Originally Posted by mattbnr

and how do u get 3 days out of 34 hours? its a day and a half. lol

If you go off duty at 8 p.m. on Sunday night you wouldnt be able to work again till 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. Hence three days.

Ok.... well, I am a little confused about the time thing because he's not here to ask (being gone all the time) and I only get bits and pieces of what he says because I don't understand it yet... I could have sworn he said 36 hours for a reset.... I don't know... But anyway, whatever it is - I just wanted to know about deductions for those days. I'll see if anyone where we get our taxes done is savvy about the trucking industry and their deductions. Thanks!

Originally Posted by animalangel1

Ok.... well, I am a little confused about the time thing because he's not here to ask (being gone all the time) and I only get bits and pieces of what he says because I don't understand it yet... I could have sworn he said 36 hours for a reset.... I don't know... But anyway, whatever it is - I just wanted to know about deductions for those days. I'll see if anyone where we get our taxes done is savvy about the trucking industry and their deductions. Thanks!

A 36 hour reset is needed if Canada travels are involved. Otherwise, as others have stated, it is 34 in the US.

Also. keep nights spent in Canada totaled seperately. The per diem rate for Canada is higher. I think it is only 4-5 dollars but, every little bit adds up.

I did a thorough itemization yesterday. I had a bunch too. The software kicked out the standard deduction as the best route. It was close though. Usually it's beneficial for me to itemize.

Originally Posted by sierrawayfarer

As far as company drivers go, what sorts of expenses can be deducted from your taxes and what do you have to do to document these.

As a company driver, the company is usually going to pay those expenses (truck payment, fuel, tires, insurance, maintenance, depreciation, service, tolls, lumping, etc, etc) that an O/O could deduct so you're pretty much left with per diem and a few small incidental expenses. Your log book is your documentation for per diem since it shows how many days you spent away from home.

Read Condo's answer because I think he is correct for a company driver. Your federal taxes have never been lower than they are now. Your standard deduction is going to be greater than your itemized deductions unless you have a slew of other deductions like mortgage, medical expenses, etc.

Don't believe it? Use the TurboTax free online version to get a rough idea of what you'll be getting back from Uncle Sam. Then, if you believe that you'd do better by itemizing, you can always go that route but I seriously doubt that you'll come out ahead.