Hey Happy Holidays Truckers, YoungBlood here asking what personal things could I write off ?
The down payment for truck
TVC ( Driver Legal )
Verizon (cell phone plan) / should I switch the plan to business and pay cell phone plan out of business account
Any recommendations or methods would be appreciated. Be safe on the road and God Bless
Tax write off
Discussion in 'Trucker Taxes and Truck Financing' started by YoungBloodTrucker, Dec 6, 2020.
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Best advice is find a good CPA that has a very good handle on the trucking business tax rules.
dunchues, Banker, stillwurkin and 1 other person Thank this. -
What Robert’s 450 said is the first and best advise for you. A good CPA will explain to you better than I will but I will try to give you the abbreviated version. You get to depreciate your actual cost of the rig over a several year time period. There are several depreciation time tables available and each person should do what their CPA recommends for their situation. It doesn’t matter if you paid cash or financed the entire amount you still get the same amount of depreciation depending on the total cost of the rig. This is a good thing and the first few years of owning a new $300,000 or newer rig $150,000 you pay very little in income tax. You are allowed to deduct every single dime that you spend in legit business expenses as a deduction. Uniforms, cell phone, internet, truck parking, hotels, and any other business related items. Keep all your receipts as you will need them if and when you are audited. If you choose to do an individual 401k like I do then you also get to deduct those expenses. Your CPA and financial advisor can explain the details of those plans and whether you should do a traditional or Roth 401k. I do a Roth for my contribution and by law my companies contribution has to be a traditional. As an owner operator you still get a deduction for every night you are on the road. I keep track of overnights in a small pocket sized calendar. The day you leave home is counted as 3/4, every day in between is 1 and the day you return is 3/4. If you are out one night at a time you get 1.5, not 1. 3/4 the day you leave and 3/4 the day you get home. That extra .5 adds up over a years time. Keep a personal vehicle log for business related miles traveled in your personal vehicle. Every single mile you travel to get parts and supplies or drive to where you park the truck to perform maintenance is deductible. Don’t write off the trips to go to work as this isn’t allowed. I do my own bookkeeping online and it takes me less than 30 minutes a month. At tax time I give my CPA a one page report that my online accounting prints at year end to do my taxes.This makes my CPA bill much less than if they did the bookkeeping also. I am leased to a carrier and they pay the fuel and hotels and deduct them on my settlements. This way I don’t have to keep all the fuel and hotel receipts. My settlements detail all fuel and hotel charges and the settlements will satisfy the IRS in an audit.
D.Tibbitt, harlycharly55, YoungBloodTrucker and 1 other person Thank this. -
A truck is one of the greatest write offs you can have, almost everything is a write off. Talk with an accountant might help though
Banker Thanks this. -
slow.rider Thanks this.
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Don't forget Entertainment don't you guy's have any fun....
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mwhjr1988 and harlycharly55 Thank this.
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In a nutshell
Pretty much any $1 you spend to make a $1 is a write off
Even a “ vacation “ can be a write off if you structure it correctly
We spend a couple grand a year for our accountant and that’s for 1 truck but in the end he saves us way more
Years ago I was in a different business and I had a brother doing the same thing
He had some lady who worked at home do his taxes and I had a business specific accountant
My brother paid $25,000 more in taxes and I actually made more than he did
You really need an accountant as mentioned from others that knows your business
The typical ones out there are maybe ok for the Walmart type employeeLast edited: Mar 10, 2021
dztruck, Itsbrokeagain and harlycharly55 Thank this. -
If i got fined by ifta, could that be a tax write off? Technically i had to pay it to keep my business running.
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