Tax Question

[Redeemed]

I am new to driving so I am throwing this out to you experienced guys. What is your understanding about the daily tax deduction that drivers can take for expenses?

I have heard every explanation from "you can only take it if you sleep 10 hrs in the truck/gone from home for multiple days" to "you can take a percentage of the daily deduction based on the amount of time in the 24 hour period you are away from home." We have a driver at our terminal who swears that he has taken the deduction for years and has never had a problem. He takes it for all days regardless if he bags out or just takes turns and comes home at the end of his shift.

I have read over the IRS information and in all honesty I think it does nothing but add more confusion. I have to talk to my tax man this week. I guess he will have the final say but I would like to hear from you all and see what your opinion is on the subject.

Thanks

[super trucker]

Originally Posted by Redeemed

I am new to driving so I am throwing this out to you experienced guys. What is your understanding about the daily tax deduction that drivers can take for expenses?

I have heard every explanation from "you can only take it if you sleep 10 hrs in the truck/gone from home for multiple days" to "you can take a percentage of the daily deduction based on the amount of time in the 24 hour period you are away from home." We have a driver at our terminal who swears that he has taken the deduction for years and has never had a problem. He takes it for all days regardless if he bags out or just takes turns and comes home at the end of his shift.

I have read over the IRS information and in all honesty I think it does nothing but add more confusion. I have to talk to my tax man this week. I guess he will have the final say but I would like to hear from you all and see what your opinion is on the subject.

Thanks

i also have heard it both ways and i say if you are going to a true tax man ( a CPA ) and not h&r block, etc ( those guys only do taxes once a year , a cpa works on taxes all year long. good luck

[Dirtball]

Turbo Tax gives you a choice of a standard deduction or the complicated choice of indivudual regions.Take the standard.I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head. I used to run a ABA bid and I was able to collect the meal for each day of my run and the only recipt I had to have was my log.

[BusterNite]

In the North East we are allowed $39.00 per day tax deduction for meals if we travel out of state. You do not have to save any meal receicpts. Just hold on to your log books in case you are ever audited by the IRS. This would be proof that you travel out of state. This is a nice deduction. About $3500.00 per year for me. Well it would be a percentage of the full amount for the year.

[BusterNite]

One more thing. It does not matter if you are taking any hours off or laying over or just turning. All you need to show is that you travel out of state and during that time out of state is when you take your meal time. Again your log book will show this as proof.

[Redeemed]

Originally Posted by BusterNite

In the North East we are allowed $39.00 per day tax deduction for meals if we travel out of state. You do not have to save any meal receicpts. Just hold on to your log books in case you are ever audited by the IRS. This would be proof that you travel out of state. This is a nice deduction. About $3500.00 per year for me. Well it would be a percentage of the full amount for the year.

Thanks for the input BusterNite and others. I looked up the IRS website info for travel and this is why I think it is more confusing.

First the IRS says, "You are traveling away from home if:

Your duties require you to be away from the general area of your tax home (defined later) substantially longer than an ordinary day's work, and

You need to sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away from home.

This rest requirement is not satisfied by merely napping in your car. You do not have to be away from your tax home for a whole day or from dusk to dawn as long as your relief from duty is long enough to get necessary sleep or rest."

But then they go so far as to give these examples of what is and is not acceptable, "Example 1.

You are a railroad conductor. You leave your home terminal on a regularly scheduled round-trip run between two cities and return home 16 hours later. During the run, you have 6 hours off at your turnaround point where you eat two meals and rent a hotel room to get necessary sleep before starting the return trip. You are considered to be away from home.

Example 2.

You are a truck driver. You leave your terminal and return to it later the same day. You get an hour off at your turnaround point to eat. Because you are not off to get necessary sleep and the brief time off is not an adequate rest period, you are not traveling away from home."

With my line haul runs it is not uncommon to spend two or more hours sitting at two or more terminals. When there I am using lounge areas with couches and recliners to rest while waiting. So I seem to fall somewhere inbetween there two examples. The IRS is a real pain sometimes.