Trucking businesses have deductions that don’t exist in most other industries. Knowing what qualifies and tracking it properly throughout the year is the difference between overpaying the IRS and keeping more of what you earned on the road.

The per diem deduction is one of the biggest and most misunderstood. Owner-operators who travel overnight for work can deduct a daily meal allowance set by the DOT instead of tracking every individual meal receipt. The current rate is $69 per day for most of the continental U.S. and higher in certain locations. This adds up fast when you’re on the road 250 or more days a year. The key is maintaining a logbook or ELD records that prove you were away from your tax home overnight.

Heavy Vehicle Use Tax paid on Form 2290 is fully deductible. So are IFTA fuel tax payments, which many owner-operators forget to claim because they think of them as pass-through costs rather than deductible expenses. Both reduce your taxable income in the year they’re paid.

DOT compliance costs are another category unique to trucking. CDL renewal fees, DOT physicals, drug and alcohol testing, and MC authority or operating authority fees all qualify as deductible business expenses. Annual inspections, ELD subscriptions, and any costs tied to maintaining your legal right to operate on the road count as well.

Truck and trailer depreciation is where the numbers get significant. A new or used truck can often be fully deducted in the year of purchase using Section 179 or bonus depreciation, depending on your overall tax situation. Timing this correctly matters because taking the full deduction in a high-income year saves more than spreading it over several years. This is where working with someone who understands freight and logistics accounting makes a real difference in tax planning.

Day-to-day operating expenses that are easy to overlook include truck washes, scale and weigh station fees, lumper fees, tolls, parking fees at truck stops, and CB radio or GPS subscriptions. Individually they seem small, but across a full year they represent thousands in deductions. Load board subscriptions, factoring fees if you use a factoring company, and dispatch service fees are all deductible too.

Insurance premiums for commercial auto, cargo, bobtail, and general liability coverage are fully deductible. So is the cost of any bonds you’re required to carry.

The biggest mistake trucking business owners make is not tracking these expenses consistently throughout the year. A shoebox of receipts and a bank statement aren’t enough to capture per diem days, separate fuel purchases from personal stops, or properly categorize the dozens of expense types that are unique to this industry. Having small business tax and bookkeeping services in place that understand trucking means your deductions are captured as they happen and nothing gets left on the table when it’s time to file.