Trucker Expenses

June --

What are the usual and customary expenses of a long haul truck driver?

Frank


Hello Frank,

A trucker, much the same as any other indie, may deduct expenses related to his business.

For starters, I emailed to you the list of expenses typical to all self-employeds. I also suggest that you read Is it a deductible business expense? on my website .

In my book, Self-employed Tax Solutions, all travel and also travel-meal expense is explained in depth. To sum up: Generally, you may deduct all travel expenses and the cost of meals and lodging if your business trip is overnight or long enough that you need to stop for sleep or rest to properly perform your duties. In most cases, you can deduct only 50% of your meal expenses. Here's a Travis Truck Driver example directly from my book:

Travis Truck Driver leaves the terminal at five in the morning. Three hundred miles later he’s at the turnaround. While his truck is being unloaded he has a big lunch and then dozes off outside the diner while waiting for the guys to finish the reloading. He then heads back to the terminal where the truck is again unloaded. He’s home by midnight. Travis’ lunch break nap was just that, “a nap.” It was not enough time to get adequate sleep. His trip is not considered TRAVEL. Therefore he cannot deduct TRAVEL expenses.

As a long haul trucker, however, I assume Travis' situation does not apply to you. There is a special per-day meal allowance for transportation workers. You're a transportation worker if your work involves moving people or goods by airplane, barge, bus, ship, train, or truck, and if you are regularly required to travel away from home through various parts of the country.

If this applies to you, you can claim a standard meal allowance of $52 a day. Were you not considered a transportation worker you would need to determine the standard meal allowance for every area where you stop for sleep or rest.

As I said, generally, you may deduct only 50% of your meal expenses. However, if you are subject to the Department of Transportation (DOT) hours of service limits, that percentage is increased to 75% for business meals consumed during, or incident to, any period of duty for which those limits are in effect.

Hope that puts you on the right road.

Best,
June