Tax changes to consider before April 15 | FMCSA hours waivers extended regionally

Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025:

Tax time is here: ATBS runs down updates that could help owner-ops save

It’s tax season again, which means it’s time to start thinking about filing for 2024.

ATBS, a partner in Overdrive’s Partners in Business educational program, has compiled a list of updates owner-operators should be aware of when filing.

Among notable changes was the Internal Revenue Service’s announcement that the per diem deduction for meals and incidental expenses increased to $80 per full day and $60 per partial day as of Oct. 1, 2024. The rate for Jan. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2024, remained unchanged at $69 per full day and $51.75 per partial day. The IRS allows for an 80% deduction of those amounts.

If you are tracking per diem, this means under the new rules the deduction for a full day has increased to $64 and the deduction for a partial day has increased to $48. When filing 2024 taxes, you will need to keep those dates in mind and use both rates, depending on when the expense occurred.

Due to the impacts of Hurricane Helene, drivers who live in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and parts of Tennessee and Virginia who filed extensions for their 2023 returns now have until May 1, 2025, to file. Taxpayers living in the above disaster zones also have until May 1, 2025, to file their 2024 returns and pay any taxes due.

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For assets purchased and placed in service between Sept. 27, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2022, 100% of the cost of the property was able to be depreciated through 2022. In 2023, that bonus depreciation began decreasing by 20% each year. For 2024, bonus depreciation was available at 60%. It will be 40% for 2025, 20% for 2026, and there will be no bonus depreciation in 2027. The cost of the depreciated piece of property will be recognized as an expense and lower your taxable income.

For anyone retired or approaching retirement, the age for taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) has increased to 73. RMDs are required for retirement plans like 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), traditional IRAs, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs. If you turned 73 in 2024, you’re required to take your first RMD by April 1, 2025, and your second by Dec. 31, 2025. The penalty for failing to take the RMD has decreased from 50% to 25%, and that penalty is decreased to 10% for timely corrections.

[Related: IRS boosting truckers' per diem-deduction rate]

FMCSA extends regional emergency for fuel haulers

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Monday extended and modified its Regional Emergency Declaration that was issued earlier this month in response to winter storms, extreme cold temperatures and high demand for fuel.

The declaration originally included the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C. The modified and extended declaration includes 39 states and D.C. The states that are no longer included in the declaration are: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio.

The original declaration waived the maximum driving time hours-of-service regulations in 49 CFR 395.3 for motor carriers and drivers providing direct assistance supporting emergency relief efforts to transport heating fuel, including propane, natural gas, and heating oil in the covered states. It was set to expire Jan. 31.

FMCSA said it received requests to extend the Emergency Declaration through Feb. 15 and modify the declaration to include the transportation of gasoline and diesel fuel.

The modified declaration now covers motor carriers and drivers providing direct assistance supporting emergency relief efforts transporting heating fuel, including propane, natural gas, and heating oil, as well as gasoline and diesel fuel into the affected states.

[Related: Nationwide hours of service exemption for these truckers]

Arizona launches I-10 Truck Parking Availability System near rest areas

The Arizona Department of Transportation has installed electronic signs to alert truck drivers to how many parking spaces are available at I-10 rest areas in western and southeastern Arizona.

The real-time information provided through the Truck Parking Availability System (TPAS) helps truckers get the rest they need without having to use places that aren’t designated for truck parking, ADOT said.

ADOT installed the $2.8 million system at the eastbound and westbound Ehrenberg and Bouse Wash rest areas between the Valley and California and at the Texas Canyon and San Simon rest areas serving both directions of I-10 in southeastern Arizona. 

Monitoring systems track available parking and share that information to electronic signs and third-party sources used by truck drivers. The information also will be added to the Arizona Traveler Information website at az511.gov.

[Related: Truck parking info delivery system study points to key limitations -- accuracy, accessibility in-cab]

The Truck Parking Availability System is part of a $13.7 million initiative spearheaded by the I-10 Corridor Coalition, through which Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas promote safer and more efficient travel for both people and freight. The system provides truck drivers with information on more than 550 parking spots across the four member states.

It’s part of a larger ADOT effort to provide more truck parking around the state. The Statewide Truck Implementation Parking Plan has proposed 842 parking spaces that include expanding existing parking at rest areas and three new lots for truck parking. That plan includes $32 million in funding to add 370 spaces at I-10 Burnt Wells Rest Area near Tonopah, I-40 Meteor Crater Rest Area near Winslow and a new truck parking lot at I-10 and State Route 186 west of Willcox.

ADOT has expanded truck parking at two rest areas since 2019, nearly doubling truck parking by adding 56 spaces to the Meteor Crater Rest Area on I-40 between Flagstaff and Winslow, along with adding 38 new spaces to the Haviland Rest area on I-40 west of Kingman.

[Related: Arizona reveals truck parking expansion plan]

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