Per diem is NOT an “extra pay”. What we are doing is taking a certain portion of your regular pay and labeling it as a meal and incidental reimbursement instead of taxable income. All this means is the government has decided that as a “perk” of staying out over the road, truck drivers are allowed to not be taxed on a certain portion of their income.
As a company driver, we take care of calculating this for you each week. There is an IRS standard meal and travel allowance deduction at tax time that you will not be eligible for since we take care of it for you all year long. Also, per diem is for “night” spent in the truck and we max out at 5 each week.
Our per diem rate is now increasing from $66 to $69 per day.
If you have any questions, please call your driver manager or accounting! We’re here to help.