Am I a contractor or an employee?

But I think you and others are missing an important point, the op isn't a contractor. He is an employee with a potential of buying the truck in exchange for the labor.

The owner owns the truck, not the op. The owner provides the funds for the fuel, insurance and so on, and he is the one who takes the deductions.

 

Not if he charges it back to the op

 

But that's the problem, he isn't from what I read about the relationship.

Too much confusion and nothing concrete about it.

All I get is that the op went into an agree with the owner to get the truck after he worked for the owner for X amount of time, that's it.

Nothing about the legal and binding contract. Nothing about how the settlement is done, pretty much a void of information. So the assumptions I have to make is the owner is still owning the truck, the driver is an employee and there is nothing written down other than a superficial agreement.

The best thing that the op can do is leave the situation, file the return as if he was an employee with the estimated taxes owed and look for another drivers job.

 

I'm just saying if he paid for the fuel on his account it is his deduction it never was your expense to begin with.

If he is reporting it as your income that would clearly be faults as he never paid you it never went into your account and cash never went into your hands to pay for the fuel. It came out of his account every time.

 

There are many sleazy trucking outfits out there taking advantage of truckers. Be careful!

 

Oh wow

 

You can get more than one, you know. I always get two. One for my IRS folder and a duplicate for my IFTA record keeping.

 

If its your truck your a contractor i mean if you want to call yourself an employee its a free country and you can say what you want if your paying off the truck perhaps he has a lein on it however you will eventually own the truck the title should actually be in your name .

 

If you have a residual value of the truck listed in the lease agreement and a buyout clause then your lease purchase can be argued to be a independent contractor agreement, at least in terms of the equipment contract. The rest will be dependent upon your operating relationship with the carrier.