Skip to content
OBBBA Deductions
Menu

Are recreational and tour pilots tips tax deductible in 2026?

Yes — recreational and tour pilots are on the IRS tipped occupation list (code 703). Tips in this job are deductible for 2026, up to $25,000, if the customer chose the amount and could have declined.

Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 703 · Recreation and instruction · official title: Recreational and Tour Pilots

How tipping works in this job

Tour flying is tipped like guided experience work: passengers hand over cash after a memorable flight, and balloon crews are frequently tipped as a team after the landing and pack-up. Amounts vary hugely with the price point of the operation. The exclusion in the description is explicit and important — airline and emergency services flying is not in this code at all.

The regulations say: Pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, or other airborne vehicle for recreational or touring purposes. Excludes regional national, and international airline pilots, and emergency services pilots. Examples given: Helicopter tour pilot, hot air balloon aeronaut, skydiving pilot.

The thing most likely to disqualify your tips

Fuel surcharges, weight fees and photo-package prices are all operator revenue. If your company adds a per-passenger surcharge and shares it with crew, that is wages. The champagne-toast package after a balloon flight is a sale.

Check your own numbers

Pre-filled for recreational and tour pilots. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Step 1 — your occupation

Checking for Recreational and tour pilots (Treasury code 703). This occupation is on the list.

Step 2 — is it actually a tip?

Answer for the money you are asking about. If some of your income is tips and some is service charges, run them separately.

Does the customer decide the amount?

A tip has to be an amount the payer chose. A percentage set by your employer or written into a contract is not.

Can the customer decline to pay it?

A tip is voluntary. If the customer had no way to refuse it, it is a charge.

Is it a mandatory service charge or auto-gratuity?

Auto-gratuity on large parties, resort service charges, contracted event gratuities.

Step 3 — your tips and income

The phase-out runs on modified AGI, which for most people is the same as AGI.

How were these tips earned?

3 questions left to answer.

OBBBA Deductions · obbbadeductions.com

Tips deduction worksheet — tax year 2026

Recreational and tour pilots (code 703) · Single · Prepared October 1, 2026

The three tests, as answered

  • Does the customer decide the amount? not answered
  • Can the customer decline to pay it? not answered
  • Is it a mandatory service charge or auto-gratuity? not answered

Answer the 3 remaining questions above for a result.

Watch out for this in your job: Fuel surcharges, weight fees and photo-package prices are all operator revenue. If your company adds a per-passenger surcharge and shares it with crew, that is wages. The champagne-toast package after a balloon flight is a sale.

Educational estimate only, not tax advice. It runs entirely in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. The deduction is scheduled to expire after tax year 2028.

Estimate only, not tax advice. This site is general information, not tax advice. Figures are estimates and may not reflect the final IRS guidance for the tax year. Confirm your situation with a qualified tax professional or the IRS before filing.

Occupation list and tip tests from T.D. 10044; cap and phase-out from Schedule 1-A Part II. Figures on this site were last checked September 8, 2026. Produced by obbbadeductions.com — nothing entered into the calculator left the browser it was typed into.

How this applies to recreational and tour pilots

The exclusion written into this code matters as much as the inclusion. It covers flying for recreation and touring, and it expressly excludes regional, national and international airline pilots and emergency services pilots. An airline first officer does not have a tipped occupation; a helicopter tour pilot working the same airspace does. If you fly commercially in more than one capacity, only the touring and recreational hours belong here.

Tour flying is tipped the way guided experiences generally are: cash after the landing, from passengers who have just had a memorable half hour. Amounts scale with the price point of the operation — passengers on a premium doors-off flight over a canyon behave differently from passengers on a ten-minute circuit at a county fair — and with how much the pilot did to make the flight feel personal rather than routine.

Ballooning has a pattern of its own because the flight is only half the event. Passengers help pack the envelope, ride the chase vehicle, and stand around for a toast at the end, by which point they have spent a couple of hours with the whole crew. Tips are consequently given to the team rather than to the pilot alone, and split. Skydiving pilots sit further from the customer and are tipped less often than the instructors in the back.

Nothing the operator charges is a gratuity. Fuel surcharges, per-passenger weight fees, photo and video packages, champagne toasts, transfer fees and weather-rebooking charges are all revenue, and where an operator distributes part of a surcharge to crew it arrives as wages. That is worth watching in ballooning particularly, where the post-flight package is often priced separately and often includes something described as being for the crew.

The three tests, whatever your job

  • Paid voluntarily

    The customer sets the amount and can decline to pay it.

  • Paid in cash or a cash equivalent

    Card payments and mobile payments count.

  • Received directly or through a tip pool

    Both routes qualify.

Questions

Are recreational and tour pilots on the IRS tipped occupation list?
Yes. Recreational and Tour Pilots is Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 703, in the recreation and instruction category. The regulations describe it as: Pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, or other airborne vehicle for recreational or touring purposes. Excludes regional national, and international airline pilots, and emergency services pilots.
What is the most common reason recreational and tour pilots lose the deduction?
Fuel surcharges, weight fees and photo-package prices are all operator revenue. If your company adds a per-passenger surcharge and shares it with crew, that is wages. The champagne-toast package after a balloon flight is a sale.
How much of my tips can I deduct?
Up to $25,000 per return, whatever your filing status. The cap applies first, then the amount is reduced by $100 for every $1,000 of modified adjusted gross income above the threshold for your filing status.
Does a mandatory service charge count as a tip?
No. A mandatory service charge or automatic gratuity is not a qualifying tip, and the final regulations confirmed this explicitly. It does not qualify even when the customer cannot decline it — a qualifying tip has to be an amount the customer chose to give.

Related occupations in recreation and instruction

Occupation data transcribed from T.D. 10044 — final regulations on occupations that customarily and regularly received tips, Treas. Reg. § 1.224-1(h) table 1, last verified 2026-09-08. Read the regulations.