Originally Posted by
NEDude
I am not claiming to be fully knowledgable about tax issues. But I do know there have been others on here who have claimed that the IRS has attempted to collect taxes from pilots (and flight attendants and sailors too) who spend much of their time in international airspace or waters, even if they are working for a foreign company. Not quite sure how or if the IRS is capable of tracking all of your international travel other than when you entered and departed the United States or how they can prove when or if you were in international airspace. But supposedly they have made attempts in the past to collect on that income.
It's not a claim. I know three pilots personally who have had that specific audit from the IRS.
Any pilot who files for the foreign earned income exclusion would be well advised to keep thorough records of all their flights (including any flight path maps) to be able to record, to the minute, their percentage of time in/over international waters. The IRS will want proof and they place the burden on you, the taxpayer, to prove your exact percentage of work time in international airspace. When you include ground duties, etc the actual percentage can be quite small.
As a result of those ongoing audits I actively bid to fly trips that kept me over land most of the time and kept all the flight path maps to prove it.
Typhoonpilot