I live in IL and UAL deducted CO taxes, presumably for the period in which I was at TK for initial training.
They have CO state wages at $195.30, and Denver local wages at $22,416.28 (the entirety of my 2014 UAL gross income). Is this disparity correct? I've been EWR-based since October and have paid no New Jersey SDI or tax.
Do I need to file a state return in CO?

 

Have you contacted HR. I'm no tax person but it sounds like maybe your W4 was marked improperly. When I go to upgrade training my state tax does not change

 

They just did that to me too. Contact payroll and they will fix it. It is supposed to be where you live, so IL if they have income tax. (this was confirmed by the lady at payroll) I think you are supposed to pay that NJ SDI though if you are EWR based. The contact info should be on FlyingTogether.

 

Once again middle mgt demonstrates how ridiculously inept they are. Over and over and over ad nauseam!!!

 

Thought it sounded fishy. Turbotax was saying I didn't owe anything to CO while another service was saying I was $5,000 in the hole!
I'll contact HR during business hours and keep folks posted. I can't be the only FNG dealing with this.

 

I have the same issue. I noticed after a few paychecks that I was getting taxed in CO and called Payroll to have it changed some time back in October. (August new hire here). It never occurred to me that it would reflect that way on my W-2 and thought they would take care of the change retroactively as well. I live in IL and have the entire time. My W-2 shows half of my income in CO the other in IL. I will be making calls tomorrow with regards to this as well. No reason why I should be filing for CO State income tax.

 

Welcome to the new UAL.......

 

Seems like I recall something about taxes and flight crews for Colorado. In the old days you were officially based at DFN (flight ops new hire student pilot ) or some code like that until you were released to the line. Once you completed training you became based where ever your bid was located. This only affected new hires as transition pilots were not based at TK during training. Perhaps this is the state tax you pay while officially based on CO and you can file to get some of that returned if you live out of state.

My memory is fuzzy on this as I thought it was something that popped up in the late 90's. I recall there being ALPA updates regarding this back then but since it didn't affect me I didn't follow it too closely.

 

Your memory is correct. It works the same for Delta in GA. If you are based in CO and do your training there you owe income tax on that income to CO unless you can show you did 51% of the training out of state.
As a line pilot you are not taxed based on domicle because you don't do the majority of your work in one state. Federal law further clarifies that transportation workers will be taxed based on their residence unless it can be determined that 51% of their flying is in one state. I had a friend at UAL who had to pay CA income tax because at the time the United shuttle schedules had him doing a majority of his flying in the state despite the fact he lived in WA.
The same thing applies if you are a sim instructor. Delta had a bunch of instructors living in FLORIDA nailed for GA income tax because more then 51% of their work was being done in GA. State taxes are income taxes not residence taxes. Professional Atheletes have to file tax returns in every state they play in. We are fortunate to have the federal law that allows us to fall back on state of residence when flying the line.

 

Ok, so if I was a new hire last year, based in Jersey and commute from another state, does this mean I have to fill out state tax forms in all three states?