Company Driver, Paid "Per DIem", looking for tax deductions

You figure out what you would rate for the year if the company did not take Per Diem out, then minus it from the (Year total) per diem the company took out, the difference you can still claim.

Companies cannot go over what you will rate for the year for Per Diem otherwise they get dropped out of the program. So a company driver will always have Per Diem to claim at the end of the year.

 

partial days are X .8 and then X .75

 

Turbo-Tax is a good program to do your taxes, also you can google truckers tax deductions and you can find several list of items you can deduct. You cannot combine per diem and the DOT standard deduction plan when you do your taxes. You will need approximatly 200 days away from home before it would benefit you to use the standard DOT plan.

 

Seem like u know alot , can u help me? I have to travel to South Carolina from California , each time i take my home time. Can i use this as a deduction on my tax , all of my flight tickets

 

So far as per diem say i made $800 off my miles then my job say $200 of that is per diem n we're not going to tax that 200. Then they add it back to my check after all the other tax or tooking out. I dont see how im getting paid per diem cuz the 800 i would have got anyways basic off how much i get paid per mile. Its nothing added to it , not the $59 or $52 or the $42 u get from per diem per day. Can someone please help me? I just feel like they are getting over.
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The company/you can choose to get paid a per diem. That per diem amount of your pay is not subject to income tax. It's tax-free income to pay your daily away-from-home expenses NOW rather than taxing all of your income and then you filing to recover your daily away-from-home expenses later. Either way, you are allowed to deduct your actual expenses (with receipts) or 80% of the daily allowance ($50-something per day without receipts). If you are paid per diem but it is less than the daily allowance or less than your actual expenses you can deduct the difference between actual and the amount your company paid you.

Too me it's less complicated to not be paid per diem and the driver to file for his daily allowance after the fact. But no matter how you try to help a driver someone will complain and use that help as proof of the International Conspiracy to Screw Drivers.

 

As a general rule of thumb no. Traveling to and from your work place isn't deductible. Moving closer to your job - provided you live more than 50 miles away - could be.

If you own your own business and can claim business meetings there, you can.

You can't deduct your commute.

IANAL, and you sound like you have a bucket of money in the balance, so I would consult a tax lawyer to see if something more could be done. (I Am Not A Lawyer)