How many of you that used a pilot tax service ever been audited. Just curious. Thanks

AAflyer