I like my Per Diem pay
When I did my orientation ride-along, the trainer told me that we had Per Diem pay. I thought to myself, great, now I have to go tell the payroll lady that I don't want Per Diem pay (I'd rather be taxed at the higher rate).
Well, I picked up my 1st paycheck here last Friday, and to say the least, I was surprised by it, and very happy. I make 24.5% of the load, plus $0.16cpm empty. We also get a 1% safety bonus monthly. I expected the Per Diem pay to be based on that. It's not. My pay stub had the loads in that week paid @ the above rates, PLUS there was extra pay of $52 per day that I was away from home. They actually pay the $52 in quarter-days, so there was a couple of days that was $13, $26, etc. This is untaxed pay in addition to the regular percentage pay. Now THAT Per Diem I like. Basically, on a 2 week pay period, we get an additional $520 if we're out a total of 10 days, which we normally are. Ya - I can handle that. |
Watch that per diem...you can only claim a portion of it on your taxes..I forget the % but its not 100%. Also, you must be able to justify that you are "away" for the time that you claim. You might be well advised to have you tax guy (or gal....have to stay PC here) check it out for you and tell you how much to hold back soes you doesn't get bit at tax time!
BTW...you have a PM. |
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Add it up over the course of a year, and you are looking at about $4000 or so that you have to pay all the withholding on. Enjoy that tax bill. :wink: |
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If you are receiving per-diem pay, and don't have enough deductions to itemize, then you will have to pay tax on that entire amount. I would hate to have to pay the full taxes on what could potentially be about $16,000 a year. Per diem pay benefits the employer - that is why they offer it. They are able to deduct the entire amount as a business expense, and therefore don't have to pay any taxes on it that they would if it were income (SS, FICA, etc.). They also usually deduct some of your wages for giving you this option, so they pay less taxes on your wages on that end as well. The only way a driver should be accepting per-diem pay is if they have enough deductions to itemize. If you aren't itemizing, then you will get nailed with a major tax bill, as the entire amount is considered income, even though it isn't taxed. |
The per diem pay comes with a form filled out by the payroll lady that shows the number of hours we was away from the house each day on that pay period. That info comes from our logbooks, which is a supporting federal document.
None of the $52 is taxed. The pay stub, along with the form, states clearly 'non-taxable income'. I remember when I was younger and doing construction work, we'd often get paid per diem + salary when we did out of town work. We'd show up for work on Sunday night and check into the hotel/motel. Monday morning when we arrived at the job site, the foreman would hand out envelopes with the weeks per diem pay in cash for us to use as living money while we were at work that week. Just never saw or heard of that done in any OTR driving jobs. |
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Also, in addition to the major tax issues that you'll end up having, are you aware that since your social security is based on taxable income, you are torpedoing your future social security income? If you're one of those people that doesn't have any faith in social security, then that's not a big deal I suppose. It's your gamble, either way. If you gamble and lose, though, you'll be handing out little yellow smiley stickers at Wal Mart and eating Alpo for dinner after you turn 65. |
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