Gearswinger

You left out New Hampshire, which also doesn't have income tax or sales tax.

IDIOTPILOT

It's only your resident state if over 50% of your flights operate outside of one state. If all you happen to do is LAX-SFO legs then you still theoretically owe California taxes like a person with a normal job who works in one state but lives in another. It's rare for any airline payroll to monitor this.

Name User

Actually only if it was from a a California source, which is slightly different. IE if you telecommute for a company in CA but live in FL, you'd still have to pay CA income tax.

That being said we have it pretty easy and get a pass on most of this stuff. Some states have some pretty harsh means testing!

el jefe

If I remember correctly, if you're based in PHL (I believe regardless if you live there or not) they take Philadelphia city tax right out of your paycheck each month so you don't have to file. So nice of them.

Biggz

Tennessee has no state income tax. As long as there is a state with no income tax, that's where I'll live!

Name User

You have to do the math. As a lower income regional guy it made sense to live in an income tax state with low property taxes. As we've moved up in our early to mid 30's, it makes more sense $ wise to live in a state with no income tax but higher property taxes, as we are OK living in a smaller home.

Some people might want the 3000-4000 sq ft mcmansin and they'd pay more in property tax in some states like TX than they would income tax in states with low property taxes.

tennisguru

They have no levy on wages, but they do tax interest and investment income.

rickair7777

Not necessarily.

You pay taxes based on the rules of both the state you live in and the state you work in.

There is no over-arching federal protection to prevent two states from charging you income tax under two separate sets of rules. No rule that says if you pay one state, you don't have to pay another (although I think some states have reciprocal agreements to prevent that scenario).

People who have vacation houses or dual residences can confront this issue as well.

Usually there is way to limit your exposure to one state, but you may have to be very careful about leaving a paper trail in the other state (avoid anything that shows a residential address...car registration, crash pad lease, driver's license, library card, etc).

You need to do the research for the two states in question to know for sure. The are some weird rules out there.

CA for example has a rule that goes something like this: an out-of-state resident has to pay income tax if more than 50% of your work is performed in CA. So for a commuter it would come down to how much of your flying was intra-state vs. inter-state. At a SKW a Cali-based non-resident CRJ200 pilot might be hosed, while a CRj700 pilot would probably spend enough time out of CA to dodge that bullet.

ViperEagle

Don't forget TN and NH who only charge taxes on earned income through interest and dividends.

Lesson learned: DON"T take tax advice, investment advice or insurance advice from a chat room. It won't be accurate. It won't be complete. And it won't be worth the time it took to type.

Blanket advice from pilots is the worst advice you can get. All experts but no accountability.

jagbn

The applicable federal law for taxation of air carrier employees (pilots and flight attendants) is 49 USC section 40116(f).

Here it is. Read it in all its black and white glory. Look it up yourself if you don't trust an internet message board. If you don't understand what this means, consult your attorney or your tax professional.

(f)Pay of Air Carrier Employees.— (1) In this subsection— (A) “pay” means money received by an employee for services.

(B) “State” means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and a territory or possession of the United States.

(C) an employee is deemed to have earned 50 percent of the employee’s pay in a State or political subdivision of a State in which the scheduled flight time of the employee in the State or subdivision is more than 50 percent of the total scheduled flight time of the employee when employed during the calendar year.


(2) The pay of an employee of an air carrier having regularly assigned duties on aircraft in at least 2 States is subject to the income tax laws of only the following: (A) the State or political subdivision of the State that is the residence of the employee.

(B) the State or political subdivision of the State in which the employee earns more than 50 percent of the pay received by the employee from the carrier.


(3) Compensation paid by an air carrier to an employee described in subsection (a) in connection with such employee’s authorized leave or other authorized absence from regular duties on the carrier’s aircraft in order to perform services on behalf of the employee’s airline union shall be subject to the income tax laws of only the following: (A) The State or political subdivision of the State that is the residence of the employee.

(B) The State or political subdivision of the State in which the employee’s scheduled flight time would have been more than 50 percent of the employee’s total scheduled flight time for the calendar year had the employee been engaged full time in the performance of regularly assigned duties on the carrier’s aircraft.