Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Not sure how the per diem increase helps us, but I'm not a tax guru, so maybe someone else has thoughts on that. It seems to me; however, that it will hurt in SS payments so lower SS at retirement.

As for the raise? Gee, thanks. I'm sure many drivers will see that extra for the 10,000 mpm incentive, but I know I won't be one of them due to current circumstances.

 

The raise is small, but better than none. Pay seems to be going up for truck drivers across the board. Abilene pays low on the cpm, but has been good on miles for the most part. We get pretty decent equipment and are left alone to do our jobs, unlike some companies who micro-manage everything you do.

It's always a trade off. I have looked at other companies that pay more, they offer less miles or something else bothers me about them. So I just stay here, it is not a bad job.

 

I can't figure out if the extra CPM will make a difference. Paychecks vary so wildly in this job that I'm not sure I would notice the increase if i wasnt told about it.

Pay won't be the reason I leave Abilene, if I ever leave, so the extra money won't make me stay or even contribute to feeling better about being here.

It's kinda like the recent pay bump for going to Canada. Money, or lack thereof, has nothing to do with my aversion to going there, so more money won't make those trips any more palatable.

 

Rumor has it we won't be able to claim per diem expenses next year. Were it not for the per diem itemizing I would have owed the IRS $400

 

Yeah, it's more a factor of the possibilty of being held for ransom at the border over a missing vowel on your paperwork or for a having a fourth-grade trip to the principal's office on your record.

 

Check out the tax subforum on here. Supposedly, company drivers lose the per diem. OOs or those that have incorporated will still be able to claim it.

 

I agree with you!

 

Right. So to me it seems like we shouldn't even be having forced per diem at all. As I said, confuzzles the heck outta me.

 

I wish I could make it clearer, but I'm probably more confused than you.

Speaking personally, having per diem taken out in 2017, which reduced my taxable income, didn't help as I wound up owing taxes when using standard deduction. Something that has never happened before in my working life.

Would the increase in paid per diem reduce my taxable income to the point where standard deduction wouldn't result in me owing?. That is something I probably won't find out until next year.