Per Diem: Yes or No?

Simple heck NO the company is the one who is actually making money on the deal.. At yrs end and taxes are due, you can claim, 50% of your cell phone bill, I believe $42 dollars a day for food, you can also claim money spent on laundy, hotel, if you buy a computer, tv, tools for use while working etc... Trust me you don't want to fall into the per diem trap..

 

Unless you're an owner operator with fuel, parts, repair, and depreciation cost expenses, it's better to take the standard meal deduction allowed by the IRS. I'm a local driver now, but I recall someone had mentioned in the "owner operators" section that it's up to $35 a day. Unless you're going to actually spend more than the IRS standard deduction, you'd get a bigger write off to take what the IRS is offering. As you're query on deductions, I believe "per diem" is a daily allowance the company will pay you to help cover your meal expenses. If you were a Teamster driver, "per diem" is both meal and motel allowance pay, which your Teamster contract will stipulate you're entitled to receive, even if your truck has a sleeper berth.

 

I say no on the perdiem. If you go with the perdeim it will only benefit the company, not you. It will also affect your social security payments, if social security is even around by the time you are old enough to collect it.

 

If you itemize your taxes, saying no to the per diem and writing everything off at the end of the year could be in your favor. If you file a 1040EZ every year, taking the perdiem option my be better for you since you would have to itemize to get the deductions. What this does it make X dollars per day of your paycheck tax exempt. $35/day I think

 

From a tax standpoint, it could. But in reality, why would anyone like to have their income reduced. In the event you are injured on the job, the workmen's comp is based on the reduced earnings. Any major finances are based on that as well. The per diem that is paid by the company will only benefit the company, not the driver.

The per diem that is available on the itemized portion of the return is subject to 2% floor so there has to be other items to itemize.

 

52 $ per day is the fed. 75% of that can be claimed this yr. next yr it goes to 80 if i remember correctly.

 

Hubby and I decided he would try it with the per diem this year, and take the full pay and tax load next year. We don't have enough to itemize, so we don't get to deduct the fed daily per diem anyway. We were curious about it, so figured we would try it both ways.

 

The way most people figure it if they went pier diem, the would get paid an extra $35 per day x7=$245 a week extra in their pay. Sorry it doesn't happen that way, but these morons at most company orientation make it sound just like that...

 

I think it is wrong to refer to them as morons. These people are paid to do a job and are trying to do what the company tells them.