No Land 3

Computed income is a crap deal, simply don't work for a company that does that.

Cyio

Lol. Are you encouraging people to move out of base in order to make extra money? About the craziest thing I’ve heard. I completely agree that if commuters were given free positive space in base employees need some compensation.

vessbot

No, I was simply responding in kind to some rando on the internet telling me to move.

They should get the same deal. Positive space to work. You're already at the base? Awesome deal, here's the release package.

Cujo665

This ^

filler

Cujo665

Do you travel free on your carrier? Yes (well, some regionals do charge fees I guess)
Do you deadhead on company metal, Yes

What difference does it make if they are getting a free ride to work like a DH, but with contractual stipulation that it isn't on duty/paid.

Blueskies21

I'm generally extremely conservative regarding tax, however I would say the audit risk related to occasional positive space (such as 9E's second commute in option) is basically nil.

At worst it would be imputed income at something like 10% of a Y class fare. Essentially the IRS would have to be targeting airline pilots LOOKING for this particular issue and they aren't likely to do that because of the effort involved and low taxes due/ penalties likely.

sailingfun

What you will find happens at some point again in the future as has happened in the past is the IRS attempts to tax all non revenue travel. This would fall in line with how similar items are handled by the tax code at other companies. We have managed to hold onto the exemption for pass travel for immediate families however I will be schocked if that is the case 10 years from now. Getting rid of exemptions is a easy way to raise taxes without appearing to do so. ALPA’s budget via the PAC to purchase politicians is very low and AFA is no help at all. They beat it in the past but doubt they will when it comes up again.

rickair7777

Sometimes they go on a with-hunt. The audit part is easy... they get all the records from the airlines.

But if you get caught, you can probably claim ignorance, pay the tax, interest, and penalties, and likely not go to jail.

CBreezy

You have no idea what you are talking about. Positive space records dont show up anywhere on anything you can access. And even if you COULD access when you traveled positive space, there is no fare value assigned to it. As would be required in order to claim it on taxes. As far as I know, that fare is $0.

Being that we get positive space to training even in domicile and sometimes to work without any imputed tax withholdings, I highly doubt a corporation as large as mine, one that withholds taxes for vacation positive space passes would just not remember to do the same for work. You're out of your league, Donny. Jail time. Lol. Give me a break.

rickair7777

You're all wrong, mostly. Insults aren't going to make you any less wrong.

Company paid travel ON COMPANY BUSINESS, from anywhere to anywhere, is not taxable (duh).

Company paid travel from your HOME to your USUAL place of work generally is taxable. That is not a business expense, you cannot deduct your drive to work (or your crashpad). This is well established in all industries.

For example, this includes company cars provided to some employees. The salesman who leaves home and goes on sales calls does NOT pay tax on his car. The VP who drives a company ride to/from the office DOES get taxed on that ride as compensation.

Airline nonrev is a grey area, which IRS has tried to tax in the past (and I'm sure will again). As of right now, space available for personal use is not taxed. Personal use is recreational travel AND going to/from work. Positive space IS taxed, that crosses some threshold with the IRS. Again, per the IRS travel to/from work is NOT a deductible expense. If the company provides it, it IS taxable (exceptions for certain things like the job site changes every week, ie home basing).

Again positive space is just like having a company car... depends on where you're driving. If it's to/from the usual workplace, it can be taxed.

The IRS in the past has obtained nonrev records from airlines, to facilitate witch hunts. I don't understand any of the legalities associated with that, or the mechanism by which it happens. Perhaps there is some magical electronic box in a basement somewhere which stores information in a compact electronic manner, which can somehow be re-constitued at a later time? I don't know.

And I did say you wouldn't go to jail. I said "probably" because I don't want anyone blaming me if I'm wrong and they do go to jail.