List of trucking companies that scam a driver on per diem pay

This is not a matter of per-diem vs standard deduction, this is a matter of per-diem vs standard allowable daily meal allowance. I don't see how or where filing schedule A affects what you can do insofar as child deductions. The tax code is a lot of things, but it does not force you to choose one method of filing in return for giving up an available deduction or credit elsewhere.

 

I know I am!!!!!! 14 hrs a day 7 days a week...cept on recap week!!!!

 

Sir it very much does ... employee deductions - per diem - can only be used on schedule A, subject to a 2% limit on the gross. You are allowed a standard deduction of $6,100 single, $12,200 married. ... I did misspeak, there are no increases to the standard deduction for children, just the allowed exemption. So the max standard deduction is $12,200. So you have an option - Standard deduction or itemize your deductions on schedule A, but not both.

So using your example ... say a married driver no kids, makes $40,000 and takes the $12,750 per diem deduction, after the 2% it will be a net of $11,950 ... $250 less than the standard deduction. So either way he's looking at roughly $28K in taxable income before exemptions.

Now say he takes $10,000 in per diem and the company "takes" $2,000 in "admin" fees, for a total income of $38,000 of which only $28,000 is consider gross taxable, since the per diem is tax free. Then the $12,200 standard married deduction would be applied to the $28,000 leave a taxable income of $15,800 ... so by taking per diem the driver could save up to $1,700 in federal taxes and another $700 in SSN tax.

Now on the other hand, if you have say a $1200 a month mortgage payment and are already filing schedule A, then by all means, you would want to take the per diem deduction yourself, as opposed to taking per diem pay.

Bottom line there is no blanket approach, it depends on the your individual tax situation and any company that forces per diem takes away the flexibility to manage your taxes in your own best interest.

 

ok i gotta start somewhere so why not here. newbie here...at the "talking to recruiters" phase of my endeavor. planning to become a father son team. so here goes my "know nothing 2 cents worth"

seems to me there are 2 different issues here. one being companies that actually use per diem the way it was intended, and the other being those trying to loophole rules written to ensure folks get a fair shake...thereby making it an "unfair shake" for some. i guess my thoughts are we need to eat and if i need to eat (wash clothes/shower/whatever else i have to pay for out on the road) is it not a more accurate statement of my earnings if the legit perdiems applied and were spent thusly, (since i am gonna eat anyways right?) then the remaining pay comes off as actual pay and is taxed. i have never driven over the road, but i have had jobs local where i made $2k a week, but after i bought all my supplies and food and such just trying to live on the run, when i added up all my reciepts and sales totals got subtracted my calculator said i made like $12 an hour...which is a far cry from $2k a week but if i had not had to pay taxes on the $1200 a week i spent on gas and food and supplies and whatnot i would have been taxed at a lower rate and been treated the way i should have been treated at the bank, because in reality i only made $800 a week, not $2000. right?

ok that wasnt so bad? first post over...commence tomato throwing in 3,2,1...

 

if you ask your employer to opt out for your per diam every week are they supposed to add it to your check?

 

I think you do would do well to take today's money now and invest it wisely on your family and forget about depending on some future over-inflated pittance from a bankrupt government.

 

I read somewhere that the average pay for truck drivers was 41 cents per mile. That is used to be 46 cents per mile. If that is true, I am wondering if they were factoring in LTL pay, including the union pay into the equation. I read here that most say they make 35 or 36 cents per mile. I am not putting down anybody's pay here at all, I am just trying to find out. I think you ought to make a lot more for over the road driving, considering the hardship of living in the truck.

 

Let's take a different approach.

What is per diem?

Taxes and tips are an example of incidental expenses.

Since truckers don't need lodging they are suppose to be compensated for meals. It is suppose to be hard cash instead of a tax break. When you think they are doing you a favor the only favor they are doing is for themselves.

If you work any on the road job such as construction which in one way or another is related to the gov't (any gov't funding or backing) you will receive money on top of your paycheck to cover lodging and meals. You don't get a measly tax break on X amount of dollars which amounts to diddly like $7 a day tax savings. What can you eat on for $7 a day? 2 for $2 hotdogs, a bag of chips and a drink?

The average CONUS per diem rate for non-truck drivers is $83 for lodging and $46 for meals. Some get up to $71 a day for meals plus lodging depending on the location. That is $129 dollars a day these people are getting on top of their normal paycheck while we are getting ~$7 a day if you do the math on the tax break they call per diem for us. What we get doesn't even fall under the definition of per diem. It was re-invented for the driver to keep the cost of goods down.

My niece is currently doing the final end of fiber optics at a college. They are doing a job funded by gov't grant money. She makes the prevailing wage of $26/hour. She also gets $645 a week on top of her normal paycheck in the form of tax free per diem. That is real per diem. Added money that is tax free, not money you already earned that is tax free. See the difference? But she has to pay for her own motel and food with it. Shop for a cheap room and spend wisely you can save $200-300 of that. I'm sure if you got $46 a day for food you could bank half of that as free money.

We have been screwed so long drivers just accept it. Oh boy I get an extra $49 a week. Nope you aren't getting anything extra. You worked for that money. Just like we are exempt from overtime yet we are expected to work 70 hours a week.

My last job I was on forced per diem. When I went on disability my check was cut $157 a month as result of forced per diem hiding your actual wages. That's $1884 a year in lost income because of this twisted game. Some need to look long term and not the few dollars you can save on your weekly check. This also goes for workers comp, social security, unemployment and 401K match. If you can afford a $200,000 house the bank will only lend you half of it because they think you make $25,000 a year.

Trucking companies the past 15 years have found ways to be more profitable. That includes lease programs and the forced per diem option. When I started driving you never heard of those things. You take a company like Swift and if they can save just $10 off a driver each week that is $160,000 a week or $8.3 million a year. They are saving a lot more than that. It's not chump change and it's at our expense.

This is from the gov't GSA website that sets the standards for federal per diem.

In other words we are exempt like everything else. We aren't official. Go somewhere else to see what they get. We don't want double standards revealed on this page. They are scum, we are kings. We eat steak, they can eat hot dogs and Subway.

You can read this IRS publication and see the IRS thinks we are given reimbursements.
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p535/ch11.html

Trucking companies will lie when they hire you in at let's say 34 cpm, they will say after the fact, no he makes 19 cpm. The rest of the money he gets is per diem for meals. Yet that driver next to you that opted out still makes 34 cpm. So you got two drivers doing the same job, same experience making a huge pay difference when a picture is painted for the IRS.

 

Is there any way to get the company to stop this practice?

 

No just don't work for companies who claim per diem to be your actually salary...because they only pay per diem
To cut cost on there overhead on salaries

Its a method they use the pay you less per mile
Plus it lowers their payroll taxes

Payroll an diesel fuel are the top 2 expenditures
On a companies P&L statement every month


Once your start to understand the fundmentals of business its very clear why companies are so apt
To pay per diem an claim it as true salary for drivers