Originally Posted by
jrmyl
So, as an expat pilot, are you paying US taxes? I work in Japan but am payed by an American company. So I have taxes deducted from my paycheck.
However, business expenses are any expense that you incur while at work. In other words, if you have to pay for a hotel and are not reimbursed, that is a business expense. If you pay for your uniforms or their cleaning, that is a business expense. You don't have to be self employed to claim business expenses.
Again, if you are in doubt, contact a tax professional.
If you claim that you are a salaried employee, even then you can claim the all the expense/bills that were NOT paid for by the employer while on the road. Expenses such as hotel, uniform cleaning, meals, phone, Internet, roaming charges etc can de deducted as un-reimbursed employee business expenses by using Form 2106 on the tax return.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i2106.pdf
But tread carefully in what you choose to write off, specially if get a per diem...