Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Tax deductions for CFI

Asked by: 1737 views , ,
Flight Instructor

What can I deduct as expenses on my 2020 taxes as a CFI while working for a private flight training school?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. KDS on Mar 20, 2022

    You would need to file an amended return to make any new deductions on your 2020 return, but if you have enough, it would be worth doing. The 2021 tax return is still short of the time limit for filing.

    You can deduct professional development expenses. You can also deduct expenses to maintain or improve your present job skills. You cannot deduct the expenses where you are training for a different profession. EXACTLY where the line gets drawn seems to be more than a little fuzzy.

    If audited regarding the deductions, you would need to provide records of all those expenses that you deducted.

    Thankfully, with the new higher standard deduction, the likelihood of benefitting from itemizing is greatly reduced.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Russ Roslewski on Mar 22, 2022

    Test – I’ve been trying to post a response but it never shows up.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.