United imputed tax income

mastermags

mastermags

Well-Known Member *giggity*
So, this is my first year having UAX enrolled friends. I was reading the chart about base fees and imputed tax income and it's pretty confusing. If one of my enrolled friends wants to take a trip, (let's say domestic), am I going to have a imputed tax withheld on my paycheck? Are they responsible for adding it onto their gross income come tax time?
 
No. The benefit is for you only (not the person traveling on your pass). In a nut shell you will get a line item on your paycheck for "pass travel" or something similar. The amount will be something (in the Airways system it's based on a percentage of the lowest available walkup fare) that they compute and it will LOOK like you were paid that amount in addition to your normal pay. So your W2 will reflect more money than you actually made at the end of the year and hence you will be taxed on more than you actually earned.
 
Here are some examples of imputed income by segment on United from one of my pass riders:

DSMDEN 61.21 Y
DENLAS 57.12 Y
LASDEN 51.85 C
DENDSM 61.21 Y

They got 1st class (C) from LAS to DEN, but since they had to pay 12 bucks or so the imputed income was actually less than if they were in economy (Y). Then what I do is figure out what percentage of my income I pay to federal taxes, then take that figure out of the imputed income and ask my pass rider for reimbursement.

Especially for this trip they took:

DSMORD 58.88 Y
ORDAMS 141.80 C
AMSORD 323.12 C
ORDCLE 39.26 Y
CLELAS 88.09 Y
LASORD 69.74 C
ORDDSM 57.95 Y
 
Van_Hoolio said:
Here are some examples of imputed income by segment on United from one of my pass riders:

DSMDEN 61.21 Y
DENLAS 57.12 Y
LASDEN 51.85 C
DENDSM 61.21 Y

They got 1st class (C) from LAS to DEN, but since they had to pay 12 bucks or so the imputed income was actually less than if they were in economy (Y). Then what I do is figure out what percentage of my income I pay to federal taxes, then take that figure out of the imputed income and ask my pass rider for reimbursement.

Especially for this trip they took:

DSMORD 58.88 Y
ORDAMS 141.80 C
AMSORD 323.12 C
ORDCLE 39.26 Y
CLELAS 88.09 Y
LASORD 69.74 C
ORDDSM 57.95 Y
Click to expand...

Is your buddy trying to sample working ladies from every continent? 2 down...
 
Airlines counting non-rev benefits as taxable is about as dumb as Disney taxing their employees for theme park admission, which they don't do....yet. It's a BENEFIT offered in order to get people to work there. What's next? Counting the company's contribution for health care as taxable?
 
kellwolf said:
Airlines counting non-rev benefits as taxable is about as dumb as Disney taxing their employees for theme park admission, which they don't do....yet. It's a BENEFIT offered in order to get people to work there. What's next? Counting the company's contribution for health care as taxable?
Click to expand...

If I understand the issue correctly, it's a federal taxation issue. As in, the government has decided to count non-rev benefits as taxable, not the company.
 
kellwolf said:
Airlines counting non-rev benefits as taxable is about as dumb as Disney taxing their employees for theme park admission, which they don't do....yet. It's a BENEFIT offered in order to get people to work there. What's next? Counting the company's contribution for health care as taxable?
Click to expand...

Almost certain that it is the IRS that demands it be taxable income, not the airline.

Airlines actually get an exemption thanks to Congress, otherwise the IRS would consider deadheads and commuters to be a taxable fringe benefit as well.
 
kellwolf said:
Airlines counting non-rev benefits as taxable is about as dumb as Disney taxing their employees for theme park admission, which they don't do....yet. It's a BENEFIT offered in order to get people to work there. What's next? Counting the company's contribution for health care as taxable?
Click to expand...
This is- for now anyway - specifically exempted from federal taxation. For now...


Sent from Seat 3D
 
Autothrust Blue said:
This is- for now anyway - specifically exempted from federal taxation. For now...


Sent from Seat 3D
Click to expand...

Same here. I mean, I'd figure Pinnacle would dodge taxes, but jetBlue doesn't do it either. Neither did SWA when I was there or XJT. When you start taxing things listed as benefits, where do you draw the line? Taxing non-reving on airplanes is no different than if servers or cooks got X amount of free meals if they worked at a restaurant. If one is taxed, then the other should be as well. Same with the aforementioned Disney benefit. At Disney, full time and part time employees can get themselves in an unlimited amount and their families into any of the parks 12 times a year. How is THAT different than non-revving on an airplane?
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Nope. My pass benefits aren't taxed. It's the way your company interprets the tax code, not the IRS. They're playing it safe by screwing you over.
Click to expand...

kellwolf said:
At Disney, full time and part time employees can get themselves in an unlimited amount and their families into any of the parks 12 times a year. How is THAT different than non-revving on an airplane?
Click to expand...

It's probably not. I never got dinged imputed income on direct family travel (spouse/kid/parent/). But if you wanted to take your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former room-mate, then you'd pay the imputed income. The OP asks about friend travel, not family.
 
The way I understand it is that same-sex 'enrolled friends' are taxable as the IRS does recognize same-sex benefits. Spouses, parents (non same-sex) children and employees are exempt. Do I have this wrong?
 
Van_Hoolio said:
Here are some examples of imputed income by segment on United from one of my pass riders:

DSMDEN 61.21 Y
DENLAS 57.12 Y
LASDEN 51.85 C
DENDSM 61.21 Y

They got 1st class (C) from LAS to DEN, but since they had to pay 12 bucks or so the imputed income was actually less than if they were in economy (Y). Then what I do is figure out what percentage of my income I pay to federal taxes, then take that figure out of the imputed income and ask my pass rider for reimbursement.

Especially for this trip they took:

DSMORD 58.88 Y
ORDAMS 141.80 C
AMSORD 323.12 C
ORDCLE 39.26 Y
CLELAS 88.09 Y
LASORD 69.74 C
ORDDSM 57.95 Y
Click to expand...


So am I correct in understanding that my airline will add any taxes on top of my taxable income and itemize it on my paycheck and I will need to collect reimbursement from my pass riders?
 
mastermags said:
So am I correct in understanding that my airline will add any taxes on top of my taxable income and itemize it on my paycheck and I will need to collect reimbursement from my pass riders?
Click to expand...

IIRC you pay taxes on 10% of the Y2 fare. So if the ticket DSMDEN was $612.10 (full fare) they'll add 61.21 of income, and you pay taxes on that. so maybe 15/25% of the 10%. It was never much, have your friend buy the first couple/few rounds and call it even.
 
mastermags said:
The way I understand it is that same-sex 'enrolled friends' are taxable as the IRS does recognize same-sex benefits. Spouses, parents (non same-sex) children and employees are exempt. Do I have this wrong?
Click to expand...

What if you live in a state that has same-sex marriage? IRS ignore that? I have a feeling that after the debacle in NYC where someone who was legally married to her spouse had to pay huge taxes on what was left to her when the spouse died just because she was of the same sex the Supreme Court is gonna have to rule on same-sex marriage sooner rather than later.

But to follow the topic at hand, Disney employees (and every other theme park employee I know) get comp tickets they can hand out to ANYONE. They aren't taxed on them. Sea World employees get anywhere from 8 to 12 a year they can give to anyone. I used to trade mine for goods and service. Wasn't taxed on "pink passes" at SWA, either. Those are basically non-rev tickets you can give out. Here at jetBlue, we aren't taxed on buddy passes, which is basically what the OP was describing. Can't say for Pinnacle since we didn't have them under Delta, but they weren't taxed under NWA.
 
The imputed income only applies to enrolled friends with the program I'm in at XJT/United Express. Parents, spouses and dependents are exempt.
 
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