What Deductions Can I Claim as a Truck Driver?
The IRS extends several deductions to over-the-road truck drivers. A working truck driver's claims include items related to traveling away from home as well as vehicle-related expenses. A driver is entitled to claim travel expenses, meals, maintenance, supplies and any labor fees paid out-of-pocket that are not reimbursed.
Other People Are Reading
-
Travel Expenses
-
Truck drivers may claim travel expenses as long as they have a home that accounts for their residence while not driving. Travel expenses are bills that result because work takes drivers away from home. Receipts should be kept for all road expenses and records of payments for such items at home. Drivers will have to show proof of residence and highway expenses in the event of an IRS audit.
Meals
-
Truck driver deductions include a standard daily deduction allotted for meals during logged highway times. The deduction allowed $36 per full day as of 2010. The IRS splits the day into four six-hour periods and allows truckers to claim any part of the day not spent at home for a partial deduction. A driver who uses the standard deduction does not have to keep track of restaurant receipts in order to make the claim.
-
Labor Costs
-
A truck driver often pays a laborer with a forklift to load or unload a trailer at a destination. These laborers are called lumpers. A trucker who pays a lumper has to get a signed receipt from the worker with the date and the amount paid documented. Any amount that a customer or employer does not pay the driver to reimburse these labor costs is tax-deductible. Drivers must retain records of all labor payments.
Maintenance and Supplies
-
An over-the-road truck driver can deduct the cost of nearly anything purchased for the truck. This includes washing and parking fees. A trucker may claim safety equipment such as chains, flares and cones, and communications equipment such as CB radios and cellular phones. Driver deductions also include the cost of blankets, sleeping bags, flashlights and batteries used on trips. Business mail costs and ATM fees charged at out-of-town banks are also deductible.
-
