one day a week is cheaper in a motel

Yes you do. Per diem is only for when you are working and is paid to you to cover working expenses. You don't get PD for sitting on the couch drinking a beer and watching the game. If that was the case there would be alot of rich drivers right now with all this grat frieght happening now.

 

You receive the traveling deduction for travel away from the tax home.

I have shown the information from IRS Pub 463 concerning what is considered a tax home. I have placed in Bold the last couple of sentences because they deal specifically with the issue.

link http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch01.html#d0e413

Tax Home



To determine whether you are traveling away from home, you must first determine the location of your tax home.

Generally, your tax home is your regular place of business or post of duty, regardless of where you maintain your family home. It includes the entire city or general area in which your business or work is located.

If you have more than one regular place of business, your tax home is your main place of business. See Main place of business or work, later.
If you do not have a regular or a main place of business because of the nature of your work, then your tax home may be the place where you regularly live. See No main place of business or work, later.

If you do not have a regular place of business or post of duty and there is no place where you regularly live, you are considered an itinerant (a transient) and your tax home is wherever you work. As an itinerant, you cannot claim a travel expense deduction because you are never considered to be traveling away from home.

 

You receive the traveling deduction for travel away from the tax home.


Exactley. Just what i said. I am not going to sit here all day nit picking words with you, so here it is. It doesn't matter if you live in the truck for a week or for 3 or more months , it is the same. Mail is not delivered to your truck ever. So with that said it is not your home. Home,by law, is where your stuff is and mail goes. In a truck you have a few things with you and the rest of your stuff is somewhere else. All he has to do is use a friends or families house for an address or po box. Simple as that. Let's not try to take this to a level it has no real reason to go. PEACE.

 

I quote what the IRS rules are because of the license I have with them. It is advisable that they obtain proper assistance when they actually do the return if they do not know.

 

Your 25...Your parents are not liable for squat unless they control your actions...If your stuff is their and that's where you go on day's off it's your legal residence, regardless of what your License says...If you heard stories about parent getting sued it's because they where driving their parents car...Or doing something on their property..But don't piss the parents. Go get a PO box at a ups store or postal annex that sort of thing...My homeowners policy doesn't say squat about having a cdl or liability for adult children...Only thing worse the stupid lawsuits is peoples irrational fear of them...Heart attack,stroke,cancer that's what should scare you cause 80% it's going to kill you..But people would rather spend time and energy worrirng about things that are not very likly...Kind of like there mind is trying to avoid uncomfortable realities.. Sorry kind of got going...Get a PO box thats the ticket.... and dont tell your parent's that thier fear of lawsuits is possible a cover for their own fears of mortality being transferd to thier material Possessions.

 

NEAT! Very deep.

Yeah once paranoid people get something crappy like that stuck in thier head, there's just no talking to them. I find that usually it's just a lame excuse and they have some other selfish reason motivating the explanation. Bottom line they don't want anything to do with you.

 

Go and rent a business adress box at an UPS store...it is your business address, and your home office, and qualifies as your home address for the per diem deduction.

Runs about $250 per year, and they will sign for packages, certified mail, and call you when they sign for soemthing so you miss nothing important. And it is a business deduction at the end of the year.

 

A post office box does not qualify.


Link http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch01.html#d0e413

Pub 463 tax home

Factors used to determine tax home. If you do not have a regular or main place of business or work, use the following three factors to determine where your tax home is.

1. You perform part of your business in the area of your main home and use that home for lodging while doing business in the area.
2. You have living expenses at your main home that you duplicate because your business requires you to be away from that home.
3. You have not abandoned the area in which both your historical place of lodging and your claimed main home are located; you have a member or members of your family living at your main home; or you often use that home for lodging.

If you satisfy all three factors, your tax home is the home where you regularly live. If you satisfy only two factors, you may have a tax home depending on all the facts and circumstances. If you satisfy only one factor, you are an itinerant; your tax home is wherever you work and you cannot deduct travel expenses.

 

Since you spoke in absolutes, I wanted to comment on your insurance interpretation. Insurance contracts vary greatly, by company, by state, and policyholder. There are several steps, or areas, one must review in an insurance contract before offering an opinion of whether coverage applies or not.

Generally, you'd need to review EACH of the following (for your example):

• Named Insured
• Definitions
• Covered Person and Coverage Territory
• Coverage Terms/Conditions
• Exclusions

Since we don't have the benefit of having "livelikenooneelse's" parents policy, I'll use my homeowners policy as an example (though, their policy is the only one that matters here). My policy clearly states that Personal Liability would apply in "livelikenooneelse's" situation. Why? Because a resident family member is considered a covered person, regardless of age, and nothing in the exclusions section limits coverage in this case.

In your case, you suggest your policy is silent on whether liability for adult children would apply. You've interpreted this as meaning coverage would not apply. In liability policies specifically, coverage generally applies unless there is language specifically excluding or limiting to the loss in question. You may want to reread your own policy.

For example, from my policy:
Under Personal Liability, it states the following:
A "covered person" means:
· you or a family member;
· any other person or organization with respect to liability because of acts or omissions of you or a family member; or
· any combination of the above.

In the Definitions section it states:
Family member is defined as a relative who resides with you.

Like you, I find fear mongering annoying, however, I find dissemination of opinions as fact equally annoying, especially when they can be harmful. As remote as that prospect may be.
Cheers, GD