Everything globalexpress said was right on the money.
I haven't used Pro per diem or EZ per diem or per diem for dummies, etc, so I can't offer insight there.
But if you are really trying to save $59, and you know how to do basic formulas in microsoft excel (openoffice is a free alternative), you can do your per diem yourself.
Easily.
If you didn't itemize (you took the standard deduction) last year, stop here. If you didn't buy a house, or have a kid, stop here.
If you were born before 1978, have trouble using an iphone, or think computers are scary robots who eat old people's medicine for fuel, stop here.
Otherwise, grab your macbook pro out of your backpack, put on your ipod to a sweet jam, get frosted tips, and rock out a formula.
You will need these for reference.
Pub 463
Pub 529
Pub 1542
Instructions 2106
form 2106
Schedule A
1040
I will use a few examples:
You are a CommutAir FO, you made about $24,600. The difference between what your employer paid you, and what you should have received in reimbursed business expenses, MUST be more than $492 (the magic 2% floor). This should be fairly easy, as they pay you $1.45/hr, so about $35 per diem.
(the 2% floor is actually calculated on your Adjusted Gross Income, AGI, line 37 on your 1040).
Until pub 463 gets published again, the special rates for transportation workers are $59 and $65 per diem, domestic and int'l for M&IE (meals & incidental expenses).
You must prorate the first and last day of a trip by 75% (or prorate according to reasonable business practices). Just use 75% unless you enjoy being audited.
You must only deduct 50% of your business expenses, EXCEPT that taxpayers subject to DOT rest rules can deduct 80%. Since we are all truck drivers, errr pilots, we get to use 80% instead of 50%.
So, on a random 4 day trip you would calculate .75(59) + 59 + 59 + .75(59)
then, take 80%.
So, Commutair should have paid you about $165, but you only received x.
the total x for all your trips is Code L box 12 of your W-2.
So, your mission is to calculate all of your trips, using the domestic or int'l rate for the respective portion of your trip, and then find the difference from what you got paid. Say they only paid you for 72 hours, or about $104. $61 is what you get to deduct. If you did only 10 trips like that, then congratulations, at $610, you already exceeded your 2% floor of $492.
2nd example:
You fly for Fedex, widebody captain, not a great year, you made north of $225,000. You file jointly with your 4th wife, who is a teacher. After you subtract her educator expenses, alimony for the first 3 wives, you get an AGI of about 5 bucks. (kidding)
Okay say your AGI is $200k, to make the math easy. Your floor of 2% is $4000. You do a lot of international, so you are using the $65 number. However, Fedex pays $2.95 / hr per diem, about $71, which is more. So stop right here, you are wasting your time (and your $59 for the per diem software).
The alternative to the flat domestic/int'l DOT rates ($59/$65) are pub 1542, for domestic localities and the
DepState's foreign per diem rates. Say you go to china frequently. Depending on the city, you could be owed all the way up to $158!
If you use the DOT rate $59/$65, you must consistently use it. If you use each locality rate (in pub 1542 and DepState's foreign rate chart) then you must consistently use those rates for all localities.
By now you all should get the idea. Use a few formulas and sums in excel to find the answer. If you have surpassed about $4000, then make the deduction. That is what goes into Turbotax, taxact, etc. Use form 2106. The result goes on line 24 on 1040.
As usual, the regular disclaimers apply, blah blah blah, plus I've just come back from an int'l trip of my own and had a few beers. So i probably missed a few important details. Questions, post here in the forum.