Owner-Operator Trucker Taxes | Taxes by Deb Cee

Who this is for

Owner-operators paid on a 1099, whether leased onto a carrier or running under your own authority
Company drivers making the switch to owner-operator who want to start off right
Drivers anywhere in the country. Tax prep and bookkeeping are fully virtual and nationwide.

This page is written for owner-operators who file a Schedule C (see below). If your trucking business is a partnership or a corporation, or you run more than one truck or have employees, ask first. That changes the picture.

What I handle for owner-operators

Your individual return with Schedule C for your trucking business
Quarterly estimated tax payments
Year-round tax planning
Help with IRS notices about returns I prepared
Optional bookkeeping, so your numbers stay current all year

As a current-year IRS Annual Filing Season Program Record of Completion holder, my IRS representation rights are limited to qualifying returns I prepared and signed, before certain IRS personnel. I do not represent clients in IRS collections or appeals.

Flat, transparent pricing. See pricing on the Tax Services page.

Is Schedule C right for you?

Schedule C is the form for a business you own by yourself. It's generally used by:

Sole proprietors, meaning you run the truck in your own name.
Single-member LLCs that haven't chosen to be taxed as a corporation. The IRS ignores a one-owner LLC for income tax unless it elects otherwise, so the business still goes on your personal return.

Schedule C generally isn't the form if:

Your LLC has two or more owners. It's usually taxed as a partnership and files its own return.
You and your spouse own and run the business together. That's usually a partnership too, with limited exceptions.
Your LLC or company elected to be taxed as an S corporation or C corporation.

Not sure which one you are? Bring your formation papers and any IRS election letters. I'll look at them with you before we start.

How self-employment tax works

As a sole proprietor or single-member LLC owner, you pay self-employment tax on your trucking profit. That's your Social Security and Medicare, since no employer is paying half for you.

How it's figured: 92.35%, 15.3%, and the Social Security cap

When it applies: generally when your net earnings from self-employment are $400 or more for the year.
The 92.35% step: the tax isn't figured on your whole profit. You multiply your net profit by 92.35% first. That number is your "net earnings from self-employment."
The rate: 15.3%, made up of 12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare.
The Social Security limit: the 12.4% part only applies up to a yearly cap: $176,100 for 2025 and $184,500 for 2026. Wages from a W-2 job count toward that same cap. The 2.9% Medicare part has no cap.
A deduction back: you can deduct half of your self-employment tax when figuring your income tax.

Quick example: $60,000 of Schedule C profit × 92.35% = $55,410 of net earnings. $55,410 × 15.3% ≈ $8,478 of self-employment tax, before any income tax.

Records to bring

The full list lives on the Tax Prep Checklist. For owner-operators, bring:

Settlement statements from your carrier, plus any 1099-NEC or 1099-K
Fuel costs and IFTA records
Per diem days: your days away from home (logs or ELD records)
Truck payment, lease, or purchase records
Repairs, maintenance, tires, and parts
Insurance, permits, licenses, and tolls

Scales, parking, and lumper fees
Cell phone, ELD, and other work tools
Work gear, gloves, and safety equipment
Estimated tax payments you made, and the dates
Your Form 2290 and stamped Schedule 1, if you filed one (your evidence that the heavy highway vehicle use tax was paid, or that the truck was reported as suspended, as applicable)
Formation papers or IRS election letters, if you have an LLC or corporation

Trucking expenses I review

A business expense is generally deductible when it's ordinary and necessary for your trucking business and you can back it up with records. I don't assume every expense on your list is deductible. I review your records and determine the right income-tax treatment for each one, including whether it's deducted this year, spread out over time, or not deductible at all.

Expenses owner-operators commonly bring

Fuel, repairs, maintenance, and tires
Truck and trailer insurance
Interest on a truck loan, or lease payments
Your truck or trailer, if you own it (usually depreciated, see below)
Licenses, permits, registration, and the heavy highway vehicle use tax (Form 2290). Business excise taxes are generally deductible on Schedule C.
Fuel taxes are usually already part of what you paid for fuel, so they aren't deducted twice.
Tolls, scales, parking, and lumper fees
Phone, ELD, and dispatch or load-board costs
Work gear and safety equipment
Meals while you're away overnight, using actual costs or per diem (below)

Per diem: how it works for owner-operators

Per diem can replace your meal receipts, but not your trip records. In the continental U.S., the trucking allowance is $80 a day, and drivers under hours-of-service rules deduct 80% of it. Tap each topic for the details.

The tax home test

Per diem only applies when you're traveling away from your tax home.

Your tax home is generally your regular place of business, not necessarily where your family lives. For a driver, that's usually where you're dispatched from, pick up your truck, or base your operations.
You're "away from home" when the trip keeps you out substantially longer than a normal workday and you need to sleep or rest to do your job. A short nap in the cab doesn't count. Local runs where you're home every night don't qualify.
If you don't have a regular place of business or a regular home you keep up, you may not have a tax home at all. Then you can't deduct travel meals. Let's talk if that might be you.

The allowance rate is not the deduction

These are two different numbers.

Allowance rate: self-employed drivers can use the IRS standard meal allowance instead of saving every meal receipt. The special transportation-industry rate is $80 a day in the continental U.S. and $86 a day outside it.
Partial days: the day you leave and the day you come back generally count as 3/4 of a day ($60 at the $80 rate).
Deductible amount: drivers subject to the Department of Transportation's hours-of-service rules can deduct 80% of meal costs, instead of the usual 50%. The 80% applies to the per diem amount too.

In the continental U.S., that works out to:

Full day away ($80 allowance)$64 deductible

Departure or return day ($60 allowance, 3/4 day)$48 deductible

Effective dates of the $80 / $86 rate

Each IRS notice applies to meal and incidental costs paid or incurred on or after its October 1 start date.

October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025: $80 / $86 (Notice 2024-68)
October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026: $80 / $86 (Notice 2025-54)
October 1, 2026 onward: $80 / $86 (Notice 2026-60)

So the rate is $80 / $86 for all of 2025 and all of 2026. The IRS updates it each fall. I'll use the rate in effect for your travel dates.

Records you still need

Per diem replaces meal receipts, not records.

You still need to prove the time, place, and business purpose of each trip: dates you left and returned, where you went, and why. Logs, ELD records, and dispatch or load records work.
No records generally means no deduction.

A few more rules

If you use the special transportation rate, you use it for all your trips that year.
Per diem covers meals and incidentals only. Lodging has no standard amount for self-employed drivers. It's deducted at actual cost, with receipts.

Depreciation: your truck and trailer

A truck or trailer you own is a business asset. Its cost is generally recovered over several years through depreciation. An over-the-road tractor is generally 3-year property. Trailers and other trucks generally have longer periods.

Bonus depreciation and Section 179

100% bonus depreciation is back for qualified property acquired after January 19, 2025, and placed in service after that date. Property acquired before January 20, 2025, follows the older phase-down rules (for example, 40% for 2025), even if placed in service later.
Section 179 can allow a larger first-year deduction. The limit is $2,500,000 for tax years beginning in 2025 (reduced once total equipment purchases pass $4,000,000) and $2,560,000 for 2026 (reduced past $4,090,000). Most owner-operators never get close.

Business use matters

Section 179 is only available if you use the truck more than 50% for business in the year you place it in service. Your deduction is limited to the business-use share. A truck designed to carry cargo with a loaded gross vehicle weight over 14,000 pounds is generally not "listed property," so the stricter listed-property rules usually don't apply to a working tractor. Pickups and smaller vehicles are different.

Recapture, the trade-off

If your business use drops to 50% or less in a later year during the recovery period, part of the Section 179 deduction comes back as ordinary income.
If you sell or trade the truck, the gain is generally taxed as ordinary income up to the depreciation, Section 179, or bonus depreciation you already took.

So a big deduction this year can mean smaller deductions later and a tax bill when you sell. Whether to take it all now is a planning decision. Let's talk before you buy.

Book a Planning Session

Quarterly estimated taxes

Do you need to pay them? Generally yes, if you expect to owe $1,000 or more when you file, after subtracting withholding and credits. Most owner-operators do, because no one withholds tax from your settlements. If you also have a W-2 job, more withholding there can cover some or all of it.

Due dates (Form 1040-ES) for 2026 tax-year payments: April 15, 2026 · June 15, 2026 · September 15, 2026 · January 15, 2027. If a date falls on a weekend or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day.

Safe harbor: how to generally avoid the underpayment penalty

Pay in at least the smaller of:

90% of this year's tax, or
100% of last year's tax, 110% if last year's adjusted gross income was over $150,000 ($75,000 if married filing separately).
The last-year option only works if last year's return covered a full 12 months.
Timing counts too. The safe harbor generally only protects you if the money comes in on time, through quarterly payments made by each due date, enough withholding (for example, from a W-2 job or a spouse's job), or both. Paying the full amount late, or only at filing time, can still mean a penalty for the earlier quarters, even if you end up with a refund.

IFTA and Form 2290

These are separate filings from your income tax return. I don't prepare or file them. They're handled by whoever is legally responsible for them, which may be you, your business, or your carrier, depending on how your truck is registered and what your lease says. Bring your copies and I'll reflect your fuel taxes and highway use tax correctly on your income tax return.

Form 2290 (heavy highway vehicle use tax), the basics

Filed by the person or business the truck is registered (or required to be registered) in, not automatically the carrier.
Applies to highway vehicles with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more.
The tax period runs July 1 to June 30. The current period is July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.
It's due by the last day of the month after the month you first use the truck on public highways in that period. For trucks on the road in July, that's August 31. Weekend or holiday due dates move to the next business day.
If you expect to drive 5,000 miles or less in the period (7,500 for agricultural vehicles), the tax can be suspended, but you still have to file.
The IRS stamps and returns Schedule 1. For a taxed truck, it's your proof of payment, which states generally ask for at registration. Suspended trucks are listed on Schedule 1 too, so keep it either way, along with your other 2290 records for at least 3 years.

IFTA (fuel tax reporting), the basics

Who generally needs it: a carrier based in an IFTA member jurisdiction that operates a qualified motor vehicle in two or more member jurisdictions.
Qualified motor vehicle: used for transporting people or property, and it has two axles and over 26,000 pounds (gross or registered gross weight), three or more axles regardless of weight, or is used in a combination over 26,000 pounds.
Common exceptions and alternatives: recreational vehicles aren't qualified motor vehicles. A truck that only runs in one jurisdiction generally doesn't need an IFTA license (state fuel tax rules still apply). Instead of an IFTA license, a carrier can choose to buy trip permits trip by trip.
Leased owner-operators: on a trip lease of 29 days or less, the owner (lessor) reports. On a lease of 30 days or more, the lease can say which party reports. If it doesn't say, the carrier (lessee) is responsible.
Reporting: licensees file a quarterly return with their base jurisdiction, due the last day of the month after the quarter ends (April 30, July 31, October 31, January 31). Weekend or holiday due dates move to the next business day.
In Louisiana, IFTA licenses and returns go through the Louisiana Department of Revenue.

Year-round planning

Tax Planning Session: $350 flat, 60 minutes, virtual. Book any time of year, mid-year or at year-end. We review your year-to-date income, your estimated tax payment status, and your business structure, and you get a written action plan appropriate to your tax year and circumstances. If you enroll in an ongoing quarterly tax-planning engagement within 30 days of your session, your $350 session fee will be credited toward that engagement.

Book a Planning Session

Books that keep up with you

When your trucking numbers are current all year, quarterly payments and planning get a lot easier. See bookkeeping under Taxes by Deb Cee.

Common questions

Do I really have to pay quarterly taxes?

Usually yes, if you expect to owe $1,000 or more when you file. Nobody withholds from your settlements. Read more: Do owner-operators really have to pay quarterly taxes?

Can I deduct per diem?

If you're away from your tax home long enough to need sleep or rest, and you keep records of your trips, generally yes. The trucking allowance is $80 a day in the continental U.S., and you deduct 80% of it, so $64 for a full day. I review your logs to figure the right amount. See how per diem works.

Should I buy a truck before December 31 to lower my taxes?

Maybe, but only if you need the truck. A bigger deduction now means smaller ones later and possible tax when you sell. Let's run the numbers first in a Tax Planning Session.

I have an LLC. Do I still file a Schedule C?

If it's a single-member LLC that hasn't elected to be taxed as a corporation, usually yes. If it has more than one owner or made an S corp or C corp election, it files a different return. Bring your paperwork and I'll check.

I just became an owner-operator. What do I need?

Bring your settlement statements, receipts and logs. The Tax Prep Checklist lists everything.

Do you work with drivers outside Louisiana?

Yes. Tax prep is fully virtual and nationwide.

Do you file IFTA or Form 2290?

No. Those are separate filings handled by whoever is legally responsible for them. That may be you, your business, or your carrier, depending on your registration and lease. Bring your copies and I'll make sure your fuel taxes and highway use tax are reflected correctly on your income tax return.

This page is general tax education, not tax, legal, or financial advice, and reading it doesn't create a client relationship. Tax law and IRS figures can change. For guidance on your specific taxes, let's talk.

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Owner-operator taxes are my specialty. Precision, strategy, and straight talk.

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