Tax reform impact
 

I'm curious how the new tax laws are hitting your refund and overall take home pay compared to last year. Anybody care to share?

We wouldn’t know until the IRE reopens


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Plus per diem and overages don't come for most until tomorrow's paycheck. I do know one thing, those people who meticulously track all their expenses like it is their favorite hobby will be crying in their soup this tax year.

Did a calculator on taxslayer last week. Said my refund should double based on same amount earned....

Me too

#based

Just did a quick comparison side by side with turbotax, and I'm getting about $15 more using the standard deduction vs itemized from 2017.

I think "tax refund" comparison is incorrect thinking especially since the withholding formula changed this year. What we really need to do is compare how much we paid in taxes year over year...or run our current W2 through last year's tax software.

Sorry for the slight drift, can someone explain to me how a commuting pilot is taxed? Say I live in Texas but commute to LAX, which state am I filing tax returns in (or both?). I never really thought of it but why would any pilot live in a high tax state if they can make a short commute from a low cost state?

IF you live in TX but commute to another state domicile like LAX you are not obligated to pay California state taxes unless more then 50% of your flying (work) is in the state of CA. It will be up to you to prove this as the state of California will hound you for the duration you're based there and then some.
Many pilots "live" across the border in NV/AZ for tax reasons. Make sure it is legit as these days they check cell phone records and other databases to see where you really spend your time, pilots are big juicy apple for the state collectors.

The 50% rule is to protect flight crews from being taxed by multiple states. This could happen in the past because the different states all have various (and varied) thresholds for residence and taxation and it was possible to meet the threshold for more than one. It still is if you live and possibly work in two states (such as a telecommuter who splits time between two homes).

For the 50% flying in the state rule, CA is about the only place where this is likely to come up because it's possible to do a lot of north-south flying and never leave the state. If you reside elsewhere and don't want to pay CA taxes (you don't) you may need to track your flying and bid accordingly if you're flying too much in state. I don't know if they look at actual flight time in the state lines, ie count the part of an interstate flight which occurred over CA, or if they only count flights which both depart and arrive in CA.

For residence tax, that's basically where you live. That can get complicated if you bounce around a lot on days off and you need to be careful because you might get multiple states who think you're a resident and then you get to try to sort it out.

Address, lease/bills in your name at that address, drivers license and car registration are all good anchors. Avoid using any public services in other states, and that includes things like registering an airport car in a different state. If you bounce around a lot, you need to set some anchors in the state you want to claim and then also spend significant time there.

Don't try to fake it, everything is now in a database somewhere and they will start digging if they catch a whiff of a pilot evading taxes. Pilots go to jail for this all the time. Of if you do fake it you'd have to pretty much go off the grid...