Forced Per Diem

At the end of the year, your Tax Preparer should take what you contributed to it and take it off the top, so while you paid taxes when you made it, that tax is deducted at tax time so you undo the tax paid. That is how mine have been done for at least the past 5 years. This is how you start out at a 36% tax rate, and end up with a 17% effective tax rate.

 

You can claim a Roth IRA tax credit or a claim a loss on a Roth IRA if you are eligible, which I am. For an O/O or 1099 employee a Roth makes some since, but I urge folks to weigh it with a traditional IRA.
If you are a company driver, which the per deim crowd is, I would strongly advise them to explore and contribute to their employer 401k plan, especially if there is a match from the employer. The match is basically free money, you are not taxed on it until you withdraw it, and the employer contribution is not taxed, nor considered part of your income. You are also not taxed on your contributions, so it is pre-tax, meaning you don't pay a tax on it now, but are taxed when you withdraw it, which will be at a substantially lower tax rate.