Airline Pilots, Accountants, and the IRS

WestIndian425

Well-Known Member
Quick question, fellow aviators:

Do you file your taxes on your own, or do you utilize an accountant? If the latter, how did you select your accountant?

I'm considering getting one for the upcoming tax season and I live in NYC. I've done it on my own in the past, and after speaking with several coworkers this year alone, I feel I've let the gub'ment keep a lot of my money over the years.
 
I use an accountant.

Got the recommendation from my financial advisor.
 
Accountant. It's their profession and they know things that I don't have the time to learn. My accountant is a business associate of my wife.
 
Alright, I'm certainly open to paying someone money in order to save even more money.

In the past I've done taxes on my own with the help of turbo tax or HR Block. However, these programs haven't ever really told me anything I couldn't figure out on my own. I've got a pretty simple financial life.

That said, what would the benefit to hiring an actual accountant be for simple taxes? (One job, one house, 401k, lots of debt?)
 
You can file an amended return for up to three years in the past. Bring it up when you have an initial discussion with your tax preparer.
Me thinks the tax preparer that I've used in the past (when I wasn't using TurboTax) isn't too familiar with handling pilots. The amount of things I've learned in just the past few days about write-offs alone made that clear. Hence why I'm looking for other recommendations.

At the very onset, if I can just learn it for the first few years, and then do it on my own, that's fine. It's just that in this case, ignorance isn't bliss.
 
Anyone have an accountant that doesn't wait until the last damn minute, and then hit you up with a ton of questions on April 14th? I haven't been all that impressed with accountants in general. Used one when my wife and I filed married/separate for medical expenses related to in vitro, but by the time the guy filed it, someone had stolen my wife's ID and filed on her behalf. They completely left us hanging dealing with the fallout.

Two people who are entirely worthless in Murdoughnut's mind: general contractor and accountants.
 
Alright, I'm certainly open to paying someone money in order to save even more money.

In the past I've done taxes on my own with the help of turbo tax or HR Block. However, these programs haven't ever really told me anything I couldn't figure out on my own. I've got a pretty simple financial life.

That said, what would the benefit to hiring an actual accountant be for simple taxes? (One job, one house, 401k, lots of debt?)

There's not one. If you're not dealing in more complex deductions, or have a business, I don't think an accountant is worth it.
 
I would have been up diddle creek decades ago without a trusted CPA. She was originally recommended to me by a restaurant owner that I knew. Turns out that she has previously worked for the IRS for a number of years and she specialized in small to medium businesses, those in business for themselves and individuals who had beyond what one would call a "simple" return. I used her when I flew the line and have used her ever since and use for for my business currently. I have recommended her to many friends and contacts and she is just the best. Never had an audit, she knows just how far to push what, found things I didn't know about, was a huge help in setting up a corporation, found me my IT guy, found me a part-time bookkeeper, help us set up a manual and computer system for accounting, filing systems- really all sorts of things and communicates via phone, email and webex conference calls. She keeps me abreast of changes and when things are coming due, sends me useful info all the time, help me set up our accounting system and more. I don't know what the hell I am going to do when she retires, which she is saying she wants to do at some point.

I find that educating yourself on your profession, tax issues from your State and IRS publications and what you can write-off and how much, using a professional (not H&R Block or Juanita's tax services working out of her home) is the best plan. Besides, whatever you spend on these types of professional services, is also tax deductible. Unless you have a very simple/basic return to file, all I can say, is that it is money worth spending. Besides, if anything goes south, the CPA is there for you to work with the IRS. You are not going it alone.
 
@A Life Aloft It's for the very same reasons you've posted that I feel it is necessary to secure the services of a good one, especially since tax season starts in less than a month. I wish I had known this sooner, but I'm glad I know now and I want to make sure things are in place before the year is out. I hate accounting, but it is a necessity of life. :)
 
@A Life Aloft It's for the very same reasons you've posted that I feel it is necessary to secure the services of a good one, especially since tax season starts in less than a month. I wish I had known this sooner, but I'm glad I know now and I want to make sure things are in place before the year is out. I hate accounting, but it is a necessity of life. :)
See if you can get a reference from another pilot/co-worker and make sure you interview them (even over the phone) thoroughly. They should be willing for example to review last year's tax forms that you filed, after speaking with you and going over your work and personal situation, at no charge and give you some ideas of what they would have perhaps done differently.

Yeah, accounting does suck!. I am the biggest procrastinator on the planet in filing (personal and business) yearly, quarterlies, getting the crap together for the monthly statement, expenses, etc.......you name it. I hate it. lol
 
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See if you can get a reference from another pilot/co-worker and make sure you interview them (even over the phone) thoroughly. They should be willing for example to review last year's tax forms that you filed, after speaking with you and going over your work and personal situation, at no charge and give you some ideas of what they would have perhaps done differently.
Thanks. I'll get right on it tomorrow. I'm currently flying with a captain who recommends his, so I'll check it out and do what you said.
 
I've used this company for the past few years and have always been very happy with them. A lot of the Pinnacle guys also used them while I was there. They handle everything over the phone and by mail which makes it very easy. I have also received my refunds before the end of February every year. I would highly recommend the per diem service if you are an airline guy.

I'll do my own this year, but only because I'm corporate now so most of what I used to use as write offs is now reimbursed by the company.

http://mcingvalecpa.com/cpa-services/flightcrewcpa-com
 
My girlfriend is a tax preparer; I've mashed the numbers into TurboTax before and pressed the magic "go" button and gotten relatively the same results, but I haven't bothered to itemize (I don't have that level of tax "problem," which is really another way of saying "you have income!" yet). Maybe next year.

Also, why do people over-utilize "utilize"?
 
I'd be very interested to know the tax implications of IVF...

Well any out of pocket medical is tax deductible along with all other medical expenses beyond 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. So if you make $100k a year, and spent $10k in out of pocket medical, you can deduct $2,500. If you go this route, however, you have to itemize rather than take the standard deduction. Itemizing removes the possibility of taking certain other tax deductions and benefits, so often it doesn't even make sense to do that.

We had about $22k in out of pocket medical that year. About $17k was directly related to IVF - the treatment itself, the drugs, sonograms, etc. etc. etc. Our medical insurance covered $0 of any of it. Some of the remaining amount was spent on infertility oriented acupuncture that my wife had done. Though I'm not giving tax advise, my understanding is that acupuncture is deductible only in situations where it is prescribed to treat a condition (infertility in our case).

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I believe that only $5k or so of the total medical expenses were deductible based on our combined incomes. BUT ... if we filed married filing separately, we were able to put all of the medical under my wife's income, which I believe was around $75k that year, give or take. So under that scenario, she was able to deduct something closer to $12k in out of pocket medical. Given our other itemized deductions and tax situation, it was advantageous to do this, and led to a bigger return.

... except for the fact that someone stole my wife's SS# and filed a return for her. We eventually did get our return a year later, but that event notwithstanding, it worked out in our favor. I used turbo tax to calculate it both ways, and had my accountant do the numbers and they both agreed that married filing separately was better for our situation that year.
 
Well any out of pocket medical is tax deductible along with all other medical expenses beyond 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. So if you make $100k a year, and spent $10k in out of pocket medical, you can deduct $2,500. If you go this route, however, you have to itemize rather than take the standard deduction. Itemizing removes the possibility of taking certain other tax deductions and benefits, so often it doesn't even make sense to do that.

We had about $22k in out of pocket medical that year. About $17k was directly related to IVF - the treatment itself, the drugs, sonograms, etc. etc. etc. Our medical insurance covered $0 of any of it. Some of the remaining amount was spent on infertility oriented acupuncture that my wife had done. Though I'm not giving tax advise, my understanding is that acupuncture is deductible only in situations where it is prescribed to treat a condition (infertility in our case).

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I believe that only $5k or so of the total medical expenses were deductible based on our combined incomes. BUT ... if we filed married filing separately, we were able to put all of the medical under my wife's income, which I believe was around $75k that year, give or take. So under that scenario, she was able to deduct something closer to $12k in out of pocket medical. Given our other itemized deductions and tax situation, it was advantageous to do this, and led to a bigger return.

... except for the fact that someone stole my wife's SS# and filed a return for her. We eventually did get our return a year later, but that event notwithstanding, it worked out in our favor. I used turbo tax to calculate it both ways, and had my accountant do the numbers and they both agreed that married filing separately was better for our situation that year.

Very good to know. Between the IVF and out of pocket expenses for a c-section, we've got similar numbers. I was a "paid" research assistant for 9 months this year, so I doubt I'd owe anything if we filed separately, and my wife owns a business so the ton of money we spent on the little squirmer may help out.
 
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