Writing off a truck purchase?

Discussion in 'Trucker Taxes and Truck Financing' started by RunningAces, Jun 24, 2020.

  1. RunningAces

    RunningAces Road Train Member

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    I am currently a lease operator with Prime flatbed. I am about to make the jump to OO and part of my business plan includes buying a truck outright in the 40k range. So far this year I've made about 33k at Prime. Ive also made 40k trading options. My question is this, can I write off the entire price of the truck by claiming full depreciation on it the first year of ownership? The plan is to keep my tax liability as low as possible because I had the extra income from the options trading this year.
     
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  3. Kshaw0960

    Kshaw0960 Road Train Member

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    Yes you can. There’s a form you need to file and you cannot depreciate the whole thing at once unless you qualify for it. I don’t remember the details.
     
  4. Accidental Trucker

    Accidental Trucker Road Train Member

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    Yes, research “section 179 deduction”.
     
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  5. 51.50

    51.50 Heavy Load Member

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    The depreciation on your truck would be over a 5 year period. Lease the truck, and get 100% write off. Then depreciate the truck after the lease is completed.
     
  6. bad-luck

    bad-luck Road Train Member

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    ALL business expenses are tax deductible. Please contact a CPA. They will guide you in the right direction and make sure you get the best benefit from the tax law
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2020
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  7. Long FLD

    Long FLD Road Train Member

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    Yes you can write off the total purchase price in one year. I wrote off $116k for my truck on my 2019 taxes to avoid paying roughly $24k in taxes. For 2020 so far I’ve bought a trailer and put a little money into an old truck I’m restoring. I will likely have to get a different truck or additional trailers in 2021 to keep from paying a bunch in taxes.

    Short answer is yes it can be done but you need to be mindful what you will do next year with a truck that has no more depreciation because you used it all in one year.
     
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  8. Accidental Trucker

    Accidental Trucker Road Train Member

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    Section 179 maximum is one million, with a phase out to 2.5 million.

    Be prudent in how you take your deductions. If you take all your deductions early, but still make payments after your deductions are gone, you end up with half your profit going to the bank for payments, and the other half to the Feds and State for taxes.
     
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  9. Long FLD

    Long FLD Road Train Member

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    If he continues to lease the truck then once the lease is done he could only depreciate the buy out amount of the lease. I’m not familiar with Prime but if they have a $1 buyout or something at the end he wouldn’t have enough to depreciate to make it worth the time to do the paperwork. When the tax laws changed the amount allowed to be written off without depreciation went up to $250k I believe.
     
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  10. mover man

    mover man Road Train Member

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    That's about the worst advise I've ever seen on this site.
     
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