Truck driver tax deductions: records for owner-operators and company drivers

An owner-operator is a driver who owns or leases the truck and hauls under contract, so the income and the costs belong to their own business. A company driver is an employee who gets a W-2. The two files share almost nothing, so sort the driver into one group before you ask for a single receipt.

For the company driver, the federal list is short. Meals on the road, gloves or a CPAP for the sleeper are job costs the carrier did not repay, and since 2018 the law allows no deduction for them, with no end date (26 U.S.C. 67). Form 2106 survives only for reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis officials and workers with impairment-related costs, so a driver does not fit (Form 2106 instructions). Your state may still allow some of those costs on its own return.

Overtime is the one new item, and it needs care. The deduction covers only overtime the Fair Labor Standards Act requires, and the IRS lists certain employees of motor carriers among the workers exempt from that rule (IRS Fact Sheet FS-2026-13). If your carrier treats you as exempt under that rule, your overtime premium does not qualify, even when the carrier pays one.

An owner-operator’s income starts with the carrier’s weekly or trip settlement statements. Each one shows the gross revenue, then the fuel advances, escrow, chargebacks and lease costs taken out. Ask for every settlement, plus the carrier’s year-end summary, because the gross figure on the return is the amount before those deductions.

The carrier you are leased to, or each broker that pays you directly, sends a Form 1099-NEC once its payments for the year reach the line. A broker that paid you $1,500 for loads in 2025 had to send one; the same $1,500 paid in 2026 is under the new $2,000 line (Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC instructions, 2025) (Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC instructions (rev. 12/2026)). The 1099 contractor checklist covers each form and year. Every load is income either way, so the settlements carry more weight than the forms.

Factoring changes the picture. If a factor buys your invoices, keep the factoring statements too, since the fees are a cost and the gross load pay is still your income. An escrow or maintenance reserve the carrier holds back is also worth a year-end statement, since it shows what was withheld and what came back.

Drivers in the transportation industry can use a special meal and incidental rate instead of looking up each town where they stop (IRS Publication 463 (2025)). The special M&IE rate is that flat daily amount: $80 for travel in the continental United States and $86 outside it, from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026 (IRS Notice 2025-54). The IRS kept the same $80 and $86 for travel from October 1, 2026 (IRS Notice 2026-60).

You can deduct 80% of meal costs during periods under the Department of Transportation hours-of-service limits, rather than the usual 50% (IRS Publication 463 (2025)). If you use the special rate for one trip, you must use it for every trip that year (IRS Publication 463 (2025)). On the day you leave and the day you return, the rate is prorated (IRS Publication 463 (2025)).

The rate only works with proof of the days. You must be away from your tax home, which is your regular place of business, regardless of where your family lives (IRS Publication 463 (2025)). A driver with no regular base and no home they keep up is an itinerant and cannot deduct travel at all (IRS Publication 463 (2025)).

• ELD logs or paper logbooks that show each overnight away from home.
• Fuel receipts by date and place, which back up the route.
• A day count for the year, with the trips that started or ended mid-day marked.

Form 2290 is the heavy highway vehicle use tax return. You file it for a highway motor vehicle with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more (IRS, About Form 2290). The tax period runs July 1 to June 30, and you file by the last day of the month after the month of first use (IRS Trucking Tax Center). Keep the stamped Schedule 1, since states ask for it as proof of payment when you register the truck (Form 2290 instructions).

A truck expected to run 5,000 miles or less in the period can be listed as suspended, in category W, with no tax due (Form 2290 instructions). The mileage records behind that claim must be kept at least 3 years after the period ends (Form 2290 instructions). So a light-use truck needs its own odometer log, apart from the ELD.

The International Fuel Tax Agreement is the deal among states that lets an interstate carrier file one fuel tax return, called the IFTA return, for all the places it drove. In Texas, for example, IFTA returns are due on the last day of the month after each calendar quarter (Texas Comptroller, IFTA). Keep each quarterly return, the payments and the miles-by-state report behind it. Costs such as plate fees, UCR fees, permits, scale tickets, DOT physicals and CDL renewals go in the same folder.

A tractor is not a “car” for the standard mileage rate, which covers a car, van, pickup or panel truck (IRS Publication 463 (2025)). So an owner-operator deducts actual costs: fuel, DEF, tires, repairs, washes, tolls and parking. Fuel card statements are easier to check than loose receipts, as long as they match the settlements.

The truck itself is recovered through depreciation. For property acquired after January 19, 2025, a 100% first-year depreciation is now permanent (IRS, 2025 law for businesses). Keep the bill of sale or lease, the loan statement for interest, and the date the truck went into service. A trailer bought on its own needs its own papers.

Insurance is often the second-biggest bill. Ask for the declarations page and premium invoices for primary liability, physical damage, cargo, bobtail and occupational accident cover.

A few items sit on the owner’s side of the return. Health insurance an owner-operator buys for the family can be deducted on Form 7206, but not for months when the driver or a spouse could join an employer’s subsidized plan (Form 7206 instructions (2025)). Money put into a retirement plan for the owner, such as a SEP-IRA, also needs its year-end statement.

No one withholds tax from settlements, so most owner-operators pay quarterly. The self-employed checklist gives the due dates for each tax year and how last year’s return sets the safe harbor. Last year’s return also holds the truck’s depreciation history, which a new preparer would otherwise rebuild from the bill of sale.

• IRS Publication 463 (2025): Special meal rate for transportation workers, the 80% limit under hours-of-service rules, the tax home test and the vehicles covered by the standard mileage rate.
• IRS Notice 2025-54: Special transportation industry M&IE rates of $80 (CONUS) and $86 (OCONUS) for October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026.
• IRS Notice 2026-60: Special transportation industry M&IE rates of $80 (CONUS) and $86 (OCONUS) for travel on or after October 1, 2026.
• 26 U.S.C. 67: No miscellaneous itemized deduction is allowed for any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2017.
• Form 2106 instructions: Form 2106 may be used only by Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis officials and employees with impairment-related work expenses.
• IRS Fact Sheet FS-2026-13: Only overtime required by FLSA section 7 qualifies; certain motor carrier employees are exempt; up to $12,500 ($25,000 joint), reduced above $150,000 ($300,000 joint) of MAGI; W-2 box 12 code TT from 2026.
• Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC instructions (rev. 12/2026): For tax years beginning after 2025, the Form 1099-NEC threshold is $2,000.
• Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC instructions, 2025: For 2025, Form 1099-NEC reported payments of $600 or more.
• IRS, About Form 2290: Form 2290 is used to figure and pay the tax on highway motor vehicles with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more.
• IRS Trucking Tax Center: The Form 2290 period runs July 1 to June 30, and the return is due by the last day of the month after the month of first use.
• Form 2290 instructions: The stamped Schedule 1 is proof of payment; vehicles expected to run 5,000 miles or less are suspended (category W), with records kept at least 3 years after the period.
• Texas Comptroller, IFTA: IFTA returns are due quarterly, on the last day of the month following the end of the calendar quarter.
• IRS, 2025 law for businesses: A permanent 100% first-year depreciation applies to qualified property acquired after January 19, 2025.
• Form 7206 instructions (2025): No self-employed health insurance deduction for any month you were eligible for a subsidized plan of your or your spouse’s employer.