Tax Time!

Seggy

Seggy

Well-Known Member
Looking for an accountant or tax pro that can help this first year regional pilot get AS MUCH money as possible back from the government with all my training, on the road expenses, etc. Any suggestions?
 
Haven't used it yet, but I heard www.pilottax.com was pretty good.

I'm going to try to do it all myself this year. Remember that almost everything you do work related can be deducted. Gas to and from the airport, meals bought on the road, taxi/bus/train fares, cell phones, etc. are all fair game. Hope you saved your receipts!
 
CapnJim said:
Haven't used it yet, but I heard www.pilottax.com was pretty good.

I'm going to try to do it all myself this year. Remember that almost everything you do work related can be deducted. Gas to and from the airport, meals bought on the road, taxi/bus/train fares, cell phones, etc. are all fair game. Hope you saved your receipts!
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You should seek professional advice - it might save your an audit!!

You can by NO MEANS deduct your expenses getting to and from work!! Meals bought on the road? You're kidding, right!?! You get per diem to cover that.

The cell phone I will agree with - if used ONLY for business. If you have friends call you on it, no way. I am printing out a report each of of how many minutes were work related (sorted by phone number) and as such I can deduct a percentage of my cell bill, but not all of it.

~wheelsup

EDIT: I just looked at the pilottax.com website. $189 for the service. You can purchase a program for a quarter of that and do it yourself. They even guide you as to what you CAN and CANNOT deduct.
 
CapnJim said:
Ach! You're right!
Here's a list of legal deductions on Page 2.
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That's a good form. I think I'm going to print it out and make a filing system with those items on it. Very cool - thanks! :)

~wheelsup
 
wheelsup said:
Meals bought on the road? You're kidding, right!?!
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Absolutely you can, and should.

This is a very rough financial paraphrase, but say your company gives you $20/day in per diem.

But you laid over in San Francisco for 18 hours and crossed two meal periods. The IRS-accepted meal expense rates in SFO are above and beyond the basic nationwide meal expense rate so you're cheating yourself by not looking into what the additional stipend is.

On an average year, I think I average an additional $200 or so in meal expenses that I can deduct depending on what city I lay over in. And this is from an accountant familiar with pilot taxes.

Just a snippet from my expense summary for 2004:

* According to layover times in particular cities, my meal expense was calculated to be at $4705.75
* My airline, thru per diem, reimbursed me for $3579.92 based off of my per diem rate.

The difference is $1125.83

The deductible meal percentage (70%) (IRS Pub 463, Chp. 2) is 70% which brings it to $788.08.

My estimated bracket for 2004 was 36% so I would have cheated myself out of $283.71 if I didn't break down the individual cities that paid over the basic per diem rate.
 
Not that I'm a tax genius or anything, which I'm not, but I use a service that downloads my flying for the year, looks at the layover cities and times, then produces and easy-to-use form that I can plug 'n crank into my 1040.
 
So you track each city you lay over in, how much time you spend there, how many meal periods you cross, and have a sheet that tells you how much the government will let you deduct? Or is it just done on averages, ie the "average" layover city gives $xx credit?

It almost seems a bit TOO much to go deducting that stuff, and too much to track accurately. Talk about nitty-gritty!

Also, while I now realize you might be able to deduct 'some' meal expense, deducting all of it like CapnJim was going to do is not allowed (that was what I was trying to get across).

~wheelsup

Looks like we were typing at the same time. Where is this program you speak of?
 
Doug Taylor said:
It's a service of Flightline Data Services but I think it's only available to DAL and AAA.
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Yeah it must interface with your scheduling program. Must be nice to be mainline :).

Looks like this company does Flica as well, which we are a part of. But from the website your program is a seperate thing from Flica.

Well, short of figuring out credit times, I'm going to continue eating cheaply while on a trip and pocket most of the per diem :).

~wheelsup
 
Getting my documents in order now for my accountant. Careful Jim...you are begging for an audit! You regionals guys becareful...a low salary with high expense deductions is a red flag. Kind of like starting a business without taking a salary for a year or two.

I have a side business...so my accountant does all my taxes. I feel better having his signature on the bottom of the form.
 
Big deal an audit isn't anything. I've had it twice and usually I save more even with the audit than without. The secret is to have some in reserves, if you have to pay then you pay, if not, its that much more that you saved.

It all depends on how you play it. If you have no money don't even think of playing it.
 
An aduit doen't mean you comitted a crime, its the outcome of the audit that determines that. I have two and no problems with both. Does that mean I commited a crime? NO!!!

If there is a problem you pay for it. No foul no crime.
 
Joe, you've got those beady little eyes... I knew you were a tax evader! ;) :sarcasm:
 
Don't forget union dues & dry cleaning.

We should look into that Flightline service. Is that the same guy who runs the Flightline internet service?
 
Yup. Mr. MQAAord doesn't purchase the $99 expense report? Your money back if not satisfied! Takes all of five minutes to get the results.

Methinks I'm going to have to find some time to have a chat with the Mr!
 
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