The IRS recently released Notice 2024-68, which increased the special per diem rates for 2024 – 2025 for the transportation industry.
The rate for meals and incidental expenses has been increased to $80 from $69 for travel in the continental United States. For travel outside of the continental United States, the rate has increased to $86 from $74. The new rates will be effective on October 1, 2024. If your trucking company has a per diem program in place, you need to update your calculations to meet the October 1, 2024, effective date.
If your trucking company has not adopted a per diem program for your company drivers, then now may be a great time to determine if this expense reimbursement program could help with driver retention and recruitment.
A per diem payment is a reimbursement, as defined in the Internal Revenue Code and Regulations, that covers meals and incidental expenses of drivers when they’re away from home. The transportation company takes a deduction for the per diem paid, and the only record-keeping consists of logging the number of days away from home. Drivers collect the reimbursement for the expenses, which are not included in their taxable compensation.
Independent drivers will be able to use the new per diem rates to deduct their meals and incidental expenses while away from home on their tax returns.
In this tight driver labor market, having per diems treated as nontaxable income could be a great recruiting and retention tool. If you would like to learn more about how your trucking company could benefit from a per diem program, please reach out to your Schneider Downs contact(s) or Chad Kort.
About Schneider Downs Transportation & Logistics Services
The Schneider Downs Transportation & Logistics industry group includes assurance, tax, technology and management consulting professionals who combine their individual expertise to serve transportation and logistics companies throughout the United States. We possess the capabilities and industry expertise to provide our clients with state-of-the-art technologies and timely communication of the most current and pervasive legislative and regulatory changes impacting the industry.
To learn more, visit our Transportation & Logistics Industry Group page.
