The only reason to incorporate is if you have another person driving for you. If you were to incorporate when you are an O/O you don't get any extra protection because if you were ever in an accident the other person will sue the business and you as an individual since you are the driver. On the other side if you have a driver you would incorporate so if they hit someone they could only sue the business which helps protect your personal assets.
That makes sense if you have another person driving your truck. However As an O/O, would you get a better tax deal if you setup an S-Corp or an LLC taxed as an S-Corp?
Gasp !! Sole Proprietor - because it works for me.
With an S-Corp tax status, you get exactly the same benefits of an LLC, except with the S-Corp you have to jump through a bunch of hoops that you don't have to jump through with an LLC. They are both designed to do the same thing, which is be a "pass through" entity which passes through the income from the company to the owner and gets reported on the owner's tax return. This is also what happens in a sole proprietorship. So if you are an O/O who drives your own truck and have no employees, then you can get all the benefits of an S-Corp or an LLC by doing nothing.
Did you need to get a business license from the state you are based out of?
No, I am not a DBA, I operate under my own SS number as a at will contractor.
Ok, how do you show your co-driver on your taxes? Are they considered a employee?
Is your co-driver your wife?
In my case, my wife is the co-driver, however she is not listed on the title of the truck and FedEx considers her as my employee.