Hi all,

I was in class one day studying in a group when all of the sudden people started talking about how to avoid some taxes as a pilot, and they talked about paying for PO Box or even getting a Driver license in Arizona and a bunch of other stuff. I don’t know anything about taxes and I would like to find a good accountant that deals with commercial pilots. Do you know of any around San Francisco Bay Area, especially somewhere around San Bruno? I appreciate serious answers only.

I wouldn’t mind any other suggestions on Tax for Airline pilots if you know of any


Thank you

If you're trying to establish a false residence to avoid taxes...DON'T. If you get caught, you're now a felon.

You definately want a tax guy who does airline guys...anyone else will miss some deductions.

The big thing with residency is that you want to AVOID meeting the tax threshold for two states at the same time...there is no law that says you can't pay taxes to multiple states, and if you meet both their requirements, you WILL They don't give the slightest sh*t if you already had to pay in another state, they just want the money that THEIR law says they get.

Typical scenario...

Home is in one state, you're obviously a resident here. House, drivers license, car registration, paid taxes in previous years.

Domicile in another state...you get a crash pad, maybe you sign a lease, maybe not. Maybe you have utilities in your name. Here's the biggy: you get an airport car and register it in the domicile state...now you are on their radar.

Some states will require withholding for crews domiciled in their state, but often it is just a few bucks...I don't think they really expect you to file in that case.

Most states have clauses that permit flight crew members relief from registering motor vehicles that are used as "crash pad" cars. I'd do some research before you register your junker at your domicile.

(It helps if you live in a state that doesn't require safety inspections and can renew registrations with the car out of state)

You did not mention where your domicile was. That is important. You just might consider buying a place just over the NV line up at So. Tahoe. .or up in RNO. . . . anything to get away from the state of CA

CA taxes for airline pilots are a b1tch . .11% !! If you are domicled in CA you are screwed. .all the way around.

What about Utah?

Yeah, that's always been my problem...cali smog. So I do a road-trip every two years...

Yeah, if you don't already live here, you sure as h#ll don't want to be based here...

That's not one of the ones that usually come up high on the radar as 'low tax' states. .NV, FL, TX, TN & NH are 'low tax' states. . . except the property tax in NH is astronomical. There may be others with no personal income tax, but I only remember the foregoing.

I know the original poster mentioned AZ. .. and I am not too familiar with that, either. Do a GOOGLE on 'Utah and tax' and see what comes up.

Alaska is another "tax friendly" state.

The state pays you to live in Alaska. About $2000/yr is the latest. Every resident, no matter the age, gets the payment.