Trucker Tax Tips & Deductions

True or false lease purchase payments are tax-deductible

 

Have 2 options- if its a lease than yes, the payments are deductible. But... If it is a financing with option for purchase than only the interest is deductible and you take truck depreciation for 3 or 5 years. Best way is to check with CPA

 

glad to see this thread is still getting comments. up until this year I had been filing my regular 1040 and taking standard deduction. with my new employer though sometimes we stay out of town on jobs so every quarter the nice folks up in the front office put all of our logs for the three months on a cd rom for us for tax purposes. I think I get the gist of this please correct me if I am wrong. I can claim any time spent out of town and this would be done by reviewing the logs and obviously anywhere I went sleeper berth not at the home terminal would count correct?

 

Hey guys. I'm an independent contractor (driving for a guy who owns 8 trucks, pays me 50% of what my loads pay). First time me doing my taxes and wanted to ask, tax deductions mean they knock whatever it is that you bought for your business off or is it just a percentage? For example, if I have paid $500 in check cashing fees throughout the year, does that all come back or just some?

 

Great. Thank you for the explanation, I appreciate it.

 

I am glad I found the answer to one of my questions on here; "claiming lease purchase payments",,, I now know I can NOT claim my lease w/option to buy payments on my taxes, thanks.

My 2nd question is about fuel; Can I claim ALL of my fuel? I heard about form 4136, concerning Reefer Fuel, I have even downloaded it and filled it out but,,,, if I can claim my "fuel" on my taxes, than why separate the two?

 

You can get .244 per gallon refund for reefer fuel. Unless you have zero tax liability why do the paperwork?

 

Who has zero tax liability? lol

 

OK,,I have 3 questions that I would like answered and I am not to the point yet where I want to start looking for, and talking to a CPA. My oldest daughter is a CPA but she knows nothing about trucker taxes. As of this minute, I will be using TurboTax. My wife has been filing our taxes for a very long time, I would much rather pay her but, this will be the first time filing business taxes.

1) I worked as a company driver for the 1st half of 2014 and as an I/C for the last half,,,is there anything I need to know before I file?
2) Do I need to file my time as a company driver separate from my business taxes, or do I need to file all at the same time?
3) Does it benefit a Sole Proprietor at all, to pay oneself?

 

3. A sole proprietor can not have a payroll(w-2)to themselves.