Tax, tax, tax
I had considered the Limited Company approach, however the likelihood of it being considered legitimate by HMRC is probably equal to the likelihood of me discovering that I can fly by flapping my arms back and forth. I tried when I was a kid, it didnt work. I also tried using a large umbrella as a parachute for a couple of metres jump - bet you can guess how that one ended.
So much for the government that came into power with a mantra of "Education, education, education" - of course, they probably consider that the majority of those considering an aviation career would not be amongst their voters anyway.
I'm almost tempted to calculate the overall costs of training and tax as a percentage - however it would probably just depress me.
That being said, having read others posts stating "there's never been a better time to get the right hand seat" it appears there is (at this very moment) a great shortage of pilots. It could therefore be construed that the present taxation system for training represents a major hurdle for UK-born citizens, leading on to a skills shortage that must be filled by citizens of non-EU nations which otherwise could be. Anyone fancy taking on the Government on this one? Unfortunately I don't possess pockets deep enough, although a well-formed letter to an MP might be a start.
Anyway - I'd certainly also be interested in learning of any legitimate methods of setting professional training against tax for people in our circumstances. I do know certain schemes result in the airline you work for paying back training costs out of gross salary but that seems very restricted.
Last edited by TheBP; 26th February 2008 at 22:24.
Reason: Forgetting to finish a sentence!