Question about Tax Return for w2.

You probably can't. An Accountant might be able to find you more deductions but it will cost you more than TurboTax. Isn't it great not having kids? You get no Earned Income Tax Deduction.....This is the biggest bunch of garbage in the tax code. It's unfair to people like you and me.

 

How many days did you compute away from home to calculate your meal allowance? Was this properly inputted into turbo tax? Bottom line is, you should look closely at the 1040, Schedule A. You should see a rather significant amount for meal allowance that will reduce your AGI assuming you're an OTR driver mostly away from home, and not taking per-diem as you say. It's real easy to have tax software not properly account for meal allowance when no per-diem unless you plug the right numbers into the right location.

Any hotel receipts? , Paid shower receipts? Equipment/service purchases related to the driving job?

 

You are still allowed Daily Per Diem for each day you are away from your house. Search on this site for Per Diem. Many Threads on this.

 

http://www.cb39.org/info_pages/truck-driver-meal-deductions.html

Explains it pretty well. Not sure if it mentions the 80% limit applicable to transportation industry workers.

The tax software apps I've used automatically handles the percentage allowance calculation. So you'd just need to compute the total allowance and plug that in and the software will reduce it accordingly in the software.

 

$58/D x .80 less 2% AGI. Goes on form 2106. I always do mine on all the paper forms on the computer then input in TaxAct to make sure it is all done right.
http://apps.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/formsPublications.html

 

If you are claiming the per diem, and you should if you can, make certain you have copies of your log books to substantiate the full and partial days away from home. I have a client who is facing a very large tax bill because he claimed per diem a few years ago (at a retail chain tax preparer), and does not have the log books to substantiate the deductions. I am helping him work through the issue, and may be able to get some of the penalties and interest reduced, but bottom line is, make sure you have your paperwork in order when you file.