[rfrogger120]

Will i get a larger tax refund if I keep my apartment? even though I'll be on the road most of the time living out of the truck.

[fortwayne]

Well, being no tax expert, I would check with a tax lawyer or the IRS as that is a unique question for sure.........I would say no since they have even cut back on the at home office allowances over the past two years.

Fort Wayne
Guided By God

[greg334]

Go find a good accountant (CPA) and present you entire situation to them to help you decide.

I would recommend a real CPA over a tax preparer any day.

[fortwayne]

Just where you know that I am saying a tax lawyer and not a taz preparer. Now, Greg said get a really good CPA, however, your CPA prepares tax returns for approximately three months out of the year and spends the balance of the time preparing books, records, and financial statements.
CPAs will usually agree to represent you if you approach them with a tax issue even if they do not have the training or experience to handle difficult, complex, or creative tax issues. The IRS can be expected to take advantage of those representatives who are not specialists in the tax law and who do not deal with the IRS on a full-time basis.
A tax attorney can do something an accountant cannot do. An experienced tax attorney can thoroughly research a tax statute and master it. He will know its legislative history. He will be familiar with the Treasury regulations and IRS rulings on that statute. He will penetrate the many court decisions involved in the litigation of the tax statute. He will have read tax articles and books that deal with the tax statute. It is improbable that your accountant has the training or experience that would permit him to penetrate the complexity of the tax law on a particular tax issue. It is also not likely that the accountant can take the time out of a busy accounting practice, working with numbers and preparing financial statements, to master the vast array of difficult tax law that bears on a tax statute.
Even worse is the fact that the mind-set of an accountant is to see "black and white" rather than the "gray" because they are trained to be precise with numbers. Tax law is drenched with ambiguity where there is mostly no answer that is right or wrong. Tax lawyers are trained to seek and find the ambiguity in the law (i.e., the "gray"). Tax law ambiguity can be used as a "sword" to attack and IRS position and also as a "shield" to protect the taxpayer.

Fort Wayne
Guided By God

[LDB]

A CPA who specializes in trucking will spend his year in that work. Besides the annual tax returns there are ongoing financial statement prep, continuing education requirements, quarterly filings and reportings etc. so although they may not be able to file suit or act as primary defense they are quite capable of helping you. I'd put the good ones of them against a tax attorney since they focus only on trucking while a tax attorney has to cover the entire spectrum of tax code. One excellent choice is John Turner at www.truckcpa.com online.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
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Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

[greg334]

Fort Wayne,
Not to yank your chain but a good CPA (accountant) will know more about the ins and outs of the IRS than would any IRS auditor. A tax attorney is only needed when you have a real screw up and you really have to go in front of a judge. Most of the time a CPA (accountant) will do – we are not talking about someone whose income exceeds 7 digits here.

But with all that said, the relationship one has with their advisors, be it a lawyer or a CPA (accountant) or the guy you depend on to tell you which tires to buy is important. I mean you don’t just talk to your CPA (accountant) when you are ready for your taxes; you talk to them on a regular basis just like a doctor who is taking care of a problem for you. As I tell people who want me to buy things, I pay my accountant to advise me of what is in my best interest and if I don’t ask, I wasted the money I pay him. I don’t get this from any tax lawyer (I know this first hand).

My accountant does not do taxes three months out of the year, he works every week of the year accept for his vacation time. His staff works all year round and they do taxes all years round for a number of companies. Also my accountant worked for the IRS at one time, he knows the tax codes a lot better than the IRS auditors and knows how to save his clients money.

[slfisher45]

rfrogger, It sounds like you would keep your apartment just for an extra tax break if there is one. I am not a CPA but get rid of the apartment and put the cash from that somewhere you can earn money off it. When you go to your home base, rent a motel room. That should be deductible and you'll be money ahead.

[TeamCaffee]

rfrogger, The accountant that LDB suggests is a very good one and worth every cent. If you are going to claim Per Diem you must have a home or your truck will become your home and you lose the per diem. I believe to qualify as a home you must make regular monthly payments on the home and it cannot be a storage unit. A hotel will not work either. A good accountant will be able to help you immeasurably!

[nightcreacher]

yes you will,if you dont have a tax home,or a place you call home,your money spent on the road will not be counted as expenses,this i found out the hard way,even though i was liscensed and had a n address,because i was never there,i couldnt take my full expenses,irs had a field day with me

[slfisher45]

Woops, all the above rings a bell. My accountant did mention that. Memory goes first sometimes........Thank God, we have all these checks and balances.
Goes to show you I can't watch the Monk marathon and think at the same time.

[jasonsprouse]

Since the apartment itself isn't deductible (but you need it for the per diem) maybe you should look for the cheapest apartment you can find to minimize your expense. What do they call those "studio" apartments where you just have one room and a bathroom.

Or back in my youth we lived in a trailer park that had "cabins" that were about 12 x 12' that people rented, I'm sure those were dirt cheap.

[ds1450]

YES YOU DO. You have to have a home to go to for you to claim your per diam. If your truck becomes your home, you lose the deduction. I belive that you have to spend at least 8 weeks a year at home. Of course check with a good accountant that knows this business.

[Crazynuff]

O.K. just 3 questions . How much larger will the tax deductions be ? What will the cost of the apartment be ? Why do you need your own apartment rather than using an address of a freind or relative ?

[rfrogger120]

Good idea Crazynuff that the least expensive way to go

[Crazynuff]

Here's what I was getting at . People get irrational when figuring tax benefits . Somebody correct me if my thinking is off . Say per diem deduction is $40 a day ( that's close) . Your actual benefit is the tax you would have paid on that $40 which at 15% would be $6 a day . If you were out 30 days of the month you would save $180 . Now what would you pay for an apartment for this benefit ?