Tax write off

NJP_MAN

NJP_MAN

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Has anyone claimed training received past commercial certificate on their taxes before? How did it go? And if there is a tax professional here, what is the standard deduction for married filing jointly for 2013?
 
NJP_MAN said:
What's a google search? LOL. I just thought of adding that part of the question while I was typing. For some reason I thought I had trouble finding that info last year and thought I would tack it on to the original question.
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You must be a CFI...:rofl::rofl::idea::rofl::rofl:
 
Kelvin said:
You must be a CFI...:rofl::rofl::idea::rofl::rofl:
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LOL I get it. I'm totally exhausted. 9 hrs of practical and 3 hours of sleep the last 2 nights. I probably could dig a little deeper but I'm beat.


I have had multiple people say "keep your receipts, you can write off cfi training". So I ask POA.
 
It would depend on what your business is. If getting a personal commercial certificate is necessary or enhances your current job (but not that it meets the necessary qualification for the job or one that qualifies you for a new one.), you can try deducting it.

That is, if you're an engineer that needs to be on site in many places, you can probably argue the utility enhances the job. If you work in an office all the time, probably not. You can't deduct it if you're doing it to start a commercial flying business.
 
Training for continuing education can be deducted so long as it doesn't prepare you for a new profession. I a CPA in public practice, and was when I started taking my masters in taxation program. I was able to deduct that cost legally.
 
asgcpa said:
Training for continuing education can be deducted so long as it doesn't prepare you for a new profession. I a CPA in public practice, and was when I started taking my masters in taxation program. I was able to deduct that cost legally.
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So I as a "commercial pilot" train to continue education to add to my commercial license. Probably a stretch though and no one would buy it.
 
There's a guy here locally who uses his "non-profit job" as a rated pilot for a non-profit to write off his "continuing education" as a pilot. His accountant is okay with it. He's okay with it. I'm skeptical.
 
I'm sure a CPA can find fault with this, but...

...I was taught that training to achieve new skills, ratings or whatever, is not tax deductible.

But required training or expenses to maintain a certain position is tax deductible.

So, adding a seaplane rating to your CFI - generally no.

But if your employer mandates recurrent training at your expense to keep your position, then yes.

Does that sound about right?
 
FastEddieB said:
I'm sure a CPA can find fault with this, but...

...I was taught that training to achieve new skills, ratings or whatever, is not tax deductible.

But required training or expenses to maintain a certain position is tax deductible.

So, adding a seaplane rating to your CFI - generally no.

But if your employer mandates recurrent training at your expense to keep your position, then yes.

Does that sound about right?
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Sounds about right to me. I have just had people tell me to keep those receipts. I wonder if owning a airplane in a LLC has any effect on the equation.
 
flyingron said:
It would depend on what your business is. If getting a personal commercial certificate is necessary or enhances your current job (but not that it meets the necessary qualification for the job or one that qualifies you for a new one.), you can try deducting it.

That is, if you're an engineer that needs to be on site in many places, you can probably argue the utility enhances the job. If you work in an office all the time, probably not. You can't deduct it if you're doing it to start a commercial flying business.
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I'm a dentist, and my accountant pretty much shot down training costs. He did green light me on expenses related to flying to meetings and other job related trips.
 
I might have to try real hard to best the standard deduction anyway. If I have to work magic to get the training deducted just so I can top the standard deduction by 1k it's not really worth it. I am just trying to look from all the angles.
 
I am not a CPA or IRS employee, etc. Do your own research. But I did do some research into the business deductions.

Training for a new job is not deductible.

Training to add capability to your existing job IS.

The example in the IRS pub was of a psychologist who took some training to get certified in a different aspect of psychology. It IS tax deductible as he's just adding capability to his existing job. The phrasing is "improve or maintain job skills".

My takeaway from this is as follows - note that this would be evaluated case-by-case in an audit if one came up:

Training for an initial commercial cert - NO, not deductible.
Adding a seaplane/multi/etc to your commercial cert - YES
Training for CFI - NO (it's a new profession)
Adding CFII/MEI/etc - YES
If you're a Commercial pilot or CFI and you take courses such as tailwheel or high-altitude or CSIP, etc. - YES
I would lump currency into this as a YES also.

All is my opinion, and isn't worth much. I haven't been audited yet. Check with your accountant. They should be able to refer to the example stated above.

Oh - added: the big question for me was - if you have a Commercial or CFI and AREN'T WORKING as one, is additional training deductible? Probably not, but that would be a huge gray area. What counts as "working"? One flight a year?
 
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FastEddieB said:
...I was taught that training to achieve new skills, ratings or whatever, is not tax deductible.
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Well close. As long as you are enhancing your existing job it's OK. If I'm a computer programmer and I want a CFI rating, that won't count, but an instrument rating (if I'm already flying VFR for the business) is OK.
But required training or expenses to maintain a certain position is tax deductible.
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OK.
So, adding a seaplane rating to your CFI - generally no.
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Actually, if your business is already being a CFI, adding additional CFI ratings is probably legitimate.
But if your employer mandates recurrent training at your expense to keep your position, then yes.
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Yes.
 
NJP_MAN said:
So I as a "commercial pilot" train to continue education to add to my commercial license. Probably a stretch though and no one would buy it.
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You recurrent training, costs for any currency would be yes if you are making a living as a commercial pilot. If you were my client, the cost of your CFI training and costs specifically for the CFI certification would be no. However, if you could justify flight time to maintain currency for the comm and IR if you were a working commercial pilot and was doing it as part of overall flight training as part of CFI I would let that go as deductible as it is probably gray area. Best advice - discuss with your tax advisor as he/she would know your situation best.
 
Question along the same lines:

I am in the TV industry, and currently live in Florida, but work overseas. If/when my work brings me stateside, could I then write off my training and flight expenses flying myself to my work destinations which would be all over the eastern 2/3rds of the country?
 
Zhunter said:
Question along the same lines:

I am in the TV industry, and currently live in Florida, but work overseas. If/when my work brings me stateside, could I then write off my training and flight expenses flying myself to my work destinations which would be all over the eastern 2/3rds of the country?
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I believe that question is answered in the AOPA guide linked two posts above.
 
What about an AGI going for a CFI? Would the training costs beyond the FOI and AGI writtens count as a deductible?
 
NWADC9 said:
What about an AGI going for a CFI? Would the training costs beyond the FOI and AGI writtens count as a deductible?
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Do you have a job as a ground instructor now? If not, then you are out of the game, because you are trying to get a new type of job, not improving your skills for the job you have

If you do have a job as a ground instructor then you will need to be prepared to show an aviation ignorant tax examiner that an AGI has the same job as a CFI, and that CFI just higher on the same food chain.

In the AOPA cases there are two almost identical cases where airline Flight Engineers attempted to deduct the cost of maintaining their commercial pilot tickets.

In the first case the tax court decided that being an FE was a totally different job than being a pilot and therefore denied the deduction.

In the second case the tax court allowed the deduction, probably because the tax payer brought in a UAL chief pilot to testify that pilots and flight engineers were doing the same basic jobs.
 
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