The standard deduction is the amount of money
that taxpayers who do not
itemize can
subtract from their
adjustable gross
income. The standard deduction is a
below the
line deduction rather than an
above the
line deduction. If a crewmember use the standard deduction in lieu of
itemizing, the crewmember is not eligible to write off
employee
business expenses which include the
per diem deduction
and other types of
travel expenses associated with airline employment.
The standard deduction should not be confused
with standard
per diem rates, which refer to an alternate method of writing off
M&IE expenses associated
with the per diem deduction.