Out of Pocket Money

So basically every driver gets 59 bucks a day for food? Now whether they use it or not I guess is another story.

 

for every night you are out on the road, you are allowed a $59 per diem for being away from home.

For me, I have been on the road gone this year, 129 days so far. That comes to $7611.


Of that, I can deduct $6089 from my income at the end of the year.

So if I earned $36,000. It will be reduced to $29,011 income. Less all my other deductions and wonderful things from the feds.

 

I think you have it backward on the Per-Diem. That "big fat check" the government gives you at the end of the year is not a gift, they are just giving back some of YOUR to you that they have been holding. Myself, I prefer to keep my money in my pocket instead of having the government hold it.

I agree about it showing less income if you want to apply for a mortgate but in every other way showing less income is a good thing. Your SSI contributions are redueced? Great, I I don't expect I will get full value from SSI anyway, I prefer to take that extra money and put it in a private long-term savings/pention plan.

Legally reporting less income to the government and keeping them out of your pockets is always a good thing, taking part of your income as Per-Diem is no exception.

 

Well it's not really like the government is giving you $59. It's just reducing your taxable income, thereby reducing your tax liability, getting you more money back in the form of a refund. I think last year after my deductions my federal tax liability was something like $126. My refund was $3,400 from federal alone.

True, I could have adjusted my deductions so that I made an extra couple hundred bucks a month, and not gotten a refund, but its waaaaaaaay more fun to go flush a couple of grand down a blackjack table.

 

I see I guess that's why everybody has told me to make sure I know how many different things I can deduct for taxes.

 

I pulled up to the one in des moines IA on the river bridge with just a little change in my pocket not realizing I was flat busted. I says to the guy "you want me to back it off ? lol", and he started laughing and said nope, just keep on rolling.

 

Per diem is considered reimbursement for tax purposes and therefore not income and as such is not taxable.

Some carriers pay you a set amount, say .10 a mile as per diem and it is not taxed. So if you made .40 per mile with. 10 per diem, .30 would be taxed. In this case that is 25% that is not considered income. In other words if a driver made $40,000 but 25%;was paid as per diem his w-2 would show an income of $30,000.

This is why it affects your social security income.

 

$100 for Tolls wow.

The Intarwebs is an Amazing tool and in most cases you will be able to find out exactly how much a toll is going to be before you get there.

 

I jumped off a Rockford, IL exit and it was like $3 in one of them change machines. The trucker behind me was cussing because he didn't have no change. I left him $3 in quarters on top of the machine.

Yes, but the company will give you a cash advance if you need it or they can issue you a comcheck code. Comchecks or Tchecks are used regularly in the trucking industry. You carry a handful of blanks and your dispatcher will issue you a code to put on the check to make it legal tender.

As far as light bulbs and little things I always stock up when I'm at a company shop. Then you don't have to buy them.

Type "per diem" in the search box above and there are many good threads in the Tax forum.

80% of $59 which is $47.20. The IRS never does anything easy, lol. Always opt out of per diem if you can. It's explained well in the other threads.

 

I just get $100. Even if I know the toll is going to be say $25. Other people may go about it differently, but I try to have some extra cash in my pocket in case I stop at a service plaza for a $9 big mac combo. (I'm looking @ you ny thruway)