I've got two (don't need to take my shoes off for this one) jumps on this that I'll try to respond to and I'll probably skip back and forth 'twixt the two, so if I sometimes seem disjointed in my response, it's 'cause I am. 
Then again, I may not; we'll see how it goes as I write.
First off, I'm NOT telling you to toss out your logs after eight days, nor am I saying that if you want to keep them, that's the epitomy of evil. Do as you will. I toss mine on the Ninth of the month (I had thirteen years worth at one time) because I am NOT required by law to keep them for more than eight days. OK? What I'm saying is that you are required BY LAW (man...I wish this format supported italics. If anyone knows how...) to keep your log sheets for a period of eight days but you are NOT 'required' to keep them for more than that period.
Allow me (won't even support indents) to address this first (changed my mind, such as it is).
*Finney,
You do need those logs. They are the required proof if you use the per diem deduction. If you do not have a log book showing you were away from home that whole day, they will disallow the deduction. And as of this year, that is $41.00 per day... that adds up REAL quick.
I have found the people who are so paranoid about their log books, are the ones who run illegal. And I'm sure, as a professional, you're running legal.. so you have nothing to worry about, just proving your deductions, right?*
Yes, I run legal. Actually, all I do now (after all the years running produce coast to coast and flat-beds to no-name steel outfits and dry bulk and so-called dedicated for this guy or that guy...) is run a line haul between Wheeling, WV and Mechanicsburg, PA. Straight D/H, in and out, don't swing the barn doors and don't fuel the truck. Check the lights and connections, look for whatever's hanging or missing, thump the tires, turn the key and drive off. Takes about eight and one half hours a day, so running legal (or working, for that matter) is prety much a sinecure. So is the per diem deduction. Since you are NOT required by law to keep log sheets after eight days, if your accountant tells you the IRS will not allow you a per diem allowance without them, then you need to find another someone to do your returns. For starters, look for somebody that doesn't wet their pants at the mention of the IRS.
I'm not paranoid about 'em becuase of this or that, but neither am I enamored of the idea of giving the IRS any breaks. I realize that as far as the IRS is concerned you're guilty until proven innocent, but that's not how it works. It really all boils down to what do you want to do? Make the bastards work for it, or hand 'em a jar of Vaseline and tell 'em to have at it? Would you have supported the King during the revolution, or would you have fought (only about a third of the Colonists supported the revolution)? Many that fought died, NEVER seeing the blessing of freedom from tyranny for WHICH they died. Did they benefit from it? What's your take (that's a personal question and I expect a response)?
*When you are claiming meals as a driver, the IRS does care where you are because you only qualify if you are spending time away from home. Local drivers can't claim meals. I seriously doubt that backyard gardens are a write-off unless you plan to use it as a bussiness that will eventually turn a profit.
highway star*
Nice handle, BTW. Think I'll change mine to Deep Purple!
(Nobody gonna take my car
I’m gonna race it to the ground
Nobody gonna beat my car
It’s gonna break the speed of sound
Oooh it’s a killing machine
It’s got everything
Like a driving power big fat tyres
And everything
I love it and I need it
I bleed it yeah it’s a wild hurricane
Alright hold tight
I’m a highway star)
On the garden issue: If you sell green beans to your neighbor and a few other folks, you are raising produce for sale. If you show that your expenses (the purchase of the land, tilling the soil, buying the seeds, harvesting and distributing, fertilizer, water, labor and whatever else might come to mind) were greater than your profits, you can claim a net loss on your produce sales. Bear in mind, I dindn't make this @#$% up, our Congress Men and Women over the years did. If you show a profit, you'll need to pay the appropriate taxes.
On the spending time away from home deal: A business expense is a business expense. If your accountant is telling you that you're only liable for forty some odd dollars a day for your per diem as a truck driver, find another. As a driver, your expenses are 'business' expenses, and 'local drivers' (whatever you mean by that; you didn't specify) are able to take ALL their expenses as (damn I wish this format supported italics) 'business expenses'.
Mill rats can write off their mileage to and fro the mill plus their lunches plus their steel toed boots that they have to have plus their jeans plus their gloves plus their soap and laundry and even their $#%&#$$^ beer at the bar after work and you name whatever else you can think of, and you're saying you can't. As a driver, do you know that you're required to wear steel toed boots while driving? They're a write off. Somewhere along the line you (apparently) bought the line that YOU have to prove to the IRS that YOU'RE lying. Don't let 'em talk you into that.
Really do like your handle, Machine Head.
And if you hear me talking on the wind
You’ve got to understand
We must remain
Perfect strangers (from Perfect Strangers/Deep Purple)
(was gonna say 'just' a joke, but it's more like almost)
:9
Then again, I may not; we'll see how it goes as I write.First off, I'm NOT telling you to toss out your logs after eight days, nor am I saying that if you want to keep them, that's the epitomy of evil. Do as you will. I toss mine on the Ninth of the month (I had thirteen years worth at one time) because I am NOT required by law to keep them for more than eight days. OK? What I'm saying is that you are required BY LAW (man...I wish this format supported italics. If anyone knows how...) to keep your log sheets for a period of eight days but you are NOT 'required' to keep them for more than that period.
Allow me (won't even support indents) to address this first (changed my mind, such as it is).
*Finney,
You do need those logs. They are the required proof if you use the per diem deduction. If you do not have a log book showing you were away from home that whole day, they will disallow the deduction. And as of this year, that is $41.00 per day... that adds up REAL quick.
I have found the people who are so paranoid about their log books, are the ones who run illegal. And I'm sure, as a professional, you're running legal.. so you have nothing to worry about, just proving your deductions, right?*
Yes, I run legal. Actually, all I do now (after all the years running produce coast to coast and flat-beds to no-name steel outfits and dry bulk and so-called dedicated for this guy or that guy...) is run a line haul between Wheeling, WV and Mechanicsburg, PA. Straight D/H, in and out, don't swing the barn doors and don't fuel the truck. Check the lights and connections, look for whatever's hanging or missing, thump the tires, turn the key and drive off. Takes about eight and one half hours a day, so running legal (or working, for that matter) is prety much a sinecure. So is the per diem deduction. Since you are NOT required by law to keep log sheets after eight days, if your accountant tells you the IRS will not allow you a per diem allowance without them, then you need to find another someone to do your returns. For starters, look for somebody that doesn't wet their pants at the mention of the IRS.
I'm not paranoid about 'em becuase of this or that, but neither am I enamored of the idea of giving the IRS any breaks. I realize that as far as the IRS is concerned you're guilty until proven innocent, but that's not how it works. It really all boils down to what do you want to do? Make the bastards work for it, or hand 'em a jar of Vaseline and tell 'em to have at it? Would you have supported the King during the revolution, or would you have fought (only about a third of the Colonists supported the revolution)? Many that fought died, NEVER seeing the blessing of freedom from tyranny for WHICH they died. Did they benefit from it? What's your take (that's a personal question and I expect a response)?
*When you are claiming meals as a driver, the IRS does care where you are because you only qualify if you are spending time away from home. Local drivers can't claim meals. I seriously doubt that backyard gardens are a write-off unless you plan to use it as a bussiness that will eventually turn a profit.
highway star*
Nice handle, BTW. Think I'll change mine to Deep Purple!
(Nobody gonna take my car
I’m gonna race it to the ground
Nobody gonna beat my car
It’s gonna break the speed of sound
Oooh it’s a killing machine
It’s got everything
Like a driving power big fat tyres
And everything
I love it and I need it
I bleed it yeah it’s a wild hurricane
Alright hold tight
I’m a highway star)
On the garden issue: If you sell green beans to your neighbor and a few other folks, you are raising produce for sale. If you show that your expenses (the purchase of the land, tilling the soil, buying the seeds, harvesting and distributing, fertilizer, water, labor and whatever else might come to mind) were greater than your profits, you can claim a net loss on your produce sales. Bear in mind, I dindn't make this @#$% up, our Congress Men and Women over the years did. If you show a profit, you'll need to pay the appropriate taxes.
On the spending time away from home deal: A business expense is a business expense. If your accountant is telling you that you're only liable for forty some odd dollars a day for your per diem as a truck driver, find another. As a driver, your expenses are 'business' expenses, and 'local drivers' (whatever you mean by that; you didn't specify) are able to take ALL their expenses as (damn I wish this format supported italics) 'business expenses'.
Mill rats can write off their mileage to and fro the mill plus their lunches plus their steel toed boots that they have to have plus their jeans plus their gloves plus their soap and laundry and even their $#%&#$$^ beer at the bar after work and you name whatever else you can think of, and you're saying you can't. As a driver, do you know that you're required to wear steel toed boots while driving? They're a write off. Somewhere along the line you (apparently) bought the line that YOU have to prove to the IRS that YOU'RE lying. Don't let 'em talk you into that.
Really do like your handle, Machine Head.
And if you hear me talking on the wind
You’ve got to understand
We must remain
Perfect strangers (from Perfect Strangers/Deep Purple)
(was gonna say 'just' a joke, but it's more like almost)
:9
