Truck Drivers and Per Diem

[nwtaxlady]

I have a new client. He drives truck for Gordon Trucking. He is hauling product into and out of another neighboring State which is about 150 miles North of us.
I asked him if he comes home every night and he said yes. He wants to take a Per Diem for the Days he is driving in & out of that State. I had him bring in the last 3 years tax returns that were prepared by 2 different preparers and they had both take a Per Diem for the amount of days that he was in and out of the other nearby State. I also asked him if in those prior years if he was driving long haul and away from home over night and he said nope, never have.

I thought you had to be away from home over night in order to take Per Diem for meals? Is there something I am missing here?

Thanks.

[rtsietsema]

Missing nothing

You aren't missing anything. Prior preparers created incorrect returns. You need to be unable to return to your home in order to qualify for per diem. You may have to explain the IRS guidelines to your client for using the per diem.

[David1980]

Traveling away from home doesn't actually require an overnight trip. From publication 463:

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch01.html#en_US_2015_publink100033750

Traveling Away From Home

You are traveling away from home if:

Your duties require you to be away from the general area of your tax home (defined later) substantially longer than an ordinary day's work, and

You need to sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away from home.

This rest requirement is not satisfied by merely napping in your car. You do not have to be away from your tax home for a whole day or from dusk to dawn as long as your relief from duty is long enough to get necessary sleep or rest.

Example 1 in publication 463 is a railroad conductor who leaves and returns home 16 hours later with 6 hours off at a turnaround point and the IRS considers that to be away from home. Example 2 is an hour off at the turnaround point and that is not considered traveling away from home. You basically have to look at how long the days are, the amount of time off to get rest, and make a decision as to whether you think that qualifies as away from home or not.