per diem

per diem is money they give you WITHOUT taxes. means you can't claim the tax write off. it's not reportable income so teh company pays less taxes on you. and if you need a loan. that's less money you made as reportable income.

basically it's a win for the company and a screwing for you.

say you make $100. $59 is perdiem. goes straight to your pocket. they take taxes on the remaining $41.
your reportable income is $41. and you can't claim the $59 on your taxes as perdiem. if you make more on perdiem for the year then what's allowed. you will end up OWING the irs. if the perdiem comes out to less. you can use the remaining balance as a tax write off.

$59 is the standard per diem rate. don't know if this year will get upped for next year taxes. but what your company actually gives you is a whole different story.

 

Not sure if we are thinking about the same company but one is 600 a wk. or .12 cpm whichever is greater, so either way the less you'll get is 600.

 

per diem usually refers to a meal allowance or hotel allowance. after the 90 days you would claim a meal allowance on your taxes in april. paying it for the first 90 days ensures you don't have to live totally out of pocket during that time before you start driving and can afford it.

 

Idle Air is a "service" some large truck stops offer that provides heated/cooled air, ac power, and cable tv hookup at your truck window ... for a charge. IMO, the charge is too high for what you get but if a company will reimburse this (or provide this as an benefit), that's great. But I'd rather not deal with Idle Air assuming I had an APU as I'm not impressed with the services in my limited experience with Idle Air.

As far as per diem, avoid it if you can. IT IS NOT FREE money! and IT IS NOT MORE money for you in the end! It provides you with a little more net pay throughout the year, but costs you more than the weekly additional take-home amount at tax time if you were to take your allowable meal and hotel deductions (itemize as a trucker). Per diem, financially benefits the carrier at the cost of the driver.