Per Diem is Great...

The more I study this per diem issue, the more a proverbial elephant in the room seems to grow. With each passing post I read, it slings its trunk in my face: the U. S. income tax code may very well be the single most draining, fatuously frivolous, nonsensical system ever invented in the history of the human race.

 

Log books should definitely do the trick.

I've always kind of wondered if my credit card statements would work too. I charge everything when I'm on the road, right down to my morning cup of coffee. Wouldn't want to have to test this theory out in an audit, but I've always thought the IRS would accept this as sufficient evidence I'm on the road, together with something like pay settlements that show I'm an OTR driver for such-and-such a company.

 

That's the right attitude! It's downright un-American to give anything to the IRS it doesn't demand! Took me awhile to learn this, but it's true.

 

Or just uninformed...I remember chatting with a driver at a truck stop one day during January or February the first year I was pretty sure I'd be driving OTR for the entire year, asking him if tax deductions were something to look into. I could tell from his response that the answer was yes.

 

dont forget about per diem lowering insurance disability benefits & vacation pay too!!!

 

Per Diem ONLY benefits the employer.......PERIOD !!!!!!!!!!!

It STICKS it to the driver.......................PERIOD !!!!!!!!!!!


Thats how I feel anyway.

 

Per Diem HELPS the driver. IMO

Yes, logs are wht you need to track your days out, remember, they are a FEDERAL DOCUMENT....you do not need receipts.

And credit card statements also work for receipts, and bank statements (don't forget ATM fees etc) Don't forget charges on your settlement statement for using ComData if you have them.....

 

And if you told "XYZ" trucking you didn't want the perdium? You probably wouldn't have a job.


Correct?

 

tried to attach a spreadsheet but won't work...

 

I understand the DEDUCTIONS. Let me figure my taxes, don't pay me so many cents per mile in per diem.....
does that make sense ?