If company drivers lost per diem what exactly does this mean

Since we lost the daily allowance, is there any reason to download logs anymore?

 

the words "per diem" are commonly used to describe different things. Per diem is something a company pays employees. Employees could, before 2016 tax reform, deduct their Meals & Incidental Expenses from their taxable income. A lot of people called the MIE "per diem" because the IRS would allow a flat-rate deduction per day. No receipts were required.

That daily IRS deduction for meal and incidental expenses has gone away for company drivers.

Companies can choose to pay company drivers a daily amount of untaxed money. That "per diem" continues but it no longer gives the driver a tax benefit like the pre-2016 taw rules allowed.

 

It benefits a company driver, or anybody if the company chooses to designate part of your pay as per diem, You do not have to pay tax on that amount.
An oo can still take the per diem tax advantage off of his gross pay, where a company driver is not allowed to any more.

 

Generally speaking, yes. At the same time your Standard Deduction was doubled from $12k to $24k, meaning the income that was not taxed, they also took away the tax incentive to claim certain miscellaneous expenses. You can still file the M&E paperwork and itemize deductions, but you will likely pay more tax by doing so. Remember, the earned income they put off-limits for income tax purposes was doubled. They non-tax the first $24k and "took away" your M&E benefit. I wonder how many taking the M&E deduction were taking $12k or more?

 

For the most part per diem benefits the company, not the driver. It allows the company to pay less for workmens comp, etc. Trust me, the company isnt doing per diem pay to help you out. Alot of drivers wont even work for a company that pays by perdiem.