"8.C.5.b. A pilot shall designate on his online expense report any claim for deviation travel expenses incurred while commuting to or from his base. The amount of such claim that is allowed/reimbursed shall be included in the pilot's income as taxable compensation and all applicable taxes will be withheld."

Guys (and Gals), this could be a time bomb! Example: SIBA pilot that deviates (like 98% do). Not unusual to have deviation banks over $ 5,000 per month. Not unusual to spend this much on actual travel. This could mean paying taxes on this amount??? I know it sounds crazy, but read it...that is what it says. Also, there is a note way in the back of the TA about implementation dates and having to formally declare to be a commuter by March of 2007.

So what was the logic with this and how did it get tacked on to the end of Section 8?

 

It is BS no doubt but it says to or from his BASE. So when you buy a ticket to Memphis you'd be taxed not deviating on a trip. Still could be thousands of dollars a year depending on where you commute from.
Some of the details are starting to smell. I guess the F/Os not flying extra may not have been enough. Maybe we Captains with need to step up next time ... either after a no vote or next contract. My gut is saying NO right now but I'm going to wait until I hear more details.

 

Tax Law, IRS. You cannot deduct the cost of commuting. If the company pays for it it is income. The only time it will impact anyone is when they buy a ticket from their home to their base.

 

I'm going to have to think about this some, but this smell a lot like IRS junk. If that is correct this is going to fall in the commuting to/from your "tax home" to your place of work. Commutes to your primary work location from your tax home are not deductable. I'm sure you currently don't deduct your jumpseat expenses to get to MEM so now the company is trying to slam us for it. This will get really complicated. If I have a ticket the previous day am I commuting to work? What if I don't indicate this on my expense report? There are lots of transportation worker rules that I really don't remember with regard to my taxes.

 

Guys who live in base who like to deviate on the back end of a trip, for example a SIBA Europe trip, to take an earlier flight home will have to pay the taxes on their tickets too. This could be a very big issue. I only buy tickets to or from my BASE maybe 2-4 times a year for recurrent training when I have the bank money but I know non-commuters that do it all the time on the back end !

This might be true if they say it is a "deviation expense" and it is to your base. If they are talking about traveling from your tax home to your base and not from a location where a trip ends that needs to be explained in detail. I really do not have much problem paying taxes on an occasional 250 dollar domestic ticket to travel to training if that is what the IRS requires. If this is just some scheme by the company to force us to use jumpseats to avoid taxes then it stinks.

 

How is this commuting to your base?

 

"8.C.5.b. A pilot shall designate on his online expense report any claim for deviation travel expenses incurred while commuting to or from his base.

It's not, he is wrong I think (99.2%). Deviating off a trip is not commuting but it still sucks and is a give back. Some how we don't pay it now and the IRS hasn't done a thing so this is a minus for us.

 

I think what KnightFlyer is saying is that commuting to base isn't the same as deviating back to your domicile.

 

but it's a "deviation travel expense".

Maybe the folks will explain this one during the road show.

 

Prior to this change in our contract you were still required by the IRS to report tickets to or from your base to home as income. My guess this was not done by 99.99999% of those using tickets in this manner.