Running With Shipex

Hey Smokey hows it going? Yeah, we as truck drivers or any one who travels for work receives a daily tax free per diem of $68 per day to cover expenses of travel while away from home. (i believe that is the rate now) so if I'm on the road 300 days out of the year that's $20,400 of my income is tax free. So just for kicks, Shipex takes out $15,860 a year in per diem as tax free i actually get to claim the balance of $4,460. In addition as my living expenses on the road.

 

Here's what i found on it. This is how i filed last year and i got money back. Maybe IRS doesn't call it per diem but it is the term tax consultants and companies still call it. Under Trump's new tax we may not get a bunch of little deductions to write off but we get a pretty hefty tax cut. See article below.
How Will New Tax Reform Laws Impact Fleet Truck Drivers?
Posted March 19, 2018 by Administrator in Transportation | 0 comments

The new tax laws that were passed in December 2017 include good news and bad news for trucking drivers, but mostly good news for independent owner-operators. While nothing changes for the tax year 2017, starting in 2018 company drivers will no longer be able to itemize their expenses. This law will dramatically change the number of itemizations a driver is entitled to deduct, especially per diem expenses, which traditionally has reduced drivers’ taxable income and put more refund money into their pocket.

In the past, drivers were able to deduct per diem and other expenses, such as:

• Mobile phone and service
• Work boots
• Gloves
• Bed linens for the sleeper
• Other necessities required for on-the-road travel that was not provided by their company.

These itemizations disappear under the new tax law. However, don’t panic! The standard deduction that everyone is entitled to has almost doubled to $12,000, which should help offset the impact of the loss of the expense deductions, but it doesn’t offset all of it.
Luckily enough, there is a workaround.

Fleets will still be able to deduct the per diem that the company pays drivers as part of their wage. If a driver is paid per diem, a percentage of the cost will be per diem wage that is not taxed. Under the old laws, per diem paid to the driver by the company was almost always added back in because it needed to be reported to the IRS as income. Since this could be itemized by the driver, it made sense to claim this as income. But under the new law, per diem reimbursement pay can be written off by the company as part of their corporate expense. Everybody wins if the company chooses to operate this way.

Independent owner-operators and small fleet owners will still be able to itemize per diem deductions. They will also receive a 20 percent tax break, which will save them even more money. As long as trucking companies raise the amount of reimbursement per diem paid to drivers as wages, everyone will come out ahead under the new tax reform laws.

Regardless of the type of trucking company you operate, it is imperative that you seek out the services of a reputable tax preparer that is knowledgeable about the trucking industry. And, by the same token, it is vital that you seek out a reputable insurance carrier that understands the trucking industry. Click here to learn more about how the experts at Cline Wood can help you manage your risk.

This document is not intended to be taken as advice regarding any individual situation and should not be relied upon as such. Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC shall have no obligation to update this publication and shall have no liability to you or any other party arising out of this publication or any matter contained herein. Any statements concerning actuarial, tax, accounting or legal matters are based solely on our experience as consultants and are not to be relied upon as actuarial, accounting, tax or legal advice, for which you should consult your own professional advisors. Any modeling analytics or projections are subject to inherent uncertainty and the analysis could be materially affective if any underlying assumptions, conditions, information or factors are inaccurate or incomplete or should change.


Tags: transportation tax law, transportation tax reform, trucking blog, trucking news

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Yes and when your w2 comes it will only show the amount you made before per diem. Least that's how mine was.