Per diem for truck drivers covers meals and incidental expenses while traveling away from home. Transportation workers get a special tax advantage here. Instead of the standard 50% deductibility that applies to most business meals, trucking gets 80%. Handling per diem correctly makes a real difference on your tax bill.

The IRS sets a standard per diem rate specifically for transportation workers. For 2024, that rate is $69 per day for travel within the continental US. Using this standard rate means you don’t need to save every truck stop receipt. You just need to document the days your drivers were away from their tax home overnight.

You have two options. Reimburse actual meal expenses with receipts, or use the standard per diem rate. Most trucking companies use the standard rate because collecting receipts from diners and truck stops across the country creates unnecessary work. The standard rate is simpler and often works out better for drivers anyway.

For employee drivers, per diem reimbursements are not taxable income when structured correctly under an accountable plan. The requirements are straightforward: the driver must be traveling away from home on company business, you must document dates and locations, and any excess reimbursement has to be returned. Miss these requirements and the IRS treats those payments as taxable wages, which means payroll taxes you shouldn’t have owed.

Owner-operators handle per diem differently. They don’t receive reimbursements from anyone. They claim the deduction on their own tax return. The documentation requirements still apply, but the records are for their own files rather than an employer’s.

Tracking per diem requires knowing when drivers left their home terminal and when they returned. ELD data helps establish travel days. Log departure dates, return dates, and overnight locations. This documentation supports the deduction if questions come up later.

A common mistake is paying full per diem on partial travel days. Some companies prorate the first and last day of a trip at 75% to stay conservative. Others pay full days throughout. Either approach works if you’re consistent and can explain your method.

On the bookkeeping side, employee per diem reimbursements under an accountable plan don’t flow through payroll as wages. They’re recorded as a business expense directly. This keeps your payroll reports clean and your tax liability accurate. A bookkeeper near Bentonville who understands trucking can set up your chart of accounts to track per diem separately from other driver expenses, giving you clear visibility into what you’re actually spending.

Getting per diem right from the start is easier than fixing it later. The rules aren’t complicated once you understand them, but inconsistent tracking creates problems when tax time arrives.