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Latest Stories: Page 4
Taxes
Income tax and other taxes: Understanding the importance of recordkeeping for deductions
Among the biggest challenges for a new business is understanding how you are taxed. This is an area where many new owner-operators run into problems. You can avoid any big surprises on April 15 by using good planning and recordkeeping throughout the year.
January 1, 2025
Taxes
The owner-operator's role in tax preparation: More than just bookkeeping
Avoid common mistakes seen in owner-operator tax returns by checking the major numbers your tax preparer uses. Doing this can save you thousands of dollars in taxes. Also: A smart way to 'play catchup' on bookkeeping if you get behind.
January 1, 2025
Taxes
Ways to handle per-diem and depreciation deductions and cut against common tax myths
Owner-operators' standard per-diem deduction got a boost for the 2025 tax year, while options for depreciating equipment have narrowed back to tried-and-true practices.
January 1, 2025
Taxes
Truck lease v. truck purchase: A tax analysis
Generally, a purchaser will get higher deductions in the first two years that follow, with the fourth year not even close to the level of deductions available to the lease taxpayer. The effect is a tax delay for truck-purchasing owner-operators.
January 1, 2025
Taxes
How, and when it makes sense, to file as an S Corp to save on self-employment taxes
Filing taxes as an S Corp allows an owner-operator LLC to designate the owner an employee of the LLC, yet to still report the income of the business on their personal tax return. S Corp earnings are not subject to self-employment tax.
January 1, 2025
Taxes
Quick-hit tips for truckers to save on taxes and guard against IRS audit risk
The IRS usually has three years from the date of filing to challenge deductions or income stated on your return by requesting an audit, so you should keep your records for at least three years.
January 1, 2025
Trucking and Other Insurance
Trucking insurance: What's necessary, and what owner-operators can expect to pay
Behind a truck payment, insurance is for most owner-operators (particularly those with authority) their second highest fixed cost. Understanding what you're buying with any insurance policy is key to getting the best bang for the insurance buck.
January 1, 2025
Trucking and Other Insurance
Commercial auto liability: Independents' biggest insurance expense
Owner-operators who switch to their own authority often are surprised by how costly, complex and time-consuming liability coverage can be, especially as a startup.
January 1, 2025
Trucking and Other Insurance
Physical damage, other important trucking insurance coverages
The law does not require physical damage insurance, but lenders do. A damage policy will pay no more than the value of the equipment. There's plenty more to consider within a damage policy, and don't neglect other important coverages detailed here.
January 1, 2025
Trucking and Other Insurance
Other ways to save on trucking insurance
Honesty is your best policy in efforts to reduce trucking-insurance premiums. If an insurer cancels your policy over lies or misleading information it follows you like a bad smell after hitting a skunk. No matter how hard you try you can’t get rid of it.
January 1, 2025
Trucking and Other Insurance
Income replacement insurance, disability, downtime claims
The probability of an income-interrupting event over the course of your career trucking is more likely than you might think. Understanding income-replacement insurances as well as post-accident claims processes is critical.
January 1, 2025
Trucking and Other Insurance
Health insurance for owner-operators: Covering personal risks is a cost of doing business
Complicating the difficult health picture for many OTR owner-operators is inadequate health insurance coverage: nearly half of owner-operators do not carry any health insurance at all. There are paths, however, to affordable coverage.
January 1, 2025
Trucking and Other Insurance
Ways to reduce health insurance costs with plan choice, tax-deductible savings in HSAs
The basics of high-deductible plans and Health Savings Accounts, which allow for tax-deductible savings that remain entirely tax-free if used for medical expenses.
January 1, 2025
Trucking and Other Insurance
Understanding Medicare: If you're getting close to 65, it's crucial
How many times have you been led to believe that a Medicare card was tantamount to a ticket to free health care? While it's not that -- you've been paying for it your entire working career -- it can get close if you understand the options.
January 1, 2025
Safety and Compliance
Practicing safety: Resist complacency
It’s as important as ever to resist the tendency to overlook otherwise repetitive tasks necessary for a safe trucking operation on-highway, aka "safety complacency." These are a but a few things that fall on your shoulders to maintain.
January 1, 2025
Safety and Compliance
6 pre- and post-trip inspection myths, and reality
Owner-operators know how important inspections are, but much of the conventional wisdom around inspections is more fiction than fact, which in some cases can lead to OOS violations.
January 1, 2025
Safety and Compliance
Following the rules of the road, and how they follow you: Inspections, violations and safety scores
The cat's long been out of the bag on federal safety scoring within the CSA program. Managing inspection, violation and crash data associated with your business starts with minding the small stuff with respect to maintenance and other rules of the road.
January 1, 2025
Safety and Compliance
Significant hours of service change: FMCSA's 2020 split-sleeper provision changes, explained
Most owner-operators feel professional truckers should be able to "split as they see fit," yet current rules at least allow for ways to get hours of rest during the workday without penalizing yourself on time available to drive.
January 1, 2025
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