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Tax questions (per diem, etc..)
How do we extract the data to use in per diem calculations for our taxes? Is it something we have to manually input or is there a way to get it from sabre and import it to a tax prep software or give to a cpa.
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Originally Posted by HoustonPilot
(Post 2504184)
How do we extract the data to use in per diem calculations for our taxes? Is it something we have to manually input or is there a way to get it from sabre and import it to a tax prep software or give to a cpa.
The amount received in per diem? If you are talking about about the difference of what is paid and what is allowed based on actual location versus what was received and allowed to be deducted, you are probably going to have to use a specialty aviation CPA and or one of the subscription log book programs that keep track of it. |
Originally Posted by pitchattitude
(Post 2504205)
What specifically are you looking for?
The amount received in per diem? If you are talking about about the difference of what is paid and what is allowed based on actual location versus what was received and allowed to be deducted, you are probably going to have to use a specialty aviation CPA and or one of the subscription log book programs that keep track of it. Is it worth it for a married line holder or will the standard deduction suffice, so long as I don’t have a lot of other deductions. |
Originally Posted by HoustonPilot
(Post 2504207)
Yes, that’s what I was looking for. The difference between what was paid and what is allowed per location.
Is it worth it for a married line holder or will the standard deduction suffice, so long as I don’t have a lot of other deductions. EZPerdiem is a good program to use though, to answer your question. |
Originally Posted by HoustonPilot
(Post 2504207)
Yes, that’s what I was looking for. The difference between what was paid and what is allowed per location.
Is it worth it for a married line holder or will the standard deduction suffice, so long as I don’t have a lot of other deductions. |
Originally Posted by Jersdawg
(Post 2504220)
The standard deduction is set to double with the new tax law for 2018 earnings. It's going to be tough to itemize more than that, especially if you don't own a home or have kids. I would talk to an accountant if you want to go that route.
EZPerdiem is a good program to use though, to answer your question. |
Originally Posted by Jersdawg
(Post 2504220)
The standard deduction is set to double with the new tax law for 2018 earnings. It's going to be tough to itemize more than that, especially if you don't own a home or have kids. I would talk to an accountant if you want to go that route.
EZPerdiem is a good program to use though, to answer your question. OP, if you don't have a mortgage and don't pay much in student loan interest it won't be worth it to itemize. You need to hit around $13k in itemized items. Per diem is normally around a $3k-$4k deduction. |
EZ Perdium is what I used. You putbin your overnights from throughout the year, it calculates the local rate, and totals how much you're allowed. It also has an option to just average the national rate. Take the higher amount, and compare it to your total annual perdium recieved off of your last pay statement for the year. Then ez perdium will tell you what percentage of that total difference is deductible. Print it and take it to your tax preparer for your itemized deductions. Just keep in mind, all of your total itemized deductions have to beat the standard deduction in order to use them. If you own a house and / or have kids, yoi should be ok.
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Pro Diem is another option. They do all the work. You give them one time access to your online schedule and they crunch the numbers in a day or two. The report they send even explains how to enter the data in Quicken.
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Calculate it yourself. Not hard and you’ll know if it was worth it in the end.
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Originally Posted by jonnyjetprop
(Post 2509564)
Calculate it yourself. Not hard and you’ll know if it was worth it in the end.
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Originally Posted by kcg003
(Post 2518365)
How? I'm using turbo tax, really don't want to spend $50+ on these other websites.
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goodbye $50 |
Originally Posted by kcg003
(Post 2518394)
goodbye $50
Here's this specifically: Amount of standard meal allowance. The standard meal allowance is the federal M&IE rate. For travel in 2017, the rate for most small localities in the United States is $51 a day. Most major cities and many other localities in the United States are designated as high-cost areas, qualifying for higher standard meal allowances. You can find this information (organized by state) at GSA.gov/Perdiem. Enter a zip code or select a city and state for the per diem rates for the current fiscal year. Per diem rates for prior fiscal years are available by using the drop-down menu. If you travel to more than one location in one day, use the rate in effect for the area where you stop for sleep or rest. If you work in the transportation industry, however, see Special rate for transportation workers, later. Federal government's fiscal year. Per diem rates are listed by the federal government's fiscal year which runs from October 1 to September 30. You can choose to use the rates from the 2017 fiscal year per diem tables or the rates from the 2018 fiscal year tables, but you must consistently use the same tables for all travel you are reporting on your income tax return for the year. See Transition Rules, later. Standard meal allowance for areas outside the continental United States. The standard meal allowance rates above don’t apply to travel in Alaska, Hawaii, or any other location outside the continental United States. The Department of Defense establishes per diem rates for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Midway, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Wake Island, and other non-foreign areas outside the continental United States. The Department of State establishes per diem rates for all other foreign areas. You can access per diem rates for non-foreign areas outside the continental United States at Per Diem Rates Query. You can access all other foreign per diem rates at State.gov/travel/. Click on “Travel Per Diem Allowances for Foreign Areas” under “Foreign Per Diem Rates” to obtain the latest foreign per diem rates. Special rate for transportation workers. You can use a special standard meal allowance if you work in the transportation industry. You are in the transportation industry if your work:
Using the special rate for transportation workers eliminates the need for you to determine the standard meal allowance for every area where you stop for sleep or rest. If you choose to use the special rate for any trip, you must use the special rate (and not use the regular standard meal allowance rates) for all trips you take that year. Travel for days you depart and return. For both the day you depart for and the day you return from a business trip, you must prorate the standard meal allowance (figure a reduced amount for each day). You can do so by one of two methods. Method 1: You can claim 3/4 of the standard meal allowance. Method 2: You can prorate using any method that you consistently apply and that is in accordance with reasonable business practice. Example. Jen is employed in New Orleans as a convention planner. In March, her employer sent her on a 3-day trip to Washington, DC, to attend a planning seminar. She left her home in New Orleans at 10 a.m. on Wednesday and arrived in Washington, DC, at 5:30 p.m. After spending 2 nights there, she flew back to New Orleans on Friday and arrived back home at 8 p.m. Jen's employer gave her a flat amount to cover her expenses and included it with her wages. Under Method 1, Jen can claim 2 1/2 days of the standard meal allowance for Washington, DC: 3/4 of the daily rate for Wednesday and Friday (the days she departed and returned), and the full daily rate for Thursday. Under Method 2, Jen could also use any method that she applies consistently and that is in accordance with reasonable business practice. For example, she could claim 3 days of the standard meal allowance even though a federal employee would have to use Method 1 and be limited to only 2 1/2 days. See Part of Trip Outside the United States, later. Get an Excel spreadsheet fired up with all your overnights for the year. If you stayed in larger cities, try looking up the GSA rates. Otherwise, use the standard for DOT workers, $63 or $68/night. You must use either the GSA rates or the DOT Standard Rates for the entire year (can't mix and match from GSA to DOT during the year). For each trip, determine the "travel days" (or the first and last day of the trip) to get the prorated figure. Here, you can use Method 1 or Method 2. For each trip, you can only use one method for the entire trip. For Method 2, the example given alluded to the fact that "Jen" took about a day's worth of work to travel on her travel days, therefore she took credit for the entire day. Whereas Method 1 would have just given her 75% for each of the travel days. With the spreadsheet, I figured out which method for each trip got me the highest allowance. When using Method 2, I pretty much came up with if my FDP for the day was about 8 hrs or more, it was counted as 100%, then prorated from there. So long as it's "consistent and IAW reasonable business practice". Whenever I had one of the per diem companies figure it out, it was always less than what I came up with. I think it's because they only use Method 1. Anyway, if you're bored during the SuperBowl, maybe that'll give you something to do. |
https://www.watsoncpagroup.com/free-per-diem-calculator/
This website will figure both methods for you and is free. All you must do is enter all your overnights, which you can find on your activity sheets. (Note: add your home base for the last day of the trip). |
Originally Posted by Subpilot
(Post 2518742)
https://www.watsoncpagroup.com/free-per-diem-calculator/
This website will figure both methods for you and is free. All you must do is enter all your overnights, which you can find on your activity sheets. (Note: add your home base for the last day of the trip). |
I actually just went through this last night with turbo tax. They need the full amount of what you are writing off and then they will break it down to the 80% maximum, and take out the 2% “upper limit” also. The only thing you need to do is to either take the standard $51 per day or find the daily rates for each city you overnighted in. I made a spreadsheet to keep track of all of this.
Only other thing is the first and last days of your trip aren’t considered full days so you need to reduce your rates to 75% for them. Once you put in the total claiming and the total you were paid, the system subtracts the 2 and gives your final write off total. Like most said now, unless you have a bunch of other write offs, next year when the standard deductions double this is probably going to not be worth the hassle. And honestly don’t even know if it’s allowed in the new tax code. Feel bad for the perdiem tax calc site, as they are going to lose a lot of business starting next year. |
Originally Posted by Hockeyjr1
(Post 2519107)
I actually just went through this last night with turbo tax. They need the full amount of what you are writing off and then they will break it down to the 80% maximum, and take out the 2% “upper limit” also. The only thing you need to do is to either take the standard $51 per day or find the daily rates for each city you overnighted in. I made a spreadsheet to keep track of all of this.
Only other thing is the first and last days of your trip aren’t considered full days so you need to reduce your rates to 75% for them. Once you put in the total claiming and the total you were paid, the system subtracts the 2 and gives your final write off total. Like most said now, unless you have a bunch of other write offs, next year when the standard deductions double this is probably going to not be worth the hassle. And honestly don’t even know if it’s allowed in the new tax code. Feel bad for the perdiem tax calc site, as they are going to lose a lot of business starting next year. |
Originally Posted by inky13
(Post 2518417)
LOL
Here's this specifically: It's not that bad. Get an Excel spreadsheet fired up with all your overnights for the year. If you stayed in larger cities, try looking up the GSA rates. Otherwise, use the standard for DOT workers, $63 or $68/night. You must use either the GSA rates or the DOT Standard Rates for the entire year (can't mix and match from GSA to DOT during the year). For each trip, determine the "travel days" (or the first and last day of the trip) to get the prorated figure. Here, you can use Method 1 or Method 2. For each trip, you can only use one method for the entire trip. For Method 2, the example given alluded to the fact that "Jen" took about a day's worth of work to travel on her travel days, therefore she took credit for the entire day. Whereas Method 1 would have just given her 75% for each of the travel days. With the spreadsheet, I figured out which method for each trip got me the highest allowance. When using Method 2, I pretty much came up with if my FDP for the day was about 8 hrs or more, it was counted as 100%, then prorated from there. So long as it's "consistent and IAW reasonable business practice". Whenever I had one of the per diem companies figure it out, it was always less than what I came up with. I think it's because they only use Method 1. Anyway, if you're bored during the SuperBowl, maybe that'll give you something to do. Thanks for the help. TurboTax said the same stuff. |
Originally Posted by Hockeyjr1
(Post 2519107)
Like most said now, unless you have a bunch of other write offs, next year when the standard deductions double this is probably going to not be worth the hassle. And honestly don’t even know if it’s allowed in the new tax code.
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Originally Posted by Hockeyjr1
(Post 2519107)
I actually just went through this last night with turbo tax. They need the full amount of what you are writing off and then they will break it down to the 80% maximum, and take out the 2% “upper limit” also. The only thing you need to do is to either take the standard $51 per day or find the daily rates for each city you overnighted in. I made a spreadsheet to keep track of all of this.
Only other thing is the first and last days of your trip aren’t considered full days so you need to reduce your rates to 75% for them. Once you put in the total claiming and the total you were paid, the system subtracts the 2 and gives your final write off total. Like most said now, unless you have a bunch of other write offs, next year when the standard deductions double this is probably going to not be worth the hassle. And honestly don’t even know if it’s allowed in the new tax code. Feel bad for the perdiem tax calc site, as they are going to lose a lot of business starting next year. |
With taking the per diem standard deduction and also deducting union dues, FAA Medical, luggage, uniform purchases and laundry, phone and internet bill, etc, I was able to deduct almost $7600 from my taxes. I didn’t do this the past years so now I am filing 1040x’s to recoup those expenses. You have three years you can go back. It’s totally worth it and it only took me one morning to do all the calculations for 3 years.
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I'm using H&R Block's online tax software and its asking me about out of state income. I live in Indiana, and am based in Chicago. But the paychecks come from Texas. Which state should I be selecting for where I actually earned my income?
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Originally Posted by VArellano
(Post 2526468)
I'm using H&R Block's online tax software and its asking me about out of state income. I live in Indiana, and am based in Chicago. But the paychecks come from Texas. Which state should I be selecting for where I actually earned my income?
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Originally Posted by Subpilot
(Post 2519706)
With taking the per diem standard deduction and also deducting union dues, FAA Medical, luggage, uniform purchases and laundry, phone and internet bill, etc, I was able to deduct almost $7600 from my taxes. I didn’t do this the past years so now I am filing 1040x’s to recoup those expenses. You have three years you can go back. It’s totally worth it and it only took me one morning to do all the calculations for 3 years.
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Originally Posted by dvtpilot
(Post 2526578)
I need to look into this. Do you do the whole amount of the phone and internet bill?
This website gave me a lot of good gouge. |
For the per diem deduction remember you must include your company reimbursed per diem as well when it asks if your were reimbursed for any expenses. You don't get to write off the whole thing, just 80% of the "underpayment" from the company.
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Originally Posted by Name User
(Post 2527866)
For the per diem deduction remember you must include your company reimbursed per diem as well when it asks if your were reimbursed for any expenses. You don't get to write off the whole thing, just 80% of the "underpayment" from the company.
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Originally Posted by Subpilot
(Post 2527960)
Correct. That amount can be find as item L on your W2.
Anyone else have this discrepancy? |
Originally Posted by griff312
(Post 2528957)
Interesting... I went through all of my pay statements from 2017 and added up the total TAFB payments (pre diem payments) for the year. There is a $1872.66 difference between my total TAFB and what's in item "L". I.e. my total TAFB equals 4468.22, and item "L" is showing 6340.88. What else could they be adding to that figure? The only reimbursed expenses I received are parking ($300.00 / yr), and the Christmas dinner reimbursement ($100). That certainly does not add up to 1872.66....
Anyone else have this discrepancy? |
Originally Posted by Twin Wasp
(Post 2519569)
It's not, along with deducting union dues and FAA medicals.
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Thanks obama. Kidding
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