November 4, 2024 • 49 mins
Bookkeeping & Taxes for Self-Employed & Truckers. Owner Operators dedcuting all expenses and finding any buwiness expense to dedcut to lower taxes. Truck to Success and self employed need to reduce taxes to save moeney. Tax planning is a key to finaincel defense. Save today with great bookkeeping and tax services. @truckertaxtools @taxationsolutions @ooida
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Tax Talk 4 U is broadcast live Mondays at 10AM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Tax Talk 4 U is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Tax Talk 4 U Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tax-talk-4-u--6333550/support.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Barry G.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Fowler EA brings you tax talk for you right here
on W four CY Radio and talk for TV. As
an enrolled agent and a national leader in tax resolution
as well as trucker bookkeeping and tax planning. With over
thirty years of experience, Barry will break down taxes, book keeping,
(00:49):
tax planning, and tax relief for individuals and businesses just
like you. So let's have some tax talk for you
with your hosts.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Barry G. Foul Welcome morning, and welcome back. You know,
it's just another great day out here. You know we're
talking about bookkeeping and taxes. Today we're going to be
hitting for truckers self employed information that you need to
make sure that your business and you're running it right.
(01:23):
You're tracking your expenses so that you get the most
out of your deductions. You know, we talk about trucker, taxis,
truck and bookkeeping. I do a lot of presentations with
IDA Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association. We get out to
the Mid American Trucking Show and other truck shows as
(01:45):
well as other self employed business shows. And I also
write for Landline magazine see a lot of my articles
in there. So we really enjoy working with truckers. Good
friend of mine Dave Gore, he runs Keeping a Country
Live dot com. Hey, come up with a nice little
(02:07):
theme song for us. We're gonna play this for you
because this is I enjoyed it. I think Dave Gore
is one of the great people out there. Listen to
his station. But here's a great tune he put together
for us. So hold on listen here real quick.
Speaker 5 (02:27):
You have the tax monkeys on your back in your
paperwork piles up to when you don't have time to
sort it all out and don't.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Know what to do. Pall trigger tax dues. He'll handle
it all over.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Wrong taxes two book keeping, and that's just one dig dude,
these special eyes and trucking and you're always they trigger
tax to.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Oh, trigger tax to. Hey, did you like the song?
Connect with us at tax Tax Talk for you dot com.
Subscribe there, Hey, put your comments in, let us know
how that song is. Or go to Trucker Tax Tools
on Facebook and connect with us there. Let us know
how you like that song. Dave Gore again, he's a
(03:29):
great man. He's got other jobs, but he gives around
the country. He does sing. You know, he's been up
in Illinois, he's ever in Louisiana. He's going to be
running the Moonshine event over there is going to be
the first one in Louisiana. But also connect with him.
If you love country music, keeping it country live dot com,
(03:52):
connect with him over there. Is a great man, So
get out there and do it. But let's let's get
to bookkeeping and taxes. And you know, we talk about
bookkeeping in taxes because you know, it's one of the
most expensive mistakes you can make. Whether you're in trucking
(04:13):
owner operators, self employed, whether you're a independent contractor, or
maybe you are a contractor and you're running your small business.
You know, bookkeeping becomes one of those most important things
that you can do because keeping track of those records
(04:35):
and getting all the expenses and everything that you can
deduct on your taxes saves you a lot of money. Now,
you know, we talk about this and Truck to Success,
and I talk about this at some of the other
small business events that we go out to to talk
(04:56):
to owners of small businesses, self employed people. That the
federal tax code is actually one hundred and eighty seven
times longer than it was just a century ago. And
that's according to Walter's Cohler cch. They've been analyzing the
tax code since nineteen thirteen. So, you know, it really
(05:17):
amazing to me that in the first twenty six years
the federal income tax code grew from only four hundred
pages to five hundred and four So twenty six years
one hundred four pages. It seems like they do that
almost daily. Now, now we look at the tax code,
and today's tax code it runs roughly seventy three thousand,
(05:41):
nine hundred and fifty four pages. That's extremely long. Now
can you imagine doing this yourself and actually knowing what's
in those almost seventy four thousand pages. You know, the
question I always have when we talk about this is
how long would it take an average reader just to
(06:03):
read the tax coat? And that's going to take roughly
fourteen weeks. Fourteen weeks. And how do they expect the
average person to understand all the items that you can
deduct from reading the tax coat? It's very complex, you know.
(06:26):
It seems easy when you're doing you're ten forty and
your W two employee, But are you getting all the
deductions when you're self employed? Are you making sure you're
making everything deductible? You know? And we talk about self
employed on our operators truck drivers. You know, what is
again the most expensive mistake that costs you thousands of
(06:51):
dollars and that's the first one is failing to plan.
You know. There was a Supreme Court Justice William Age
Renquests and he said, there is nothing wrong with the
strategy to avoid the payment of taxes. The Internal Revenue
Code does not prevent that, not in any way, shape
(07:14):
or form. Matter of fact, the Internal Revenue Code lays
out the roadmap to save as much money on taxes.
I mean, if they wanted it to be simple, you know,
and I'm sure there's certain parties out there that think, hey,
how much did you make, send it in, and then
we'll give you money back whatever you deserve. I mean,
(07:35):
the government decides you deserve. Well, that's not the way
this game is played. The way this is played is
to find every deduction you can you can possibly have
to save money on taxes. That's what the Internal Revenue
Code is there to do, is to show you how
you can save money or get money back from the government.
(08:01):
And you've got to use that code to your advantage.
And so we use tax planning for this. You know,
it's the key to your financial defense. It's going to
guarantee your results, you know. And that's why we always
talk about these things here with the taxes and why
(08:24):
bookkeeping is so important into saving money on the taxes.
You know, there's two really main types of taxes. You know,
you got your federal and state income taxes, and then
you've got your self employment taxes. Now you being self employed,
and if this isn't your first rodeo, you know you've
(08:46):
been through this. You've seen what happens when you're doing
a schedule, see and you have a net income, you
get hit right off the top with self employment taxes.
Fifteen point three percent, and that's Social Security and that's Medicare.
And so when you're a W two employee, you pay half,
the employer pays half. But when you're self employed, you're
(09:09):
the employer and the employee and you get to pay
one hundred percent, which is that fifteen point three percent.
So saving money, every dollar you save, you're going to
save that for fifteen point three percent. So every one
hundred dollars you save and you're able to aduct, it's
going to save you fifteen dollars and thirty cents. So
(09:33):
you know, you've got to find every dollar and make
every single dollar that you have a way to save money. Now,
there are limits on Social Security. So you know this
year your limit uh and your wage base is going
(09:53):
to stop at one hundred and sixty eight thousand, uh.
And in two twenty twenty five, your limit for Social
Security is going to go all the way up to
one hundred and seventy four thousand, nine hundred. That's almost
you know, roughly one thousand dollars increase in tax just
on you because the wage base changed from you know,
(10:16):
the one sixty eight to one hundred and seventy four.
So again, saving money and finding ways to save money
and reduce your net income is extremely important. Now when
we get into Medicare tax I mean, it's it's two
point nine percent, it's in that fifteen point three, but
(10:38):
you're going to have that all the way up to
whatever you make and then you're going to add another
almost one percent. It'szero point nine if your income married
filing joint is two hundred and fifty single two hundred thousand,
or married filing separate one hundred and twenty five. So
you've got to keep these things in mind. It becomes
(11:01):
extremely important when you're sitting down and looking at how
are you going to cut your taxes and save money
by reducing your net income. And we're going to tell
you a few of the ways that we're going to
do this and how we're going to look at your
(11:23):
money to save you as much as possible on your
Social Security, self employment taxes, Medicare taxes. That is our
goal in doing tax planning and making this the key
to your financial defense. We're going to discuss that a
little bit more. Right after this.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
We have only scratched the surface of today's show.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Please stand by as Barry G Pauer will be right
back with tax talk for you. If you own THEIRS
or are going through IRS audit, don't go at it alone.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Call Taxation Solutions tax.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Relief at eight eight eight nine three zero one zero
one six. We are your solution for IRS, debts, audits,
back taxes, garnishments.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Leans and levees.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Whether you're an individual or business, you need a solution
and a strong, aggressive tax resolution.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Don't let the IRS walk all over you.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Stop the IRS now call eight eight eight nine three
zero one zero one six or go to Taxationsolutions dot
net now for a free no obligation consultation. Let's get
back to tax stock for you with more tax stock
(12:49):
once again.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Here's your host, Barry G. Fowler.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Hey, welcome back, speaking of Taxation Solutions dot net, tax
relief and audits. I just heard that in this commercial
and I was listening to program over the weekend and
this guy was talking about audits. Now, you know, audit
rates are a little bit higher if you're a schedule
(13:18):
CEE than if you are escort or a partnership or
multi member LLC. But audits can be very costly. It
can take a lot of your time to deal with it,
so you know, calling if you do have an audit
coming up, getting in touch with Taxation Solutions would be
(13:41):
a great way to jump in front of this and
let somebody else handle this, because you don't want to
be spending days on and going through an IRS audit,
So you know, give them a call eight eight eight
nine three zero one zero one six eight eight nine
three zero one zero one six and let us get
(14:03):
started and get in front of this for you. Hey,
you know we're talking how are we saving money on
taxes and talking about the importance of bookkeeping and what
you need to do for bookkeeping, not just as a
truck driver owner operator, but as a self employed individual
as well. If you're W two again, you're just getting
(14:25):
your W two at the end of the year and
you're you're filling out your tax forms and bookkeeping isn't
important for you unless maybe you're running a side business
and then it becomes important as well. So you definitely
want to make sure that you're listening to this program,
and if you subscribe to us at tax Talk for you,
(14:46):
you can replay this and catch the information that you
may miss as we're going through this. But you know,
we're using the Internal Revenue Code to make sure we
find every single deduction because that's our roadmap to saving
money on taxes. But we also categorize things into two
(15:07):
types of money, and we're talking spending money pre tax
before it's got tax, or spending money after tax. And
when you're w two, everything you spend is after tax.
But when you're self employed, we are looking for ways
to make money that you who were spending after taxes
(15:30):
to make it pre tax, so it's deduction on your
tax return and you're spending it before the government gets
to it and taxes it. And you know, that is
very much the way to you know, saving you money
because you lose every time you spend after tax dollars
(15:51):
it could have been pre tax. So you know, not
only we're looking, hey, you know, maybe you can earn
non taxible income or shift income to later years, but
we're looking at maximizing your deductions and getting all the
credits that's out there. And that's why we spend so
much time doing tax planning, and that's the time of
(16:12):
the year right now to do it. We look at
it in April May and then we come back and
look at it again here starting in November. Tax planning
is the key to your financial defense, and it helps
you make sure you're not going to lose by spending
(16:35):
dollars after tax. It should have been pre tax, Okay,
so we want to make sure that we're getting every
single deduction that you can possibly have. Now. Just finished
doing a seminar for Truck to Success with oh Ida
Foundation and everything, and they kind of laughed at me
because I kept repeating that tax planning is your key
(16:59):
to defense and that you lose every time you spend
after tax dollars they could have been pre tax. And
I tell them all the time, Hey, I'm trying to
ingrain this in your head so that you're finding ways
to make sure that everything you're spending that can be
(17:20):
deducted is being deducted deducted. Now, you know, it's a
election time of the year and everything else I talk
about taxes and what's going to happen in taxes. We
don't know what's going to happen after twenty twenty five
because depends on whose office in office, who's in Congress.
The current tax law we run under is set to
(17:44):
expire at the end of twenty twenty five, and then
you're going to see the taxes, the high taxes we
had on everybody back starting in twenty twenty six, unless
they come in and repass the Trump tax laws. But
the current administration it says we're going to let those
expire and go back to the old law. Trump's coming
(18:06):
in saying, hey, we're going to keep these these tax
laws here and make so security non taxable. So you
got to weigh your options on which way we go.
And when other people talk about taxes, I'll be honest,
most celebrities you know love to say everybody should be
tax more, especially the rich, except for them. They want
(18:27):
to find everything out. Every politician talks about hating taxes
and gutting taxes, but they've never seen a tax that
they don't like, and so they're going to devote as
much taxes in as as possible. You know, every rich person,
every celebrity, every politician, and every smart person does tax planning.
(18:53):
You should too. Start doing your planning today. Get your
plan in place, you know, so you know where do
we start. You know, we can spend the whole time
talking about starting with companies and what kind of corporation
(19:14):
should you be? What kind of company structure. You should
be matter of fact, I think that we'll do that.
You know next week is how each one of the
company structures saves you money. So make sure you're subscribing
here every week with us so you can get more
information how best to run your business. But today we're
(19:36):
going to talk about the bookkeeping aspect of it. You know,
how do you find every single deduction? Why is bookkeeping
one of the biggest mistakes that not just truckers make,
but self employee people make because a lot of times
they have very very bad bookkeeping. They don't want to
(19:57):
pay for bookkeeping now, So if you use structor tax
tools dot Com, the bookkeeping service there, that is a
tax deductible right off, and so using a bookkeeping service
it gives you another deduction, but it helps you make
sure that you're finding all the deductible expenses that you have.
(20:21):
It makes sure that your bookkeeping is complete, because we
see a lot of bad bookkeeping that is really incomplete bookkeeping,
bookkeeping that isn't done right, or maybe you're doing it yourself,
or you think you're doing it yourself, and you provide
us with round numbers. IRS doesn't like round numbers. Thousand
(20:43):
dollars for this, fifteen thousand for repairs, twenty thousand for fuel.
See all those round numbers don't make sense. We do
a little bit of due diligence on it and say, hey,
this is wrong. Go back to your bank statements, go
back to your set and statements, go back to your expenses.
(21:05):
And instead of doing that, you're just going to guess, Well,
that sets you up for an audit, That sets you
up for trouble, That sets you up for what the
IRS is starting to do. And using artificial intelligence to
actually look at how you're reporting and compare your numbers
(21:26):
to others numbers so that it makes sense. If your
numbers don't jive, guess what, you might have an audit
on your hands. Bookkeeping by people that don't know your industry,
and truckers are famous for this. I'm going to use
somebody local. I'm going to use somebody that is a
(21:48):
friend of a friend. But they have no clue what
tax deductions truckers owner operators should have. They have no
idea what kind of deductions roofers should have or independent
contract Sorry about that. You need somebody that's in your industry,
(22:13):
somebody that knows somebody that's that's good at what they do,
you know, for you, in your in your industry. And
then we see bookkeepers that only care about themselves, their
bottom line. They could care less about what they're going
to do for you or how they're going to do it. Uh,
(22:35):
they just want to look good, you know, sometimes just
telling you to go out and spend money u such
as buy a new piece of equipment, just so that
they can take depreciation and make you look good and
you don't need the equipment. So in my book, that
is somebody that you know only wants to look good
in your eyes by making something deductible today that saves
(22:56):
you a bunch of money on your taxes as opposed
to helping you run your business and know what's going
on in your business. We're going to talk about a
little bit of a bookkeeping system, how we keep it simple,
and how you can keep it simple and do bookkeeping
(23:18):
for yourself. But if you don't want to go it alone,
reach out to truck or tax tools dot Com. There
we're here to help you find every deduction in your
business and help you keep on the road and not
come home and have to do bookkeeping spend more time
(23:39):
with your family, and we're going to be right back
talking about how to keep your bookkeeping system simple right
after this.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
We have only scratched the surface of today's show.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Please stand by as Barry GIF Fowler will be right
back with tax talk for you. As an owner operator,
you already spend too much time away from your family.
Trucker Tax Tools handles all your bookkeeping in taxes. No
matter what level trucker you are, life on the road
can be taxing, but that doesn't mean that your wallet
(24:14):
or time with your family should suffer. Trucker Tax Tools
makes your life run smoothly. Go to truckertax tools dot
com for a free guide that will give you the
tools to never worry about your taxes again. Call Trucker
Tax Tools eight seven seven nine six y six two
four seven seven or go to Trucker tax Tools dot
(24:37):
com now and let the experts keep you trucking. Let's
get back to tax stock for you with war tax
Stock once again, here's your host, Barry G.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Fowler.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Hey, we have a lot of great trucking friends out
there on the road, and we appreciate everything that you
guys do to keep this country moving and you know,
sometimes we have good friends that have been in the
trucking business a long time and they run into problems
(25:15):
and issues health. We have a good friend, Bill Weaver
out there that if you've got time, you know, take
a few moments and say a prayer for him. He's
going through some health issues and needs all the prayers
that he can get to help him down the road.
(25:36):
We just talked to him the other day and he's
got a great attitude and keeps on moving and everything.
Hopefully he can with all of our prayers join together
for him that maybe he can defeat this that he's
going through as well. We're trying to organize some get
(25:59):
together to raise some funds and everything for him. Not
sure how that's coming together yet. We'll be in contact
and let everybody know, you know, if we can get
this in place to help him. But God bless Bill
out there, and again, you know, your prayers would be
greatly appreciated for him.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
Talking about bookkeeping, we're talking about keeping it simple, you know,
kind of the kiss and paraphrase it keep it simple, stupid.
I don't consider anybody to be stupid out there, but
we want to keep it very simple. Is really what
we want to do. So maybe it's keep it simple
and smart. You know, save every receipt you know, so
(26:45):
you have documentation out there. I think one of the
best things that you can do as well is, you know,
go ahead and take a picture of every one of
those receipts. Set a file folder on your on your
phone and you can do that as well and put
those rec he's in there by a year. You know,
a lot of those receipts that you get now at
(27:06):
a truck stop or a store, Walmart, Walgreens, whatever wherever
you happen to be shopping fade over a period of time,
and if you've got pictures of them, then hey, that's great.
If we're doing your bookkeeping, we need something you can
you can also very easily send that to us, you know,
via your phone and everything, because you know, these smartphones
(27:28):
are got little mini computers you know out there. We
won't get started about you know, the big old bag
phones the first time that came out. If if you
were privileged enough to have one, I think my dad's
company when you know, back when I was eighteen or
twenty that I guess, I guess it would have been
(27:52):
in late twenties that he had one that his company
provided for him. So it wasn't quite as smart as this.
It was just a heavy, little bag phone. But you know,
we've come a long way as aid technology today is
The first laptop computer I had was a fifty pound
compact computer that you had to lug from one place
to another. Not the best laptop in the world either.
(28:14):
It was. It was a mini desktop and it didn't
do very much. But these smartphones do really good. So
you can keep it really simple and take pictures and
set up a folder. Make sure you have a separate
checking account for your business, even if your schedules see
run a separate account. It makes it simple to accounts
for things and then run everything through it that is business,
(28:37):
nothing personal. If you're a truck or savior logbook savior
eld EOD electronic logs, get a notebook to carry with
you and a receipt envelope. Put those receipts in that envelope. Loans,
make sure you get your loan documentation together so that
(28:58):
you know you can deduct the right of mind interest
every year. Equipment purchases, make sure you keep your buyer's
order for your equipment purchase. Your tax prepayer is going
to one that if he doesn't ask for it or
she doesn't ask for it, you're using the wrong person.
You want to make sure that, hey, they're looking for
every deduction and get the numbers right, because I guarantee
(29:21):
you you're going to come to me and you're going
to say, hey, I bought this truck for fifty seven
thousand dollars or one hundred and fifty seven thousand, and
that numbers not going to be exactly right. You may
have bought it for one hundred and sixty two thousand
after they get done with all the fees, or one
hundred and seventy two thousand to get done with fees
and warranty and stuff. We need to get that information
(29:43):
to make sure we get this right. I've seen too
many times on a tax return that somebody used an
exact round number. We asked for the receipt and we
find out, hey, you missing out on ten and twelve
thousand dollars of deductions because it didn't record it right.
They just took what would you remember from six or
eight months or nine months ago to do your tax return.
(30:06):
But just because you remember it one way, it doesn't
make it right. Save your records in case you happen
to go through and audit, you need to make sure
you have the records saved so that you have the documentation.
(30:26):
So here's our example to have a very simple record
keeping procedures as a self employed owner operator truck driver
out there. You buy that expanding folder at the office
supply store along with a Stakebloerd desktop calculator registered tape.
(30:48):
You fill out the pocket labels with various categories and
expenses and income and you know, maintenance meals and equipment,
entertainment settlement statements, and office supplies and business supplies. And
(31:08):
then when you get a receipt because of sitting right
there in your truck with you, you put it into
corresponding folder. Before you do that, take that mini computer,
take that picture and save that receipt into the right folder. Now,
(31:30):
you can set up your folders on your phone either
by month or year. You can actually just put it
all in for the one year. Sometimes if you do
those folders on your phone and do month and year,
you're able to find things a little bit quicker then
if you're doing it just as amongst all your other
pictures that are out there. Sometimes those are going to
(31:51):
be a lot harder to find than being able to
separate them by your categories. And then you're going to
keep those things together, total them up, stable the calculators
registered receipt to it, and then put them back in
the same slide. Since they're stable together, they're not going
(32:13):
to get mixed up. You know they're accounted for. Then
you can supplement this by noting your odometer on your truck.
So if you're an owner operator, you're not deducting mileage,
but it's nice to have how many miles did you
drive each month because you can look at your cost
per mile. Now, if you're self employed, you should have
(32:35):
a separate log to log every trip that you make
in your personal vehicle, so you're maybe deducting mileage. If
you're not deducting mileage and you're taking actual expenses, it's
a good way to make sure that you're going to
be using the right percentage for your personal vehicle for
(32:56):
the actual expenses. Now, if it's one hundred percent use
for business, you still need to make sure you're documenting
all your mileage so that you have proof that your
personal vehicle is being used one hundred percent for business.
So we're trying to keep everything very simple for you
(33:17):
and making sure that you've got all the deductions that
you have coming to you to save money and get
everything on a pre tax basis. Now, we're going to
take a quick breaking. Right after this break, we're going
to come back and we're going to talk about some
of the most overlooked truck driver deductions and self employed
(33:41):
deductions that you're going to have while you're on the road,
and how making sure that you're getting those is going
to save you the most amount of money. We'll be
right back after this.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
We have only scratched the surface of today's show. Please
Danby as Barry G. Fowler will be right back with
tax talk for you. As an owner operator. You already
spend too much time away from your family. Stop spending
time doing.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Pay for work.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Go to Trucker textools dot com a solution filled specifically
for truckers. Trucker tax tools dot Com makes your life
run smoothly. Let's get back to tax Stock for you
with more taxtock once again, here's your host, Barry G.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Fowler.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Hey, welcome back. Now. If you're in the trucking industry.
Make sure you get over to tax Talk for you
dot com. Subscribe to our podcasts and everything. Share this
with your friends and family that are out there on
the road with you. So if you see your brother
trucker out there at the truck stop, hey tell them
to go to tax stock for you so they can
(34:58):
stay informed. We're going to be bringing you a lot
of information that can help you on the road. The
same with your self employed. Subscribe over here at tash
Talk for you because again, this is going to be
applicable to everybody. Today, we're talking a lot about truckers
because we just finished truck to Success, some of our
(35:19):
new truckers moving out from being w two employees to
being out there owner operators, out on their own by themselves,
and you know, making sure that you're finding every deduction.
We see. This is so important that you as a
trucker save as much money as possible. You're so important
(35:40):
to the economy and getting supplies, whether you're supplying us
out here that you know need mattresses or food, groceries, fuel,
all that that you're transporting across the country. But everybody's
self employeed needs those things too, and everybody's self employed,
(36:02):
it needs to find every single deduction again to make
the dollars that you're earning work for you the right
way by spending them pre tax, before they get taxed,
not after tax. So making sure that their expense for
your business when it applies to your business, because you know,
(36:24):
the IRS has certain regulations and we've got to follow
that what's ordinary and necessary in your business. So we're
not trying to make your home mortgage a tax deductible
event for your business, but we are trying to find
every little deduction that is ordinary and necessary and used
in your business to be business related. So you know,
(36:46):
as a trucker or even as self employed, your your
association dues are deductible. Your bank fees for the fees
that the bank charges you are deductible. Your cell phones
and internet plans are deductible. Now, cell phones are one
of those special things because you've got to look at
how much you're using it for personal versus how much
(37:09):
you're using for business. Now, if you have a separate
cell phone for the business, and you use it one
hundred percent for business, that's going to be one hundred
percent deductible. But if you're using it to you know,
make personal phone calls and everything else out there. Then
it's got to be weighed how much do I use
it for business? How much do I use it for personal?
(37:30):
Is it eighty twenty? Is it seventy thirty, fifty to fifty?
It really just depends that you're you're out there, you know,
if you're self employed in your truck, or you buy
a coffee pot and you use it for your business, Yes,
it's deductible. Certifications you may need to get are deductible.
Your calculator that you purchase for the business is deductible.
(37:51):
Cleaning supplies, cleaning your office, cleaning your truck, those things
are deductible. If you're driving a truck and you're out
on the mountains and you need chains, those are deductible
envelopes to keep your bookkeeping system going that you have staplers,
tax and bookkeeping services that you're going to be using
(38:13):
are deductible for your business. Make sure you're getting that
deducted license fees. So if you've got to have your
license or permit, you know, self employed contractors, truckers, you
all got to have those permits and everything. Those are
all deductible. Fire extinguisher ice scrapers, excise taxes, road at lists.
(38:37):
Of course, fuel and truck operating expenses are deductible paper pens, envelopes, insurance,
but not your life insurance. So the general liability insurance,
your liability insurance on your truck are all deductible out there. Now,
(38:58):
if you're making payments on your true truck, you've got
to break those payments down when you're financing it between
interest and principle. Principle is not being deducted, but your
interest is expense and deductible principle, you're not deducting because
you're just paying down to your loan and you're deducting
the full value of your truck as depreciation. So therefore
(39:20):
the principal part of it is not being deducted. Now,
if you're on a lease, so maybe you're on an
outperating lease, that whole lease amount is deductible. But if
you're on a capital lease, then only the interest portion
of that is deductible. Because it's like financing your truck,
you're going to own it at the end. You know,
maintenance and your repairs. Now we talk about medical. Regular
(39:44):
medical expenses aren't deductible, but your dot Department of Transportation, Medical,
physical is deductible. Safety gear. Your satellite radio and TV
subscriptions that you use in the truck while driving, okay,
when you stop, not while you're driving, is deductible. Subscriptions, Tolls,
(40:09):
parking fees, these are all deductible. And a lot of
times these are overlooked tools that you're going to be
using to repair your truck or maintain your truck. Your
travel expense is so travel expenses, you're gonna you maybe
you're gonna use some lodging every now and then, maybe
you need to fly somewhere and you're, you know, for business,
(40:30):
then your airline is deductible. Maybe you run into corporation,
you've got to have a corporate meeting, and uh, you're
going to have your board of directors out there, and
your travel expenses are deductible. Hey, that could be a
good way to use some personal travel and business travel.
And then we can split that up and some of
it's deductible. Education. So staying informed in your business, how
(40:55):
to make yourself better in your business is deduct Uniforms
is deductible. People want to say clothing, well, if it
could be worn to church, if it could be worn
and used elsewhere. No, that's not going to be deductible.
But if you've got to have steel toe's shoes, you're
going to have uniforms or shirt here with your logo
(41:17):
on it, those are going to be deductible for you
in your business, postage scale fees. So all these things
we're looking at are considered to be like ordinary and
necessary in your business. And that's what we're always, you know,
(41:39):
looking for is making sure that hey, this is how
we're going to save you money. Now, there are certain
expenses out there that we've got to take a harder
look at, such as maintenance. You know, maintenance is deductible,
you know, oil changes, the labor, tires, but an engine
(42:06):
overhaul needs to be capitalized and depreciated. So something that
makes your truck lasts longer, adds more useful life to
your truck is going to be capitalized. And there are
certain restrictions in doing this, So you've got to talk
to your tax p prayer to make sure that, hey,
we're going to be deducting this right. You know, is
this a capitalized improvement of my truck, such as a
(42:28):
complete engine replacement, transmission replacement, or is this general maintenance
such as changing new oil, and there are certain qualifications
in this to make sure that you're deducting this right
is for the betterment of the unit, restoring the unit,
(42:50):
adapting the unit to new or different use. Those are
things that are kind of be capitalized, and so you
want to make sure that you're going through and doing
it doing it right now. We also need to take
a step back and look at personal supplies and expenses,
(43:13):
so not all personal supplies are considered tax deductible. In
order for personal supplies to be considered tax deductible, they
have to be ordinary and necessary for operating your business.
And some of those that we already talked about in
as uniforms, but gloves, those can be booths, showers. You know,
(43:36):
there are a broad range of things that can be
you know, deemed that you're using on the personal side,
but also deemed for the business side. Communication devices such
as CV radio, cell phones, internet, you know, your radio,
your phone cards. These things can also all be deducted.
(44:00):
And the one thing you got to keep in mind
is you know, what is the business use of it?
What percentage? We also talk about missing meals and entertainment,
so bona fide business meals, meaning you got to have
a business discussion. Now this isn't the same as pretems.
This is when you go out to eat with somebody,
(44:23):
Are you actually having a business meeting with potential client,
potential prospect, somebody. You might be getting new loads from
a referral source, somebody that can refer you more loads,
or business colleagues, or maybe you're running this business with
your spouse. Is that meal tax the devil? Did you
(44:47):
talk about business at that meal? I almost guarantee you
you did. Because you're running a business together, You're going
to have business discussion. Where your next loads going, how
much are you making, how how much do you make
per mile? Are you actually really making money in this business?
And so those are discussions that you're going to have.
(45:08):
Now those are fifty percent deductible, but is better than nothing.
You know, making sure that you're keeping that receipt right
right down on that receipt, who, what, where, when and why,
so that you have it documented. Uh, we want to
make sure that you're taking advantage of every deduction that
(45:31):
you have available to you that's allowed by law through
the Internal Revenue Code. You know, there's a lot of
expenses that you know, you may not think about when
you're running your business as an owner operator, as a
self employed individual, as a contractor, you know, but you've
got to, you know, think about that as a truck driver.
(45:55):
One of the great things that we see out there
is per diems for dams are deductible. So if you're
a schedule to see this is really easy. You keep
track of the first night you leave, the nights that
you're away from home, overnight away from home, and the
night you come back. So the IRS did a great thing.
(46:19):
They for dams have an increased from sixty nine dollars
all the way to eighty dollars. Now it's only eighty
percent deductible, but that's great. And so every night that
you're away from home you get an eighty dollars deduction.
The first night's only forty and the last night's only forty,
but all the nights in between are the eighty dollars deduction.
(46:43):
Becomes a really big tax deduction, especially if you're out
there really hoofing it and you're making good money, and
therefore you could save this right there on your tax return.
And it's eighty percent deductible for twenty twenty four five
and going forward, and it means you don't have to
(47:04):
save receipts while you're on the road for meals and
everything you can steal running through your business account, but
you don't have to be saving every single one of
those receipts for meals out there. You do want to
make sure that if you're doing a business expense when
you're at home and you've gone out with Kyle League
or your wife, your discussing business, you got those and
(47:26):
you got that documented. The other thing is is making
sure that you're keeping track of those nights. The eeal
D log is really good, your paper log is really
good at doing it, and you'll be able to keep
track of it that way. Don't come to me and
report that you were on the road four hundred and
seventy five days this year. There's only three hundred and
sixty days out there, and that means you never went home,
(47:50):
means you really didn't have a home to return to,
and you won't have that deductibility and you're going to
have to go to actual there's a lot of complications
in per diem. Make sure you're talking to your tax prepayer.
Make sure you have a great tax prepare If you
don't find us at truck or tax tools dot com,
(48:11):
let us help you save you money on your taxes.
Do your bookkeeping, keep you on the straight and narrow
so you know what you're going to do. We really
enjoy bringing you information how to save money on taxes.
Remember the tax code is really long. Remember how many pages,
almost seventy four thousand pages. Good luck reading it and
(48:31):
understanding it. We do that. We do that for you.
One simple reminder, if you're going to enter a contract,
read your contract. It's not that long. Make sure you're
following through with the things that you need to do. Hey,
next week, we're going to talk about company structure, how
company structure can save you money in taxes. So make
(48:53):
sure you subscribe to tax Talk for you dot com
and be here every Monday at ten am shured time
and get the information that you need to save money
on taxes. Hey, we'll see you next week. Thank you,
God bless how a safe week out there.
Speaker 3 (49:10):
Are you an individual or business that wants to understand
taxes and how they affect you. Are you looking for
specific tax advice for self employed business owners and truckers?
Are you behind on taxes and your bookkeeping. Are you
dealing with the irs and ready to have some relief,
(49:31):
then you need Tax Talk for You, hosted by tax
and trucker expert Barry G. Fowler EA Kenyon, ten am
Eastern Time every Monday right here on w Fourcy Radio
and Talk for TV. Don't forget to check this and
past episodes at tax TALKFORU dot com. See you next
(49:52):
week at wborcy dot com.
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Barry G.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Fowler EA brings you tax talk for you right here
on W four CY Radio and talk for TV. As
an enrolled agent and a national leader in tax resolution
as well as trucker bookkeeping and tax planning. With over
thirty years of experience, Barry will break down taxes, book keeping,
(00:49):
tax planning, and tax relief for individuals and businesses just
like you. So let's have some tax talk for you
with your hosts.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Barry G. Foul Welcome morning, and welcome back. You know,
it's just another great day out here. You know we're
talking about bookkeeping and taxes. Today we're going to be
hitting for truckers self employed information that you need to
make sure that your business and you're running it right.
(01:23):
You're tracking your expenses so that you get the most
out of your deductions. You know, we talk about trucker, taxis,
truck and bookkeeping. I do a lot of presentations with
IDA Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association. We get out to
the Mid American Trucking Show and other truck shows as
(01:45):
well as other self employed business shows. And I also
write for Landline magazine see a lot of my articles
in there. So we really enjoy working with truckers. Good
friend of mine Dave Gore, he runs Keeping a Country
Live dot com. Hey, come up with a nice little
(02:07):
theme song for us. We're gonna play this for you
because this is I enjoyed it. I think Dave Gore
is one of the great people out there. Listen to
his station. But here's a great tune he put together
for us. So hold on listen here real quick.
Speaker 5 (02:27):
You have the tax monkeys on your back in your
paperwork piles up to when you don't have time to
sort it all out and don't.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Know what to do. Pall trigger tax dues. He'll handle
it all over.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Wrong taxes two book keeping, and that's just one dig dude,
these special eyes and trucking and you're always they trigger
tax to.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Oh, trigger tax to. Hey, did you like the song?
Connect with us at tax Tax Talk for you dot com.
Subscribe there, Hey, put your comments in, let us know
how that song is. Or go to Trucker Tax Tools
on Facebook and connect with us there. Let us know
how you like that song. Dave Gore again, he's a
(03:29):
great man. He's got other jobs, but he gives around
the country. He does sing. You know, he's been up
in Illinois, he's ever in Louisiana. He's going to be
running the Moonshine event over there is going to be
the first one in Louisiana. But also connect with him.
If you love country music, keeping it country live dot com,
(03:52):
connect with him over there. Is a great man, So
get out there and do it. But let's let's get
to bookkeeping and taxes. And you know, we talk about
bookkeeping in taxes because you know, it's one of the
most expensive mistakes you can make. Whether you're in trucking
(04:13):
owner operators, self employed, whether you're a independent contractor, or
maybe you are a contractor and you're running your small business.
You know, bookkeeping becomes one of those most important things
that you can do because keeping track of those records
(04:35):
and getting all the expenses and everything that you can
deduct on your taxes saves you a lot of money. Now,
you know, we talk about this and Truck to Success,
and I talk about this at some of the other
small business events that we go out to to talk
(04:56):
to owners of small businesses, self employed people. That the
federal tax code is actually one hundred and eighty seven
times longer than it was just a century ago. And
that's according to Walter's Cohler cch. They've been analyzing the
tax code since nineteen thirteen. So, you know, it really
(05:17):
amazing to me that in the first twenty six years
the federal income tax code grew from only four hundred
pages to five hundred and four So twenty six years
one hundred four pages. It seems like they do that
almost daily. Now, now we look at the tax code,
and today's tax code it runs roughly seventy three thousand,
(05:41):
nine hundred and fifty four pages. That's extremely long. Now
can you imagine doing this yourself and actually knowing what's
in those almost seventy four thousand pages. You know, the
question I always have when we talk about this is
how long would it take an average reader just to
(06:03):
read the tax coat? And that's going to take roughly
fourteen weeks. Fourteen weeks. And how do they expect the
average person to understand all the items that you can
deduct from reading the tax coat? It's very complex, you know.
(06:26):
It seems easy when you're doing you're ten forty and
your W two employee, But are you getting all the
deductions when you're self employed? Are you making sure you're
making everything deductible? You know? And we talk about self
employed on our operators truck drivers. You know, what is
again the most expensive mistake that costs you thousands of
(06:51):
dollars and that's the first one is failing to plan.
You know. There was a Supreme Court Justice William Age
Renquests and he said, there is nothing wrong with the
strategy to avoid the payment of taxes. The Internal Revenue
Code does not prevent that, not in any way, shape
(07:14):
or form. Matter of fact, the Internal Revenue Code lays
out the roadmap to save as much money on taxes.
I mean, if they wanted it to be simple, you know,
and I'm sure there's certain parties out there that think, hey,
how much did you make, send it in, and then
we'll give you money back whatever you deserve. I mean,
(07:35):
the government decides you deserve. Well, that's not the way
this game is played. The way this is played is
to find every deduction you can you can possibly have
to save money on taxes. That's what the Internal Revenue
Code is there to do, is to show you how
you can save money or get money back from the government.
(08:01):
And you've got to use that code to your advantage.
And so we use tax planning for this. You know,
it's the key to your financial defense. It's going to
guarantee your results, you know. And that's why we always
talk about these things here with the taxes and why
(08:24):
bookkeeping is so important into saving money on the taxes.
You know, there's two really main types of taxes. You know,
you got your federal and state income taxes, and then
you've got your self employment taxes. Now you being self employed,
and if this isn't your first rodeo, you know you've
(08:46):
been through this. You've seen what happens when you're doing
a schedule, see and you have a net income, you
get hit right off the top with self employment taxes.
Fifteen point three percent, and that's Social Security and that's Medicare.
And so when you're a W two employee, you pay half,
the employer pays half. But when you're self employed, you're
(09:09):
the employer and the employee and you get to pay
one hundred percent, which is that fifteen point three percent.
So saving money, every dollar you save, you're going to
save that for fifteen point three percent. So every one
hundred dollars you save and you're able to aduct, it's
going to save you fifteen dollars and thirty cents. So
(09:33):
you know, you've got to find every dollar and make
every single dollar that you have a way to save money. Now,
there are limits on Social Security. So you know this
year your limit uh and your wage base is going
(09:53):
to stop at one hundred and sixty eight thousand, uh.
And in two twenty twenty five, your limit for Social
Security is going to go all the way up to
one hundred and seventy four thousand, nine hundred. That's almost
you know, roughly one thousand dollars increase in tax just
on you because the wage base changed from you know,
(10:16):
the one sixty eight to one hundred and seventy four.
So again, saving money and finding ways to save money
and reduce your net income is extremely important. Now when
we get into Medicare tax I mean, it's it's two
point nine percent, it's in that fifteen point three, but
(10:38):
you're going to have that all the way up to
whatever you make and then you're going to add another
almost one percent. It'szero point nine if your income married
filing joint is two hundred and fifty single two hundred thousand,
or married filing separate one hundred and twenty five. So
you've got to keep these things in mind. It becomes
(11:01):
extremely important when you're sitting down and looking at how
are you going to cut your taxes and save money
by reducing your net income. And we're going to tell
you a few of the ways that we're going to
do this and how we're going to look at your
(11:23):
money to save you as much as possible on your
Social Security, self employment taxes, Medicare taxes. That is our
goal in doing tax planning and making this the key
to your financial defense. We're going to discuss that a
little bit more. Right after this.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
We have only scratched the surface of today's show.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Please stand by as Barry G Pauer will be right
back with tax talk for you. If you own THEIRS
or are going through IRS audit, don't go at it alone.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Call Taxation Solutions tax.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Relief at eight eight eight nine three zero one zero
one six. We are your solution for IRS, debts, audits,
back taxes, garnishments.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Leans and levees.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Whether you're an individual or business, you need a solution
and a strong, aggressive tax resolution.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Don't let the IRS walk all over you.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Stop the IRS now call eight eight eight nine three
zero one zero one six or go to Taxationsolutions dot
net now for a free no obligation consultation. Let's get
back to tax stock for you with more tax stock
(12:49):
once again.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Here's your host, Barry G. Fowler.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Hey, welcome back, speaking of Taxation Solutions dot net, tax
relief and audits. I just heard that in this commercial
and I was listening to program over the weekend and
this guy was talking about audits. Now, you know, audit
rates are a little bit higher if you're a schedule
(13:18):
CEE than if you are escort or a partnership or
multi member LLC. But audits can be very costly. It
can take a lot of your time to deal with it,
so you know, calling if you do have an audit
coming up, getting in touch with Taxation Solutions would be
(13:41):
a great way to jump in front of this and
let somebody else handle this, because you don't want to
be spending days on and going through an IRS audit,
So you know, give them a call eight eight eight
nine three zero one zero one six eight eight nine
three zero one zero one six and let us get
(14:03):
started and get in front of this for you. Hey,
you know we're talking how are we saving money on
taxes and talking about the importance of bookkeeping and what
you need to do for bookkeeping, not just as a
truck driver owner operator, but as a self employed individual
as well. If you're W two again, you're just getting
(14:25):
your W two at the end of the year and
you're you're filling out your tax forms and bookkeeping isn't
important for you unless maybe you're running a side business
and then it becomes important as well. So you definitely
want to make sure that you're listening to this program,
and if you subscribe to us at tax Talk for you,
(14:46):
you can replay this and catch the information that you
may miss as we're going through this. But you know,
we're using the Internal Revenue Code to make sure we
find every single deduction because that's our roadmap to saving
money on taxes. But we also categorize things into two
(15:07):
types of money, and we're talking spending money pre tax
before it's got tax, or spending money after tax. And
when you're w two, everything you spend is after tax.
But when you're self employed, we are looking for ways
to make money that you who were spending after taxes
(15:30):
to make it pre tax, so it's deduction on your
tax return and you're spending it before the government gets
to it and taxes it. And you know, that is
very much the way to you know, saving you money
because you lose every time you spend after tax dollars
(15:51):
it could have been pre tax. So you know, not
only we're looking, hey, you know, maybe you can earn
non taxible income or shift income to later years, but
we're looking at maximizing your deductions and getting all the
credits that's out there. And that's why we spend so
much time doing tax planning, and that's the time of
(16:12):
the year right now to do it. We look at
it in April May and then we come back and
look at it again here starting in November. Tax planning
is the key to your financial defense, and it helps
you make sure you're not going to lose by spending
(16:35):
dollars after tax. It should have been pre tax, Okay,
so we want to make sure that we're getting every
single deduction that you can possibly have. Now. Just finished
doing a seminar for Truck to Success with oh Ida
Foundation and everything, and they kind of laughed at me
because I kept repeating that tax planning is your key
(16:59):
to defense and that you lose every time you spend
after tax dollars they could have been pre tax. And
I tell them all the time, Hey, I'm trying to
ingrain this in your head so that you're finding ways
to make sure that everything you're spending that can be
(17:20):
deducted is being deducted deducted. Now, you know, it's a
election time of the year and everything else I talk
about taxes and what's going to happen in taxes. We
don't know what's going to happen after twenty twenty five
because depends on whose office in office, who's in Congress.
The current tax law we run under is set to
(17:44):
expire at the end of twenty twenty five, and then
you're going to see the taxes, the high taxes we
had on everybody back starting in twenty twenty six, unless
they come in and repass the Trump tax laws. But
the current administration it says we're going to let those
expire and go back to the old law. Trump's coming
(18:06):
in saying, hey, we're going to keep these these tax
laws here and make so security non taxable. So you
got to weigh your options on which way we go.
And when other people talk about taxes, I'll be honest,
most celebrities you know love to say everybody should be
tax more, especially the rich, except for them. They want
(18:27):
to find everything out. Every politician talks about hating taxes
and gutting taxes, but they've never seen a tax that
they don't like, and so they're going to devote as
much taxes in as as possible. You know, every rich person,
every celebrity, every politician, and every smart person does tax planning.
(18:53):
You should too. Start doing your planning today. Get your
plan in place, you know, so you know where do
we start. You know, we can spend the whole time
talking about starting with companies and what kind of corporation
(19:14):
should you be? What kind of company structure. You should
be matter of fact, I think that we'll do that.
You know next week is how each one of the
company structures saves you money. So make sure you're subscribing
here every week with us so you can get more
information how best to run your business. But today we're
(19:36):
going to talk about the bookkeeping aspect of it. You know,
how do you find every single deduction? Why is bookkeeping
one of the biggest mistakes that not just truckers make,
but self employee people make because a lot of times
they have very very bad bookkeeping. They don't want to
(19:57):
pay for bookkeeping now, So if you use structor tax
tools dot Com, the bookkeeping service there, that is a
tax deductible right off, and so using a bookkeeping service
it gives you another deduction, but it helps you make
sure that you're finding all the deductible expenses that you have.
(20:21):
It makes sure that your bookkeeping is complete, because we
see a lot of bad bookkeeping that is really incomplete bookkeeping,
bookkeeping that isn't done right, or maybe you're doing it yourself,
or you think you're doing it yourself, and you provide
us with round numbers. IRS doesn't like round numbers. Thousand
(20:43):
dollars for this, fifteen thousand for repairs, twenty thousand for fuel.
See all those round numbers don't make sense. We do
a little bit of due diligence on it and say, hey,
this is wrong. Go back to your bank statements, go
back to your set and statements, go back to your expenses.
(21:05):
And instead of doing that, you're just going to guess, Well,
that sets you up for an audit, That sets you
up for trouble, That sets you up for what the
IRS is starting to do. And using artificial intelligence to
actually look at how you're reporting and compare your numbers
(21:26):
to others numbers so that it makes sense. If your
numbers don't jive, guess what, you might have an audit
on your hands. Bookkeeping by people that don't know your industry,
and truckers are famous for this. I'm going to use
somebody local. I'm going to use somebody that is a
(21:48):
friend of a friend. But they have no clue what
tax deductions truckers owner operators should have. They have no
idea what kind of deductions roofers should have or independent
contract Sorry about that. You need somebody that's in your industry,
(22:13):
somebody that knows somebody that's that's good at what they do,
you know, for you, in your in your industry. And
then we see bookkeepers that only care about themselves, their
bottom line. They could care less about what they're going
to do for you or how they're going to do it. Uh,
(22:35):
they just want to look good, you know, sometimes just
telling you to go out and spend money u such
as buy a new piece of equipment, just so that
they can take depreciation and make you look good and
you don't need the equipment. So in my book, that
is somebody that you know only wants to look good
in your eyes by making something deductible today that saves
(22:56):
you a bunch of money on your taxes as opposed
to helping you run your business and know what's going
on in your business. We're going to talk about a
little bit of a bookkeeping system, how we keep it simple,
and how you can keep it simple and do bookkeeping
(23:18):
for yourself. But if you don't want to go it alone,
reach out to truck or tax tools dot Com. There
we're here to help you find every deduction in your
business and help you keep on the road and not
come home and have to do bookkeeping spend more time
(23:39):
with your family, and we're going to be right back
talking about how to keep your bookkeeping system simple right
after this.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
We have only scratched the surface of today's show.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Please stand by as Barry GIF Fowler will be right
back with tax talk for you. As an owner operator,
you already spend too much time away from your family.
Trucker Tax Tools handles all your bookkeeping in taxes. No
matter what level trucker you are, life on the road
can be taxing, but that doesn't mean that your wallet
(24:14):
or time with your family should suffer. Trucker Tax Tools
makes your life run smoothly. Go to truckertax tools dot
com for a free guide that will give you the
tools to never worry about your taxes again. Call Trucker
Tax Tools eight seven seven nine six y six two
four seven seven or go to Trucker tax Tools dot
(24:37):
com now and let the experts keep you trucking. Let's
get back to tax stock for you with war tax
Stock once again, here's your host, Barry G.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Fowler.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Hey, we have a lot of great trucking friends out
there on the road, and we appreciate everything that you
guys do to keep this country moving and you know,
sometimes we have good friends that have been in the
trucking business a long time and they run into problems
(25:15):
and issues health. We have a good friend, Bill Weaver
out there that if you've got time, you know, take
a few moments and say a prayer for him. He's
going through some health issues and needs all the prayers
that he can get to help him down the road.
(25:36):
We just talked to him the other day and he's
got a great attitude and keeps on moving and everything.
Hopefully he can with all of our prayers join together
for him that maybe he can defeat this that he's
going through as well. We're trying to organize some get
(25:59):
together to raise some funds and everything for him. Not
sure how that's coming together yet. We'll be in contact
and let everybody know, you know, if we can get
this in place to help him. But God bless Bill
out there, and again, you know, your prayers would be
greatly appreciated for him.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
Talking about bookkeeping, we're talking about keeping it simple, you know,
kind of the kiss and paraphrase it keep it simple, stupid.
I don't consider anybody to be stupid out there, but
we want to keep it very simple. Is really what
we want to do. So maybe it's keep it simple
and smart. You know, save every receipt you know, so
(26:45):
you have documentation out there. I think one of the
best things that you can do as well is, you know,
go ahead and take a picture of every one of
those receipts. Set a file folder on your on your
phone and you can do that as well and put
those rec he's in there by a year. You know,
a lot of those receipts that you get now at
(27:06):
a truck stop or a store, Walmart, Walgreens, whatever wherever
you happen to be shopping fade over a period of time,
and if you've got pictures of them, then hey, that's great.
If we're doing your bookkeeping, we need something you can
you can also very easily send that to us, you know,
via your phone and everything, because you know, these smartphones
(27:28):
are got little mini computers you know out there. We
won't get started about you know, the big old bag
phones the first time that came out. If if you
were privileged enough to have one, I think my dad's
company when you know, back when I was eighteen or
twenty that I guess, I guess it would have been
(27:52):
in late twenties that he had one that his company
provided for him. So it wasn't quite as smart as this.
It was just a heavy, little bag phone. But you know,
we've come a long way as aid technology today is
The first laptop computer I had was a fifty pound
compact computer that you had to lug from one place
to another. Not the best laptop in the world either.
(28:14):
It was. It was a mini desktop and it didn't
do very much. But these smartphones do really good. So
you can keep it really simple and take pictures and
set up a folder. Make sure you have a separate
checking account for your business, even if your schedules see
run a separate account. It makes it simple to accounts
for things and then run everything through it that is business,
(28:37):
nothing personal. If you're a truck or savior logbook savior
eld EOD electronic logs, get a notebook to carry with
you and a receipt envelope. Put those receipts in that envelope. Loans,
make sure you get your loan documentation together so that
(28:58):
you know you can deduct the right of mind interest
every year. Equipment purchases, make sure you keep your buyer's
order for your equipment purchase. Your tax prepayer is going
to one that if he doesn't ask for it or
she doesn't ask for it, you're using the wrong person.
You want to make sure that, hey, they're looking for
every deduction and get the numbers right, because I guarantee
(29:21):
you you're going to come to me and you're going
to say, hey, I bought this truck for fifty seven
thousand dollars or one hundred and fifty seven thousand, and
that numbers not going to be exactly right. You may
have bought it for one hundred and sixty two thousand
after they get done with all the fees, or one
hundred and seventy two thousand to get done with fees
and warranty and stuff. We need to get that information
(29:43):
to make sure we get this right. I've seen too
many times on a tax return that somebody used an
exact round number. We asked for the receipt and we
find out, hey, you missing out on ten and twelve
thousand dollars of deductions because it didn't record it right.
They just took what would you remember from six or
eight months or nine months ago to do your tax return.
(30:06):
But just because you remember it one way, it doesn't
make it right. Save your records in case you happen
to go through and audit, you need to make sure
you have the records saved so that you have the documentation.
(30:26):
So here's our example to have a very simple record
keeping procedures as a self employed owner operator truck driver
out there. You buy that expanding folder at the office
supply store along with a Stakebloerd desktop calculator registered tape.
(30:48):
You fill out the pocket labels with various categories and
expenses and income and you know, maintenance meals and equipment,
entertainment settlement statements, and office supplies and business supplies. And
(31:08):
then when you get a receipt because of sitting right
there in your truck with you, you put it into
corresponding folder. Before you do that, take that mini computer,
take that picture and save that receipt into the right folder. Now,
(31:30):
you can set up your folders on your phone either
by month or year. You can actually just put it
all in for the one year. Sometimes if you do
those folders on your phone and do month and year,
you're able to find things a little bit quicker then
if you're doing it just as amongst all your other
pictures that are out there. Sometimes those are going to
(31:51):
be a lot harder to find than being able to
separate them by your categories. And then you're going to
keep those things together, total them up, stable the calculators
registered receipt to it, and then put them back in
the same slide. Since they're stable together, they're not going
(32:13):
to get mixed up. You know they're accounted for. Then
you can supplement this by noting your odometer on your truck.
So if you're an owner operator, you're not deducting mileage,
but it's nice to have how many miles did you
drive each month because you can look at your cost
per mile. Now, if you're self employed, you should have
(32:35):
a separate log to log every trip that you make
in your personal vehicle, so you're maybe deducting mileage. If
you're not deducting mileage and you're taking actual expenses, it's
a good way to make sure that you're going to
be using the right percentage for your personal vehicle for
(32:56):
the actual expenses. Now, if it's one hundred percent use
for business, you still need to make sure you're documenting
all your mileage so that you have proof that your
personal vehicle is being used one hundred percent for business.
So we're trying to keep everything very simple for you
(33:17):
and making sure that you've got all the deductions that
you have coming to you to save money and get
everything on a pre tax basis. Now, we're going to
take a quick breaking. Right after this break, we're going
to come back and we're going to talk about some
of the most overlooked truck driver deductions and self employed
(33:41):
deductions that you're going to have while you're on the road,
and how making sure that you're getting those is going
to save you the most amount of money. We'll be
right back after this.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
We have only scratched the surface of today's show. Please
Danby as Barry G. Fowler will be right back with
tax talk for you. As an owner operator. You already
spend too much time away from your family. Stop spending
time doing.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Pay for work.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Go to Trucker textools dot com a solution filled specifically
for truckers. Trucker tax tools dot Com makes your life
run smoothly. Let's get back to tax Stock for you
with more taxtock once again, here's your host, Barry G.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Fowler.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Hey, welcome back. Now. If you're in the trucking industry.
Make sure you get over to tax Talk for you
dot com. Subscribe to our podcasts and everything. Share this
with your friends and family that are out there on
the road with you. So if you see your brother
trucker out there at the truck stop, hey tell them
to go to tax stock for you so they can
(34:58):
stay informed. We're going to be bringing you a lot
of information that can help you on the road. The
same with your self employed. Subscribe over here at tash
Talk for you because again, this is going to be
applicable to everybody. Today, we're talking a lot about truckers
because we just finished truck to Success, some of our
(35:19):
new truckers moving out from being w two employees to
being out there owner operators, out on their own by themselves,
and you know, making sure that you're finding every deduction.
We see. This is so important that you as a
trucker save as much money as possible. You're so important
(35:40):
to the economy and getting supplies, whether you're supplying us
out here that you know need mattresses or food, groceries, fuel,
all that that you're transporting across the country. But everybody's
self employeed needs those things too, and everybody's self employed,
(36:02):
it needs to find every single deduction again to make
the dollars that you're earning work for you the right
way by spending them pre tax, before they get taxed,
not after tax. So making sure that their expense for
your business when it applies to your business, because you know,
(36:24):
the IRS has certain regulations and we've got to follow
that what's ordinary and necessary in your business. So we're
not trying to make your home mortgage a tax deductible
event for your business, but we are trying to find
every little deduction that is ordinary and necessary and used
in your business to be business related. So you know,
(36:46):
as a trucker or even as self employed, your your
association dues are deductible. Your bank fees for the fees
that the bank charges you are deductible. Your cell phones
and internet plans are deductible. Now, cell phones are one
of those special things because you've got to look at
how much you're using it for personal versus how much
(37:09):
you're using for business. Now, if you have a separate
cell phone for the business, and you use it one
hundred percent for business, that's going to be one hundred
percent deductible. But if you're using it to you know,
make personal phone calls and everything else out there. Then
it's got to be weighed how much do I use
it for business? How much do I use it for personal?
(37:30):
Is it eighty twenty? Is it seventy thirty, fifty to fifty?
It really just depends that you're you're out there, you know,
if you're self employed in your truck, or you buy
a coffee pot and you use it for your business, Yes,
it's deductible. Certifications you may need to get are deductible.
Your calculator that you purchase for the business is deductible.
(37:51):
Cleaning supplies, cleaning your office, cleaning your truck, those things
are deductible. If you're driving a truck and you're out
on the mountains and you need chains, those are deductible
envelopes to keep your bookkeeping system going that you have staplers,
tax and bookkeeping services that you're going to be using
(38:13):
are deductible for your business. Make sure you're getting that
deducted license fees. So if you've got to have your
license or permit, you know, self employed contractors, truckers, you
all got to have those permits and everything. Those are
all deductible. Fire extinguisher ice scrapers, excise taxes, road at lists.
(38:37):
Of course, fuel and truck operating expenses are deductible paper pens, envelopes, insurance,
but not your life insurance. So the general liability insurance,
your liability insurance on your truck are all deductible out there. Now,
(38:58):
if you're making payments on your true truck, you've got
to break those payments down when you're financing it between
interest and principle. Principle is not being deducted, but your
interest is expense and deductible principle, you're not deducting because
you're just paying down to your loan and you're deducting
the full value of your truck as depreciation. So therefore
(39:20):
the principal part of it is not being deducted. Now,
if you're on a lease, so maybe you're on an
outperating lease, that whole lease amount is deductible. But if
you're on a capital lease, then only the interest portion
of that is deductible. Because it's like financing your truck,
you're going to own it at the end. You know,
maintenance and your repairs. Now we talk about medical. Regular
(39:44):
medical expenses aren't deductible, but your dot Department of Transportation, Medical,
physical is deductible. Safety gear. Your satellite radio and TV
subscriptions that you use in the truck while driving, okay,
when you stop, not while you're driving, is deductible. Subscriptions, Tolls,
(40:09):
parking fees, these are all deductible. And a lot of
times these are overlooked tools that you're going to be
using to repair your truck or maintain your truck. Your
travel expense is so travel expenses, you're gonna you maybe
you're gonna use some lodging every now and then, maybe
you need to fly somewhere and you're, you know, for business,
(40:30):
then your airline is deductible. Maybe you run into corporation,
you've got to have a corporate meeting, and uh, you're
going to have your board of directors out there, and
your travel expenses are deductible. Hey, that could be a
good way to use some personal travel and business travel.
And then we can split that up and some of
it's deductible. Education. So staying informed in your business, how
(40:55):
to make yourself better in your business is deduct Uniforms
is deductible. People want to say clothing, well, if it
could be worn to church, if it could be worn
and used elsewhere. No, that's not going to be deductible.
But if you've got to have steel toe's shoes, you're
going to have uniforms or shirt here with your logo
(41:17):
on it, those are going to be deductible for you
in your business, postage scale fees. So all these things
we're looking at are considered to be like ordinary and
necessary in your business. And that's what we're always, you know,
(41:39):
looking for is making sure that hey, this is how
we're going to save you money. Now, there are certain
expenses out there that we've got to take a harder
look at, such as maintenance. You know, maintenance is deductible,
you know, oil changes, the labor, tires, but an engine
(42:06):
overhaul needs to be capitalized and depreciated. So something that
makes your truck lasts longer, adds more useful life to
your truck is going to be capitalized. And there are
certain restrictions in doing this, So you've got to talk
to your tax p prayer to make sure that, hey,
we're going to be deducting this right. You know, is
this a capitalized improvement of my truck, such as a
(42:28):
complete engine replacement, transmission replacement, or is this general maintenance
such as changing new oil, and there are certain qualifications
in this to make sure that you're deducting this right
is for the betterment of the unit, restoring the unit,
(42:50):
adapting the unit to new or different use. Those are
things that are kind of be capitalized, and so you
want to make sure that you're going through and doing
it doing it right now. We also need to take
a step back and look at personal supplies and expenses,
(43:13):
so not all personal supplies are considered tax deductible. In
order for personal supplies to be considered tax deductible, they
have to be ordinary and necessary for operating your business.
And some of those that we already talked about in
as uniforms, but gloves, those can be booths, showers. You know,
(43:36):
there are a broad range of things that can be
you know, deemed that you're using on the personal side,
but also deemed for the business side. Communication devices such
as CV radio, cell phones, internet, you know, your radio,
your phone cards. These things can also all be deducted.
(44:00):
And the one thing you got to keep in mind
is you know, what is the business use of it?
What percentage? We also talk about missing meals and entertainment,
so bona fide business meals, meaning you got to have
a business discussion. Now this isn't the same as pretems.
This is when you go out to eat with somebody,
(44:23):
Are you actually having a business meeting with potential client,
potential prospect, somebody. You might be getting new loads from
a referral source, somebody that can refer you more loads,
or business colleagues, or maybe you're running this business with
your spouse. Is that meal tax the devil? Did you
(44:47):
talk about business at that meal? I almost guarantee you
you did. Because you're running a business together, You're going
to have business discussion. Where your next loads going, how
much are you making, how how much do you make
per mile? Are you actually really making money in this business?
And so those are discussions that you're going to have.
(45:08):
Now those are fifty percent deductible, but is better than nothing.
You know, making sure that you're keeping that receipt right
right down on that receipt, who, what, where, when and why,
so that you have it documented. Uh, we want to
make sure that you're taking advantage of every deduction that
(45:31):
you have available to you that's allowed by law through
the Internal Revenue Code. You know, there's a lot of
expenses that you know, you may not think about when
you're running your business as an owner operator, as a
self employed individual, as a contractor, you know, but you've
got to, you know, think about that as a truck driver.
(45:55):
One of the great things that we see out there
is per diems for dams are deductible. So if you're
a schedule to see this is really easy. You keep
track of the first night you leave, the nights that
you're away from home, overnight away from home, and the
night you come back. So the IRS did a great thing.
(46:19):
They for dams have an increased from sixty nine dollars
all the way to eighty dollars. Now it's only eighty
percent deductible, but that's great. And so every night that
you're away from home you get an eighty dollars deduction.
The first night's only forty and the last night's only forty,
but all the nights in between are the eighty dollars deduction.
(46:43):
Becomes a really big tax deduction, especially if you're out
there really hoofing it and you're making good money, and
therefore you could save this right there on your tax return.
And it's eighty percent deductible for twenty twenty four five
and going forward, and it means you don't have to
(47:04):
save receipts while you're on the road for meals and
everything you can steal running through your business account, but
you don't have to be saving every single one of
those receipts for meals out there. You do want to
make sure that if you're doing a business expense when
you're at home and you've gone out with Kyle League
or your wife, your discussing business, you got those and
(47:26):
you got that documented. The other thing is is making
sure that you're keeping track of those nights. The eeal
D log is really good, your paper log is really
good at doing it, and you'll be able to keep
track of it that way. Don't come to me and
report that you were on the road four hundred and
seventy five days this year. There's only three hundred and
sixty days out there, and that means you never went home,
(47:50):
means you really didn't have a home to return to,
and you won't have that deductibility and you're going to
have to go to actual there's a lot of complications
in per diem. Make sure you're talking to your tax prepayer.
Make sure you have a great tax prepare If you
don't find us at truck or tax tools dot com,
(48:11):
let us help you save you money on your taxes.
Do your bookkeeping, keep you on the straight and narrow
so you know what you're going to do. We really
enjoy bringing you information how to save money on taxes.
Remember the tax code is really long. Remember how many pages,
almost seventy four thousand pages. Good luck reading it and
(48:31):
understanding it. We do that. We do that for you.
One simple reminder, if you're going to enter a contract,
read your contract. It's not that long. Make sure you're
following through with the things that you need to do. Hey,
next week, we're going to talk about company structure, how
company structure can save you money in taxes. So make
(48:53):
sure you subscribe to tax Talk for you dot com
and be here every Monday at ten am shured time
and get the information that you need to save money
on taxes. Hey, we'll see you next week. Thank you,
God bless how a safe week out there.
Speaker 3 (49:10):
Are you an individual or business that wants to understand
taxes and how they affect you. Are you looking for
specific tax advice for self employed business owners and truckers?
Are you behind on taxes and your bookkeeping. Are you
dealing with the irs and ready to have some relief,
(49:31):
then you need Tax Talk for You, hosted by tax
and trucker expert Barry G. Fowler EA Kenyon, ten am
Eastern Time every Monday right here on w Fourcy Radio
and Talk for TV. Don't forget to check this and
past episodes at tax TALKFORU dot com. See you next
(49:52):
week at wborcy dot com.
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