Trucking news and briefs for Monday, July 21, 2025:
New ATBS guide outlines owner-op tax implications of Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’
Trucking business services provider ATBS, co-producer of Overdrive’s Partners in Business manual for owner-operators, has released a handy guide for owner-operators to help navigate the provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), passed and signed into law by President Trump early this month.
The firm’s “Owner-Operator’s Guide to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025” is available here for download.
ATBS highlighted key provisions, including making the 20% Qualified Business Income Deduction a permanent part of the tax code. ATBS said that’s “one of the most significant tax provisions for owner-operators” because it allows those who run their business as a sole proprietorship or S-Corp to deduct 20% of their net business profit from taxable income.
The OBBBA also reinstated 100% bonus depreciation for business assets purchased and placed in service after Jan. 19, 2025, and will remain in effect through Jan. 1, 2030. The ATBS guide offers some insight on the difference between bonus depreciation and Section 179 expensing, which allows the immediate deduction of the full cost of qualifying business equipment in the year it’s purchased.
ATBS also noted that the OBBBA makes the seven-bracket individual income tax system that was established in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, which “provides long-term stability for owner-operators, making it easier to forecast future tax payments and plan major business expenses.”
Overdrive's coproduction with business services firm ATBS of the Partners in Business manual presents a comprehensive playbook for owner-operator careers. Browse the 2025 edition in its new dynamic online library format in eight sections via this link.
At once, “this higher standard deduction comes with a permanent trade-off: the personal exemption has been permanently eliminated,” ATBS noted. “The old system of taking a separate deduction for yourself, your spouse, and each dependent is gone.”
Another notable tax change for owner-operators is that the OBBBA raised the threshold for when owner-operators were required to issue a Form 1099-NEC for payments to contractors such as mechanics or lumper services, ATBS said. The prior threshold was $600, and it has been increased to $2,000. It also raised the threshold for Form 1099-K, which is issued by third-party payment networks like PayPal or Square, from $600 to $20,000 and 200 transactions. Under this change, ATBS said “owner-operators will receive fewer of these forms for small transaction amounts.”
All told, ATBS said the OBBBA will be a net benefit for many owner-operators.
“Most taxpayers, especially owner-operators, will benefit from reduced tax rates, higher deduction limits, and expanded business write-offs,” the firm said. “The Qualified Business Income Deduction (QBID) is sticking around, and that alone will save many small business owners thousands of dollars each year. The new standard deduction amounts and changes to tax brackets may also provide broad relief across income levels.”
Find out more about the notable provisions of the OBBBA for owner-operators in ATBS’s guide here.
[Related: 'One Big Beautiful Bill' that needs to be prettier for company drivers]
Lane reductions on I-5 bridge in Seattle for four weeks
Truck drivers in the Seattle area may experience delays along I-5 over the next month as Washington State Department of Transportation contractors work on the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge.
WSDOT
“We’ve been planning and preparing for this work for over a year,” said Brian Nielsen, WSDOT’s region administrator with oversight for King County. “This is one of the most important and challenging preservation projects in the state. We know it will disrupt travel, but the repairs are essential to extend the life of one of the region’s busiest and most vital transportation links. Our team has worked closely with city, regional and transit partners to reduce the effects as much as possible and keep people moving.”
Crews will use the four-week work window to repave and repair portions of the bridge’s two left lanes and continue replacing stormwater drains. Later this year, weekend lane reductions will begin on southbound I-5 to prepare for future phases of the project.
From today, July 21, through Friday, Aug. 15, I-5 NB is reduced to two lanes across the Ship Canal Bridge. From Aug. 15-18, the interstate will be closed near the I-90 interchange to Northeast 45th Street before all lanes of NB I-5 reopen Monday morning, Aug. 18.
WSDOT noted that travelers in the area should allow extra travel time, utilize alternate routes and adjust travel schedules when possible.
Trucker recognized for stopping to help at scene of truck rollover
Heather Barkley, a Pennsylvania-based truck driver for Nussbaum Transportation, has been named a Highway Angel by the Truckload Carriers Association for stopping to help a driver whose truck had rolled over.
Heather Barkley
“I stopped on the side of the road because no one had stopped,” she wrote in a message to her company. “The truck was smoking when I got there, and you could smell fuel.”
She had the composure to throw on her hazards so she didn’t make the situation worse, then called 911.
“The driver was stuck in there; I happened to have a Maglite flashlight in my hand, so I beat the window until I got it busted open and then he was able to kick it out,” she wrote. “Of course, I called 911 during all of this, and I stayed on the scene until the officer told me I was good to go. I’m just glad he was OK.”
