Originally Posted by
lolwut
Sort of confused on how state taxes work for commuting airline pilots.
Say you live in New York, your airline is headquartered in Texas, and your base is in Illinois.
Which of the 3 states do you end up having to pay state taxes in?
Say you maintain an apartment and car in Illinois at your base as a home-away-from-home for reserve but do not claim residency there. Does this change anything?
New York...but Illinois could make a case that you should be paying them state income taxes as well by having a domicile (apartment) and vehicle in their state. You'd have to check with the state of Illinois to determine their tax-residency test.
I live in Washington state (no income tax) right across the river from my Portland, OR base (income tax -- you bet!). I've heard stories of Oregon going after some of our Washington-residing pilots who do a "majority" of their flying within the borders of Oregon.