Went and talked to a tax expert, turns out as a 1099 company driver I am not spending extra in taxes

I was told that at 70 cents a mile as a 1099 driver, i would be making the equivalent of 60 cents a mile as a w2 driver because of self employment tax. That maybe could be true, but what i did not know was the huge tax break from per diem. The w2 company i used to drive for offered it at a cost of 2 cpm to make 10 cpm non taxable, so really i am barely breaking even with that. But now that i am free to take per diem, it makes up for the self employment tax. As it was explained to me, a truck driver gets 80% of $80 per day written off, 271 days total for me. Do I have that correct?

I care nothing for health insurance, so 1099 pay suits me. I had not saved any receipts for 2025, but am doing so now for 2026 on the few expenses i have.

 

What is it you mean about the difference between the two? I was thinking they were the same thing. If they ever decide to stop paying me then I will have no need to even give a two weeks notice when I quit, but for a year and a half now they have paid me at least the weekly minimum of $1,700 without once being late. Anything can happen, but so far things look good. I do have workman's comp, that is one calculation in my expenses i forgot to mention, it is the only expense i was able to include in my 2025 taxes. But even with that, I am still breaking even if not a little bit ahead over all.

 

I included it in my original tax filing. It took off around $17,000 from my taxable income. I never realized I could do that until just right before i filed after learning from the accountant about it.