Allowances

[Jaime_astur]

Good morning,

I have this question regarding allowances:

When you enter in an airline and the company says "basic salary XXX and allowances (inc. per diem) XXX". This means that total import of allowances will be charged with basic salary per month or the allowances will be given you depending roster, etc up to a maximum of import that appear.

Sorry if this is a redundant or ridiculous question... but I have this doubt and I need to clarify this point.

Thank you!

[vikdream]

Allowances are normally variable pay. There are various ways to pay for this:

- for every flying hour.
- for every sector.
- for every duty hour.
- for every standby.
- for every nightstop.
- for every day flying or on duty ("dietas" in Spain).
- etc.

So for instance your airline may decide to pay 50.000 euros basic and then 20EUR per every flying hour and 80EUR per standby. If you fly 800 hours in a year and do 20 standbies, you will earn:

50.000 basic
16.000 flight time
1600 home standby
-------------
total = 67600 gross salary in a year

As I said, every airline works differently and pays different things.

EDIT: obviously if for any reason you did not fly in a year or in a portion of the year (very rare apart from sickness, which is another story, but has happened to people I know because of lack of training available for instance) then you will only get basic salary.

[Jaime_astur]

Thank you for your quick response!

[JetpoweredMigrantWkr]

typically per diem is not calculated or included as taxable income.
So you would actually receive 100% of the per diem in your pay.

[Flocks]

Euh ... Depend of each country ... Or I miss something in Uk ...

[Miles Magister]

Per Diems are taxable as are all salaried income. The tax office allows companies to buy employees meals whilst on duty. Most tax offices allow companies to pay a standard amount for meals which the tax office and the company agree can be in lieu of meals being paid for as it is much easier to administer and saves the company a fortune in administration. This standard amount is agreed between the company and their tax office to be tax free to save on administration at both ends. These payments are known as per diems. Some years ago I heard that the UK tax office cancelled all per diem deals as one airline allegedly offered some crew double per diems under some circumstances which amounted to tax free salary bonuses. The tax office then stated that all expenses should be paid on receipt. A per diem scheme was then introduced for all businesses which is UK meals are paid for on receipt and per diems are allowed for travel outside of the UK. The maximum amounts allowable can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/scale-rate-expenses-payments-employee-travelling-outside-the-uk

Your company has probably agreed their own deal with HMRC.

[EAM]

Your company has probably agreed their own deal with HMRC.


Did he say he is working in the UK?:confused:

As Flocks says, it depends on the country you are working in. Completely different rules in each country, same for the flight duty pay, of which part of is tax free as well in most countries.

So best is, ask the company you intend to join how these allowances are gonna be taxed.