Solo owner-op or fleet under 10 trucks. You know the road, the lumpers, and the scales. We know per diem, §168(k) bonus depreciation, and how to keep every settlement statement audit-ready so the IRS does not pull a DOT-style stop on your return.
Most owner-operators miss $15K to $50K per year by skipping per diem, mis-classifying fuel and maintenance, or depreciating the tractor wrong. We work the IRC the way it was written for transportation workers.
$69 per full day away from your tax home in 2024, $51.75 per partial day, transportation-worker special rate. 80% deductible under §274(n)(3). No receipts required for the per-diem method. Annualized, that is $20K to $25K in deductions a solo OTR driver routinely misses.
IRC §274(n)(3); Rev. Proc. 2024-25; Notice 2023-68Schedule C lines 9, 20a, and 27a done right. Diesel, DEF, oil changes, tires, brake jobs, ELD subscriptions, IFTA fuel tax, IRP plates, tolls, parking, lumpers, scale tickets, washouts. We build a category map so nothing falls into a black hole called "other expenses."
IRC §162(a); Treas. Reg. §1.162-1; Form 1040 Schedule CNew or used Class 8 tractor placed in service in 2024 gets 60% bonus depreciation, with the balance over 3 years under MACRS. A $180K used Peterbilt can throw off $130K of first-year deductions when stacked with §179. We model it before you sign the loan, not after.
IRC §168(k); §168(e)(3)(B); Rev. Proc. 87-56 Asset Class 00.26$1.16M §179 cap for 2024 (Rev. Proc. 2023-34). Trailers, APUs, sleeper upgrades, in-cab tech, fleet vehicles. We time the placed-in-service date against your taxable income so the deduction is usable and not stranded as a carryover.
IRC §179(b)(1); Rev. Proc. 2023-34Cash lumper fees and small-ticket receipts are the most-audited line on a trucker return. We build a phone-photo workflow so every lumper, broker reimbursement, and TruckStop charge ties back to a settlement statement. No more shoebox at year-end.
IRC §6001; Treas. Reg. §1.6001-1; Cohan v. CommissionerSole prop versus single-member LLC versus S-Corp election. We model the SE-tax savings against the cost of running a §1402 reasonable wage and a separate driver payroll. We also keep DOT physical and HOS-related medical out of the personal-medical bucket where it does not belong.
IRC §1402(a); §1361; Rev. Rul. 59-221Florida-based solo OTR owner-operator, 280 nights away from tax home in 2024, $230K gross revenue. Prior preparer skipped per diem entirely and depreciated the tractor straight-line.
$42,000 deducted in per diem alone280 nights at $69 transportation-worker per diem, 80% deductible. Combined with corrected §168(k) bonus depreciation on the tractor, total federal tax reduction vs. the prior return was over $19K.