You CANNOT deduct commuting expenses. The only time you can deduct expenses for commuting is if you get temporarily assigned duty involuntarily outside of your tax home and you reasonably expect that it will last less than a year. You can then deduct the expenses for a year. After that, the IRS says it is no longer temporary and expects you to move and will not allow any deductions for commuting. Any good tax guy will tell you this and it is not really a grey area.

About the only thing you can deduct is parking costs if Delta won't pay for them. (I commuted from Houston and had to pay for parking and that could be deducted).

The stupid thing about it is if you live in say IAH and are based in ATL and can bid trips so that every layover is in IAH, you can deduct meals and incidentals for all of your layovers in the city you live in. That's how stupid the IRS rules are.

 

You might want to read the IRS advisory circular on the topic. The circular also lists things that impact the "tax home" rules, like second jobs.

Publication 463 (2013), Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses


Tax Home Different From Family Home


If you (and your family) do not live at your tax home (defined earlier), you cannot deduct the cost of traveling between your tax home and your family home. You also cannot deduct the cost of meals and lodging while at your tax home. See Example 1 , later.
If you are working temporarily in the same city where you and your family live, you may be considered as traveling away from home. See Example 2 , later.
Example 1.
You are a truck driver and you and your family live in Tucson. You are employed by a trucking firm that has its terminal in Phoenix. At the end of your long runs, you return to your home terminal in Phoenix and spend one night there before returning home. You cannot deduct any expenses you have for meals and lodging in Phoenix or the cost of traveling from Phoenix to Tucson. This is because Phoenix is your tax home.

 

She did lots of pilots? What's her name? Is she fat?

 

That's my boy scambo right there!

Carl

 

The Roberts award did not come out until several years after the merger. The fences lasted for a little less than 18 years after the award. The fences ended 20 years after the merger, but the weren't in place until the award was published.

Second, the NWA pilots did have lifetime reinstatement rights.

Third, the Red Book merger committee filed a grievance in 2005 that argued that the end of the fences would cause them to possibly lose their positions so they wanted lifetime displacement protection from their fenced positions. The arbitrator was Dana Eischen, one of the arbitrators for the DAL/NWA arbitration and he mentioned that arbitation during the hearing.

So what I said was correct. I am sorry if this is turning into a food fight, but if Carl says it's important to correct the record, then we should correct the record.

 

Oh, you found my weakness. I can't possibly refute a Sean Connery quote.

 

 

Maybe. On the other hand, Emirates is really desperate for pilots. I hope you find the ads bothersome enough to click on the Call To Action on the ALPA website, there is currently a C2A to fight Ex-Im Bank financing of wide-body aircraft orders by airlines like Emirates. They get $20 million in savings per jet. Don't put up with that. Call your Congressman and Senators, and urge them to reform the Ex-Im Bank:

First, eliminate the financing of widebody aircraft for credit-worthy foreign, state-owned or state-supported airlines.

Second, require that the Ex-Im Bank conduct impact studies to make sure its financing of purchases by foreign companies does not have a negative impact on American companies.

Third, expand the focus of the bank to emphasize the small U.S. businesses that have demonstrated an actual need for support.

And back the PAC. Your dollars working for your issues. They just shelled out $56 billion for 150 B777s - don't give your government a pass for making their lives easier than ours.

 

Bar, it's absolutely imperative that pilots understand that all the LOA's in the world will not protect pilots from having their devices "appropriated" by the FAA and NTSB after any accident/incident.

Nu

 

Very bad advice. Ask any ex-NWA guy about the MSP pilots who did just that. Some convicted of felonies. Some lost their jobs. Do not seek tax advice on this forum.