Is Per Diem Good Or Bad?

Hey Denise. We have a ton of information on per diem pay for truck drivers.

Honestly it isn't worth worrying too much one way or the other. In the end it's going to basically work out the same. You either pay more in taxes each week and get a big tax return at the end of the year (non per diem) or you get some of your reimbursement each week in your paycheck and get a smaller return at the end of the year (per diem pay).

In the end it works out close to the same. So don't sweat it. Saving money on the road by stocking up on store bought foods instead of eating in restaurants is going to make a much bigger difference in the end than whether or not you take per diem.

Also, keeping receipts and itemizing expenses isn't really worth doing because you can take the standard deduction (whatever percentage of $59 per day they allow) instead. I can't imagine a person eating close to $59 per day in food so the standard deduction will work out better than itemizing would, which is exactly the reason the Government gives the option of standard deductions - to prevent millions of people itemizing their expenses and sending in boxes of receipts every year.

Also, averaging a few more miles each week is going to get you further than trying to save money on taxes. So focus on efficiency also. Make sure your husband is getting great miles, healthy food, and has a good relationship with dispatch. You can spend a year trying to figure out tax strategies and lose everything you've gained by missing one or two good loads in a year.

So you can take per diem or not, doesn't matter much. There are a lot of ways to make or saving money that will have a much bigger impact on your end results.

But check out the link I gave you above. We just put that information together recently. It's a pretty complex subject but we tried to explain it the best we could.

Most important part about understanding "tax RETURNS" is: That is a year long, interest free loan that YOU have given the government.

You could've kept, and invested that money all year long, instead of charitibly giving a wasteful government an interest-free loan.

Less money withheld from your check is always a good thing IMO, especially if you owe the IRS anything, because if that's so you're not going to get that refund, huge or otherwise.