Originally Posted by
Timbo
If she's just a GF, she gets no vote.
Once she obtains Wife Status, then you have to ask first, but then do as you're told.
Back when I was based in BOS, living in NH (the seacoast, like thousands of other airline pilots) and prior to this new reg (above) the state of MA tried to come after us to grab some state income tax money, since we "Worked" in Boston.
After much discussion with my tax attorney it was decided the most they could claim was for the amount of time I spent in their airspace! Well since most of the departures took you out over the water, then down to RI or Conn immediately, and then we flew around the country for four days, I guessed they could tax me on bout 1% of my income. So I sent them a check for about $7...once. They never bothered me again.
Back in about 1993, we had an excellent, hard nosed, MEC Chairmen who lived in DFW, was based in DFW, but his ALPA office was in ATL. He was not paying GA state income tax because he would commute in, stay in a hotel for a few days, and commute back to DFW.
Then the company called the GA Tax Dept. to report him not paying GA state income tax, just to get rid of him.
The chairman in question actually owned property in GA. That actually did not matter anyway. State income tax is not normally based on where you live. It is a income tax based on where the income is earned. If you live in NJ but drive to NYC to work you pay NY taxes. As posted above a Federal law was passed long ago for airline employees that exempts us from that requirement . Since it's very difficult to determine where we actually work we can use our residence to determine where we will be taxed.
It's strange that Mass would go after anyone in NH since the law is crystal clear. I have never heard of a state doing that. What they will however do is challenge your stated residence. If they can prove that you actually live in MN in your 4000 sq ft home and not in your post office box in Tampa then MN will want their taxes.
In the case of the MEC chairman he performed more then 51% of his work in GA so was not exempt from GA taxes regardless of where he really lived. This also applied to a pilot working in the training department and led to a mass exodus of instructors who really lived in TN or FL but were forced to pay GA taxes. The state of CA even nailed some UAL pilots flying the shuttle years ago because they could show 51% of the flying was inside CA airspace.