Taxes what can be claimed

You can do per diem in addition to work expenses correct?

 

I sure am going to try to claim work boots. Without steel toes. I ain't gonna wear those things anywhere but at work. Geesh.... at $275.... I got better things to spend my money on....yup... Irish Setters... good boots. And then the insulated ones.... I'm not stupid enough to go out when it's cold, unless I'm working.... I even have a pair of full on Pack Boots. Have never worn them. The 1200grm insulate has worked fine so far.
Knowing the IRS... They'll tell me my wife can wear my Irish Setters in the shower. Doh!
Seriously..... I don't know... I gotta try... only one of these can I write off this year. Others were when I didn't know about the deduction right there on short form. (when the heck did they change that?)
On the expenses in general.... Can't I put down under "tips" on Lot Ladies?

 

And don't forget gambling losses are deductible - but not to exceed the amount of reported gambling winnings

 

I have heard accountants say it can only be claimed if you are away from "home" with a physical address. OOIDA also says "Per Diem can only be taken when the driver spends the night away from home". Im sure an accountant will want you to be able to prove a rent reciet or something incase of an audit. I only mention this because of the growing number of "homeless" truckers in our industry. I know truckers that use there companys home terminal as there address because they live in there truck and i wonder how they claim Per Diem.

 

Who has a CDL that does not have a physical "home address" on it? Real or not, the IRS is going to have a hard time proving that sardine can you drive every day is your "home"

 

I have as one of my possibilities.. a local job that drives out overnight. Three trips a week. Out and back. Three nights a week spent on the road. So I'll be able to claim per diem for three days a week with that job. While being home two nights, and a longer than 34 every week. It pays really good too. That ain't too shabby!

 

I believe that falls under "Entertainment"... Along with DVDs, audiobooks, etc...

 

My company does not have per diem yet, so next year, I have just started back on the road, if I want to claim the pier diem do I have to have proof of everyday I was out on the road like marking off a calendar each week or how does that work ? Also I am hearing that even if the per diem is 59.00 per day that in the end I can only claim 80 percent of that cause the IRS figures that we don't actually eat 3 meals per day. I would like to still file the short form is that still possible ? This is a big deal to me cause I pay my own Obama Care Insurance and in order to qualify for a subsidy you have to only make like 47000 per year, I can make 60 plus on this driving job so getting the deductions is a must.

 

Don't know if I am correct but I was wondering on my last driving job why I never got the per diem for the day coming home, I was told that you have to be at least 200 miles away from home to get it.

 

But how do you prove how many days you were out that year, a paycheck doesn't tell how many days that was and nobody can keep hundreds of meal receipts?