Per Diem Screws the Driver

I...what? Lol

 

Well it really depends on where you live. 50 miles south of me $300k buys a related home that needs to be either totally redone, or knocked down and rebuilt.

 

I'm glad I don't live there. I like rural areas.

 

True that you don't pay taxes on it. Is it separated out of your W2?

 

Okay, now that I have a little more time, let me just express my incredulity at having to explain this on a truck driving forum right now.

The standardized deduction has been raised to $12,000 for individuals, $18,000 for heads of household, and $24,000 for couples filing jointly.

All this means is that you get a larger tax refund from the standard deduction, but if you still have higher itemized deductions than those standard deductions, you can itemize and get a larger return.

So feel free to figure out what your per diem tax break would have been, but in most cases the standard deduction will be higher.

And personally, I love it. Because I'm home every day, I don't qualify for per diem. So thank you for the tax break, in theory.

This was an attempt to simplify the tax code, and decrease the number of itemized deductions, thus saving the government work.

Whether it actually works out that way remains to be seen, but I am open-minded.

So I don't know what you were responding to before, but hopefully I have explained this to you in a manner that will get through to you better.

 

That is not accurate.

 

Agreed. Pessimistic attitude he has.

 

These per diem threads are like tossing a book to kindergartners. They know few letters of the alphabet, so they start acting like they know how to read.

 

Find a good CPA, much of this is still up in the air as the new guidelines are still coming out. I need to get with mine here in the next month, they are finally getting a handle on this stuff. Here is the firm I use, very reasonable and have clients across the country.

https://willispc.com