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260 days on the road = a $16,640 deduction. Company drivers: read the catch.
Per diem is the most-mangled topic in trucking pay. Owner-operators can deduct 80% of the IRS transportation rate ($80/day CONUS, Notice 2025-54) for every day away from home — no meal receipts needed. Company (W-2) drivers can no longer deduct it themselves at all; their only benefit is a carrier per-diem program, which pays part of wages untaxed but quietly shrinks the taxable wages that Social Security, unemployment, and mortgage lenders count. This calculator runs both sides honestly.
Drivers use it twice: owner-operators price the 80% DOT deduction on their real days out — 260 days is a $16,640 write-off — and company drivers see what a carrier per-diem program adds to take-home versus what it quietly cuts from Social Security, unemployment, and mortgage-verifiable income.
$80 per day for travel in the continental US and $86 outside it (IRS Notice 2025-54, effective October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026). Departure and return days count at 75% — $60 CONUS. Drivers subject to DOT hours-of-service rules deduct 80% of the total: 260 full days away = $20,800 claimed and a $16,640 deduction. ELD logs substantiate the days; keep them.
No. The unreimbursed-employee-expense deduction that company drivers once used was suspended in 2018 and then permanently eliminated in 2025 — a W-2 driver cannot claim per diem on their own return. The only tax benefit available is a carrier per-diem program, where part of your pay is classified as untaxed reimbursement. Example: $66/day for 250 days = $16,500 untaxed, adding about $4,892/year to take-home at a 29.65% combined rate — but your taxable wages drop by the same $16,500.
It depends on what you need. The cash-flow win is real — untaxed per diem beats taxable pay dollar-for-dollar at your tax rate. The cost: lower reported W-2 wages shrink your Social Security earnings record, unemployment and workers-comp benefits, disability coverage, and the income a mortgage or truck lender can verify. Drivers planning to buy a house or truck within a year or two often decline per-diem pay deliberately; drivers maximizing weekly cash flow take it.