Double Yellow's Company Driver to Independent Thread

Never said he wouldn't have to pay taxes on the shop profits, I said he'd be able to keep more of his profits. Done properly, one can structure the businesses to maximize profits while simultaneously minimizing taxes, all without substantially raising costs.

 

Anything you could deduct as a shop you could deduct as the trucking company. Profits from the shop would go with profits from the truck, no net gain.

 

Give an example of what you can deduct as the shop that you can't as the trucking.

 

I'm not getting into an internet argument or pissing contest with you. It can be done, I know several different people who have made similar arrangements in other industries. I'm not an expert, nor have I ever claimed to be, but I know it can be done. If it is something he's interested in doing, I'm sure he's got the ability to do his own research.

 

Well, if both entities were a C-corp and the trucking had 100K profit (34% tax rate) and you could put 25K into the shop it would drop the corporate rate to 25% for the trucking and 15% for the shop. But who would run a C-corp @ 100K profit and be taxed personal and corporate?

 

I dunno man, I personally have never done it, just worked for folks that have. I'm sure they wouldn't have done it it the benefits didn't outweigh the costs. It also seems reasonable to me that the business(es) might need to reach a certain level of income in order to justify all the hoop jumping.

 

Single O/O or even a few trucks wouldn't be worth it. Couldn't even use it as another layer for liability, too close held. Now if you were single and wanted to shift some of your income to your live-in girlfriend maybe so. At least untill an IRS audit.

 

I used to be the service manager at an auto shop, and the same family owned a towing business and a small used car dealership. All three businesses fed off each other, I don't know what the other businesses made, but I know the shop grossed just over $1M per year. They used the other operations to minimize taxes.

 

An inframe is actually easier than you'd think. It's really very basic, everything unbolts and pushes out. if you can change a tire, you can do an inframe.
Some stuff tho, it's better to let a good shop do it. For example, you mentioned king pins. I wouldn't even consider doing them again. . Not when a good suspension shop will do them for under a grand. For rears I wouldn't try rebuilding the chunks myself. But I would buy them and put them in. If you can do a wheel seal, you can change out your pumpkins. same as a transmission. I will pull mine, and put a new one in. But I'm not rebuilding it. The last and only time I tried to rebuild a transmission I was 16. A week later I was at a tranny shop with a card board box full of little tiny gears with no idea where they went.

With the world we live in, with everything on you tube, and digital copies of service manuals, I think every truck owner can do more themselves than they think.

It all comes down to confidence in yourself. I'm no rocket scientist, but I think I'm at least as smart as the typical truck stop "mechanic". And I care more than they do about getting it right the first time. That's the biggest benefit of working on stuff yourself, you will take the time to make it right so you won't have to keep dealing with the same issue.

And it's always the little things. heat shrinking when you splice a wire instead of the ta tech that just uses a regular butt connector. centering a rim and tightening alternating lugnuts a little at a time instead of just hammering it with the air wrench so your tires are off centered and wear irregularly. the simple stuff that makes a huge difference that they just can't be bothered to do because they don't care if your tires wear badly, or you have corroded wiring six months from now.