can some one please explain per diem pay??

Tell the agent to read Publication 463, Chapter 1, Page 6 on tranportation workers.

Also advise him that election out of the plan allows the full deduction by the truck driver.

 

Slightly to the Right of the topic, but...... Is "per diem" a Latin phrase? What does it mean in Latin "Bend Over"?

I have read and read and read, and I think I know what per diem is.... In simplest terms possible.... If Im paid .30 cpm and of that .30cpm, .08 cpm is per diem, that means my income is only .22cpm and the company is reimbursing me .08cpm of costs, whether I have those costs or not.

So, if CRST doesnt offer per diem,(they may, IDK) and pay there is .22cpm, and Covenant pays .30cpm w/.08cpm per diem included.... all things being equal, CRST is involved in less dirtbaggery than Covenant. Well, maybe Im lost now.

Per Diem = bad because, lower income on loan documents, less paid into SSI, , , , is that it? Simple terms please.

Per Diem = good because, ???? anyone? Simple terms please.

As a NOOB, why, in the infant years of my trucking career, is it important to me who gets the tax write off, me or the company. Chances are, I'll end up with a good company in a year or two, who will do right by their employees, and this will be a moot point. If I were gonna work for 30 years, for a company that paid per diem cpm, that could really mess up my SSI. When I sit down 8 months from now and do my pros and cons list, to find out if I want to leave a company, if they pay per diem cpm, that will be a con, right? But, not enough of a con right now, as a noob returning to the trade, to play a big role in where I go to drive for, right?

It seems, the trend is that most big companys are going to be paying per diem soon anyway? Right? Or am I wrong?

 

We used to have a choice on the per diem. then the company made it manditory to participate in their per diem program(their words). On our pay stub they add on the per diem ,then subtract the per deim. So they are not giving us anymore money. What they do do is subtract what the per diem amount is from your total gross so at the end of the year your total gross is alot less.The company benefits for not having to pay social security taxes. They say we our saving by lowering our income tax. This was one area(the per diem) when doing taxes that really helped. I don't understand, is this practice legal? It seems deceiving to me. Can someone enlighten me?

 

What i don't understand is the giving it to you(the per diem) , then subtracting it?

 

Per Diem is simply a way for your employer to lower their tax burden. What to look out for are the companies like Marten Transport who not only pay a too large amount of per diem but also "CHARGE" you two and a half cents per mile for doing this. If you are paid over $12000 per year in per diem you will be liable for extra taxes on amounts above what the IRS allows for the year you are filing. Companies like Marten charge each driver 2.5 cents per mile which they say is to pay their accountant. If you figure the average driver drives 125,000-155,000 miles per year times 2.5 cents times how many drivers the company has. How many millions of dollars is that? and these millions of dollars aren't in writing anywhere, anyplace. Bottom line, they don't pay taxes on the money they charge the drivers so the drivers can't write off this charge to them.

 

IRS requires reporting excess per diem as income on the W-2 . Failure to do this could be ruled as abuse and IRS could disallow ALL perdiem paid by that employer .

http://www.ohiomfg.com/communities/human-resources/archive/2007/irs-rules-all-per-diem-/
In other words , if IRS knew Marten was claiming per diem they could force them to pay taxes on all of it plus fine them .
That is why most carriers underpay per diem and drivers should keep track of what they are allowed and claim additional per diem at the end of the year .

 

CRST doesn't offer per diem, it forces it.

 

Need some help please! i am a LTL driver and live in Wisconsin and drive to Chicago Monday through Friday And sleep at home every night. Drive a day cab truck. Can I claim a food allowance deduction on my taxes or a per diem? I cross the state line every day it's about a 200 mile drive from my home terminal. Thanks

 

One of the per diem stipulations is a full day on the road and don't return home for breaks, so no you don't qualify. Sorry.

In the IRS's eyes you a regular lunchbox employee!

State lines or distance has nothing to do with it if you can make it home.

 

Thanks, I explained to my tax preparer three times that I come home every day and he still said that I can claim the per DM at a reduced rate.