Thanks all for the great advice!

he can put a resinator (small muffler) under the truck and be legal. I like loud pipes as much as the next guy but compleatley unmuffled straights are obnoxous and the source of all the anti engine brake legislations.

Mule, CO will still pinch you if a cop happens to be in the area and hears you.

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CO has always been hard on CDL drivers even in their personal vehicles.

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" Fights begin, finger prints is took, days is lost, bail is made, court dates are ignored, cycle is repeated."

"Haven't I told you a million times not to exaggerate"

"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives. " Hedley Lamarr

CBA # 454

I was just letting him know a way to do it if unresticted flow was what he was shooting for.

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" Fights begin, finger prints is took, days is lost, bail is made, court dates are ignored, cycle is repeated."

"Haven't I told you a million times not to exaggerate"

"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives. " Hedley Lamarr

CBA # 454

I would get a hold of a good CPA and check with them. But from what I hear I am not going to go thru the head aches of claiming the small amount that can be taken off on the taxes for home business use. And then if/when you sell the place you'll be taxed at a higher rate on part of the proceeds from the sale.

From what I understood about that right off its more head ache than its worth.

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Yes use a good cpa too start out with try to find one that specializes in doing taxes for truck drivers, as far as deducting for clothing I don't thionk that will fly UNLESS the clothing is specifically used and needed for the job....been down that street and the cpa said no. If the clothes can be worn for use other than driving it was not allowed. per diem in the lower 48 states is at 75% of 52/day for tax year 2007 but in 2008 it will finally top at 80%, the most recent Long Haul newsletter, you can get them at Fly J, had an artical on pg 6 that explains it in laymans terms. It is a hard call on the deduction for the office...how long do you plan to be there and if you move soon well then the taxes can be a problem. I used a cpa for years, I went in with all the figures and he put them into a program ind in a few miniutes he had my taxes figured. He charged my 500.00 back in 2001. I did all the bookwork he just put the figured into a computer. I do it myself now. After 26 yrs of being O/O I am very familiar with what we need to do. Also the biggest thing that gets the O/O is failure to keep up with the quarterly IRS installments. Your first installment for the 2008 tax year will be due Ap 15 the same day as your reg tax bill. You are now paying 15. some % of your SS/Med now vs 7.?% when employed. Keep all receipts and get them organized. Get a software program that lets you put the chk book on the computer and keep things straight. Your fuel taxes.......have him buy fuel according to the mpg the truck uses. If he gets 5/mpg goes 500 miles in a state he needs to buy 100 gal fuel, there are several states that have fuel surcharges so you never buy enough there it seems, also if he watches his cost of fuel in a state and take off the fuel tax pd at the pump you can decide where it is actually the cheapest to buy. i.e. fuel prices in St Louis MO is 3.17 Mo has .17 fuel tax Go to the IL side and it is 3.30. Fuel tax in IL is .367 that make the fuel price w/o tax 2.933. I realize the savings is slight but I used simple figures to make the ex. easier. Remember you all are in business to make a profit not break even. You may have to start simple on implimenting cost saving ways but it is too tough a life to just eek out a living. Oh one more thing on my computer I just used my spreadsheet program and set up a spread for the fuel taxes set in the calculations so ea quarter I just brought up the main form and put in the current qt. info saved it the to current qt. then had my original ready for the nex qt. I then transferred the infor to the IFTA form, piece of cake. good luck


have pony will travel.....