Does Superior offer it? I seem to remember they did 10 years ago. Anyone on it if they do?. I always itemized on taxes, got it all anyway, and didn't want the decrease in gross income on my tax form. The new tax laws take away company drivers ability to itemize. We just get the standard deduction making company per diem the way to go for company drivers.
I wouldn't call it "the way". It may be the only way to reduce the beating from the IRS, but for most, per diem is effectively a beating from the employer the way they jigger the CPM numbers and play the game of taking 5 cents out of this pocket and putting 4 cents back in your other pocket. It's disgusting when you think about what most carriers are doing with the CPM model to make it appear "the driver's best interest is being taken care of by the carrier", and juxtapose this with how per diem pay was intended to work. Per diem was intended to be ADDITIONAL [tax-free] pay on top of normal pay to offset cost of eating and living on the road, but it's been bastardized today by most carriers to "supplement a reduced wage"
If I remember correctly Superior took a few cents (6?) per mile of your check and subtracted it from the gross so it wouldn't be taxed. The driver made the same cpm whether they took perdiem or not. The difference was a lower taxable income on the W-2 and larger paychecks with less tax taken out. Many companies would take 6 out but charge 2 for "administration costs" resulting in a lower cpm. That was a rip off since the company benefits by lower Social Security costs anyway. I am just trying to find out if we still offer it. I don't believe anyone was signing up for it before but now it might be the only way to get the tax break back for company drivers.
This is the typical way this occurs, which benefits both the carrier and the driver. But the way it's supposed to work? Imagine before per diem plan was offered, all drivers made 40 CPM. A "good and honest" carrier might come in and offer a per diem benefit (non taxed pay) of maybe $25/day, but maintain the same 40 CPM Yes. your tax liability is not "improved" because the same 40 CPM is all taxed as it was, but you're not shorting yourself on stated and reported income for future SS and loan applications, and you're getting supplemental income that's not taxed. Key word is "supplement", not a cut in income along with an add-back in income.
Superior pays us $10 a night sleeper berth pay but its treated as income and taxed. WalMart pays drivers $42 a night sleeper berth which is closer to the IRS per diem amount. I wonder if they tax that.
There is no such thing as "per diem pay". And it's not intended to be anything other than what it is ... a cost of business tax deduction. Simply put, the entity that pay/compensates the expense, deducts the expense. How the deduction get passed on to an employee is as varied as there are industries and companies.
BINGO!! regardless of how they are structuring/paying it out,at the end of the year it is a tax deduction for THEM. That's why I have never been able to wrap my head around all of these different PD programs and thieving admin fees for money that you already earned?!?............I NEVER opted for the per diem, I just let my tax guy figure it out. Don't sleep in a truck any longer,so the new tax laws in that regard thankfully will not impact me.
That’s what I thought. No one signed up for it before when we could itemize. Oak Brook should probably revisit it. Take 8-10 cpm and pay us tax free. They get less payroll expenses as well. Make it optional and don’t charge “administrative” fees. Could be a win for everyone.
