Trucker Tax Tips & Deductions

We went through all that. They kept saying that because of the paper, he knew what was going to happen. I even told the several people I had to talk to that he didn't fit their self employed standards. They said it didn't matter, because he knowingly signed the paper. Even contacted a couple enrolled agents I know through work. Nothing I could do. Just wanted to warn people about our experience.

 

A couple of my clients tried that very same tactic with some of their employees. They thought they had it all covered. We warned them about the legal issues.

They had them sign forms their attorney brought up. After the first year, these people had to pay dearly. It was turned into the IRS, they came out and examined the forms, documentation and all and reclassified the workers back to employees. This firm took quite a hit. We are talking about 35 employees that earned in the neighborhood of 75,000 each.

It is one of the reasons, I was curious what type of employment was involved.

 

There's a simple rule to go by, to determine if you're considered an employee or independant contractor.

Independant Contractor is what you call " Independant". That means he can turn down work, loads and say I'm not doing this one. He can decide how many days a week he wants to work. He has the control. of his time.

Employee can not turn down work, hours, or how many days he works.
He has no say so , of a schedule that is given to him. He doesn't have that right to say yay or nay.
NO matter what kind of contract that was written up.
It's the control of Your time that IRS will ask someone.


Speaking of all these cell phones>
If you have more than ONE phone for your home. Example, A Land line and a cell phone, you can use the bills from either one of those phones to deduct as a business expense. They're saying if you have more than one phone you can use one as a business phone.
If you do have lets say just one phone like your cell phone, You can deduct a partial for expense. You have to go by what your bill says and split it between personal calls and business calls.

But Make Sure !!!
You Save Your Phone Bills!!
DON"T PITCH 'EM ! OR YOU'LL BE IN D E E P,, H O T ,,,, ____.!
Now come 'on, you got to be a little bit honest on this one, or they'll stick you. Phone bills do add up.

Hey, I just noticed! I passed my 50 mark !!!!! I'm up to 50 posts! I Feel like it's my Birthday!!! Ewwww Weeee ! Now I can do a PM thingy!! I'm jumping for joy!
What else do I get , hitting 50? hee, hee

 

Can turn down loads?

What about the Lease Owners that drive for the forced dispatched companies?

 

That's why a lot of companies advertise "no forced dispatch."

You should know that RoadMedic,,, it's against the law for these companies who signs an Owner Operator onto a lease, as an "Independant Contractor" with Forced dispatch.

But they Usually won't tell you it's Forced, until After you're signed on, and moving your truck.
Unless the driver asks beforehand, if they have forced dispatch. And hopefully most drivers Do Ask before signing on.!


I know a LOT of drivers who turns down loads, if it doesn't pay enough for the truck.

There's a LOT of Truck Owners down in Florida right now, sitting. Not because there's no loads. They don't want the Cheap Freight. A lot of them Flat Bed Haulers. One truck stop was loaded with flat bed haulers sitting there for days waiting for a better paying load. I was just down there a week ago. There was a guy down there that turned down a $1,400 String bean load, cause he thought it was too cheap.
I thought " You're crazy man for turning that one down". Go the on the free load boards on the internet, you'll see a lot of postings coming out of florida.

They're ### wholes for going on with a company that has forced dispatch. They really won't make any money getting paid percentage and being forced to take whatever is given to 'em.

 

Yes, I am quite aware of the legal issues. I am just curious why some of these leases have not been found invalid for those reasons.

 

Because the Freakn' Companies Get Away with it ! Who Wants to Fight a JOB? And go through all that trouble? They just move on , when they had enough.

Theses Companies are Shicksters,, however you say it.

I wish Drivers would stop using them and put them out of business.

 

And to add to the list,,,

Why would a driver want to fight and dispute a Company?

When the Company has So MUCH Control???

Watch OUT, ,, they May Place something Bad on Your DAC REPORT!

IF The Runs Are NOT "DEDICATED Runs", then the drivers should not be forced. Period.

 

There are tons of flad bed loads on the load boards. My husband just got home last night. He was down in FL for 1 1/2 weeks waiting for ANY load that would get him home, even if it just paid for the fuel. Nothing. He came all the way back to TN empty. He's pulling a reefer but can only take non-refrig loads because we're still with Progressive (no reefer insur). None of the loads I found coming back up this way would load a reefer. We don't have the extra $ for a down pymt to go with another insurance company, so that's why we're seriously considering signing on under another company's authority.

When contemplating signing on under the authority of other companies, none of them ever said anything about forced loads, but thanks for mentioning it because I will be sure to ask.

Oh, when we were at the main office removing one of the trucks from the IRP account I asked the woman if there was any way we could get some of our registration fees back, since we had to scrap one of the trucks just a few weeks after adding the extra states on. She said there was no way, "you don't get your money back".

Well, I decided to read some more of the manual I downloaded from the state's web site and guess what... On page 39 it says there are 4 cases in which you could get a refund (from your originating state) if you show them proof and return your plate to the state office;
Duplicate registration, Termination of a lease agreement, Overpayment, or Erroneous Registration.
Since I had a lease agreement between myself and the corp (which they also have a copy of in their files), I terminated it in writing and sent them my proof and am now awaiting further instructions. If they honor that, then I'll try and find out if I can do the same with the other states.

 

Sounds like you're going to do real fine out there in this world , Peterbuiltcouple !

For the sake of , You're " Doing Your Homework".

Just wondering if you have an Escrow Account with the company?
Sometimes it's even hard for drivers to get that back. A lot of these Companies will "nickel and dime you", in everyway they can.

There are quite a few companies that do only Refers. Their freight pays better than dry vans. You may want to check some of them out, for they may pick up on the insurance. I just ran into a few companies that pull only reefers.
I'm not sure how you are operating. Are you running under your own Authority? How are you set up with this company?
Basically, when leased on with a company you need only to carry the liability. The company provides the cargo insurance.
If you do or get your own cargo insurance, working with straight brokers is a better way to go. We used Allen Lund years ago, and got many good paying loads out of Florida. There's a lot of broker loads coming out of there. But you won't find many of them on the load boards. OH my goodness, you've got tomato farms, strawberry farms, beans, potatoes, all that good stuff coming out of there. Some of them are very good paying loads. Go over to Alabama and get Watercress. Pays over 2,000. Same with tomatoes.
You just got to find them produce brokers that works with the farms.
Sure wish we had a reefer! We wouldn't be playing around with this cheap cat liter crap, dry freight.
Peterbuiltcouple.,, I don't know why we got rid of all that we had. Dang!
Right now, I just talked with a guy up in WI and needs reefer trucks down in Florida , bringing up FLOWERS!

I wish I could help you out here, and give you some contacts, but I can't give out any info on this forum., to help someone.! Amanda's Brokerage is another good one. Worked with her personally , paid well and fast. She started this all by herself from the ground up. They're just about starting up in Florida now. You need the reefer.
Progressive Insurance, in my opinion is a bit higher than other commercial insurance companies. Have you shopped around.??
That Really hurts when you deadhead back home.! OUCH !
I Feel that Pinch!

My husband is also sitting with a dry van down in Florida. And that's only because the dispatcher left him hanging over the weekend. She had from Wed to Friday to work on getting him back.
Dispatchers plays those games with drivers when you set them off. I'm trying to help him get out of there too.

Tennesse,, my favorite place. Right smack in the middle! GOODLUCK!