Federal Income Tax for CAP Members

[RRLE]

Who's paying $120 an hour to fly a CAP plane?

When I read that I assumed (I know, I know ...) that he was renting a plane to maintain proficiency.

Since I'm not a pilot, is there a FAA requirement to fly a certain number of hours to maintain your license?

[JeffDG]

Now that flying time is $120 an hour, it is proficiency flying and flying for training that I'm concerned about deducting.

If you have a mission number and/or orders, whatever CAP call them, you could probably deduct it. But if you are just flying around the big sky on your own, most likely not. Without a mission number/orders there is no proof that your flying had anything to do with CAP.

Auxies have the same issue with their boats (and planes). If a group of Auxies get orders, even if non-reimburseable and go out and train, they can deduct the non-reimbursed portion. I'm assuming that they can itemize and beat the standard deduction. However, if the same group of Auxies just go out for the day, with no orders, no uniform and practice the same skills then they are joy riding so far as the IRS is concerned and nothing is deductible.

To stand a chance at a deduction you have to be able to substantiate a direct link to the charitable activity.

If you're flying a CAP aircraft, it's got a mission number, whether it's a B12 proficiency or a C17 proficiency flight...everything in WMIRS has a mission number associated with it.

And since CAP regulations prohibit the use of CAP aircraft for personal use, anytime you're in a CAP aircraft you're either doing some kind of directed mission (like a SAREX) or you're doing proficiency flying (like a C17 or B12).