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Dealing with taxes?

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Flight Instructor

Next weekend I'll be taking my initial CFI checkride, to become a CFI-G.

I understand the rules about what flight training is/is not tax deductible, and that's NOT what I'm asking about here.

I'm going to be doing some parttime flight instruction with two glider clubs. I will have to drive about two hours to get to either one; commuting miles are not deductible.

What expenses do you deduct? How do you track them? What issues, if any, has the IRS had with any of that? Self employed or employee? (Club member is self employed for sure.)

Thanks!

Terry

PS It's too late for most of y'all here, but if you get an inexpensive glider commercial first, then powered commercial is tax deductible. Ditto for CFI-A after CFI-G, though that's not why I'm doing the -G first.

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1 Answers



  1. Bob Watson on May 04, 2013

    I’m not an accountant, so my first advice would be to talk to one (I believe that’s deductible, but you should confirm that with him/her). That said, what follows is what I’ve picked up over the years (YMMV).

    While “commuting” to your place of employment is not deductible, travel to a job-site is. As an independent contractor, the airport would be your job-site. As far as training costs go, again, your accountant can steer you in the right direction. I’m thinking there might be a case to make if you’re using the training to expand your business opportunities.

    The bottom line is that you might want to confirm your assumptions with a professional before you get too far into it. Learning what you can and can’t deduct and how to keep the records to do that is well worth the investment (IMO)

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