Trucking tax basics for owner-operators

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This page is general information, not tax or legal advice. It covers federal rules for a one-person trucking business. State taxes, LLC or S corporation setups, and your exact numbers depend on your situation, so work with a tax professional before you file.

If you run your own authority or lease on as an independent contractor and haven't formed a corporation, the IRS generally treats you as self-employed. You report your business income and expenses on Schedule C of Form 1040 and figure self-employment tax on Schedule SE. Nobody withholds tax from your settlements, so paying it during the year is on you.

Self-employment tax

Self-employment (SE) tax is Social Security and Medicare for people who work for themselves. An employee splits it with the employer. You pay both halves.

• You owe SE tax if your net earnings from self-employment are $400 or more.
• It applies to 92.35% of your net profit, not to your gross revenue. Expenses lower it.
• You can deduct the employer-equivalent portion of SE tax when you figure your adjusted gross income. That lowers your income tax, not the SE tax itself.
• An extra 0.9% Medicare tax applies above $200,000 single or $250,000 married filing jointly.

Quarterly estimated taxes

If you expect to owe $1,000 or more when you file, you generally have to pay estimated tax during the year with Form 1040-ES. It covers both income tax and SE tax. Dates for tax year 2026:

• You can skip the January 15, 2027 payment if you file your 2026 return by February 1, 2027 and pay the full balance with it.
• To generally avoid the underpayment penalty, pay in at least the smaller of 90% of your 2026 tax or 100% of your 2025 tax. If your 2025 AGI was over $150,000, use 110% of your 2025 tax.
• You can pay weekly or monthly if that fits your cash flow, as long as enough is paid by each due date. Pay online through IRS Direct Pay, your IRS online account or EFTPS, or mail a voucher.
• If a due date falls on a weekend or holiday, the next business day counts as on time.

The IRS hasn't posted the 2027 Form 1040-ES yet. Check it for the 2027 dates when it comes out.

Common deductible expenses

A business expense is deductible if it's ordinary and necessary: common in trucking and helpful for your business. If something is partly personal, deduct only the business part. Common ones for a truck business, based on IRS Publication 334:

• Fuel. Fuel taxes are part of the fuel cost, so don't deduct them as a separate item.
• Repairs and maintenance, tires and supplies.
• Insurance for the business, such as liability and physical damage.
• Interest on a truck or other business loan.
• Licenses and regulatory fees, and excise taxes such as the heavy vehicle use tax.
• Accountant and tax prep fees for the business, bank fees and advertising.
• Travel meals through per diem (next section).

Small items: if you elect the de minimis safe harbor, you can deduct tangible property costing up to $2,500 per item or invoice instead of depreciating it. You can't deduct fines and penalties paid to a government, such as traffic tickets, or personal and family expenses. Track your real numbers with the trucking P&L tool.

Per diem for truck drivers

Instead of saving every meal receipt, you can use the IRS special meal and incidental expense (M&IE) rate for the transportation industry. Under IRS Notice 2026-60, from October 1, 2026 it's:

• Who qualifies: your work directly involves moving goods by truck and regularly takes you away from home, usually through areas with different meal rates.
• Away from home means away from your tax home longer than an ordinary day's work and needing sleep or rest. Day runs where you sleep at home don't count.
• Partial days: for the day you leave and the day you return, you can claim 3/4 of the rate ($60) or use another consistent, reasonable method.
• The 80% rule: meals during periods under DOT hours-of-service limits are 80% deductible, not the usual 50%.
• If you use the special rate for any trip, use it for all your trips that year.

Example: 200 full days away × $80 = $16,000, and 80% of that is a $12,800 deduction. Try your own numbers in the per diem calculator.

Depreciation and Section 179 for your truck

A truck is a business asset. You usually recover its cost over several years through depreciation, not as a one-time expense. Under IRS Publication 946, tractor units for over-the-road use are 3-year property.

Two rules can speed that up:

• Section 179: for tax years beginning in 2026, you can elect to deduct up to $2,560,000 of qualifying equipment in the year you put it in service. The limit shrinks dollar for dollar once you place more than $4,090,000 of such property in service. The truck must be used more than 50% for business, and the deduction can't be more than your taxable business income for the year. The unused part carries forward.
• Special (bonus) depreciation: the law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act brought back a 100% special depreciation allowance for qualified property acquired and placed in service after January 19, 2025.

Writing off a whole truck in one year lowers this year's tax, but it leaves nothing to deduct in later years, and you may owe tax on the gain when you sell. Ask your tax pro which mix fits your plans.

Form 2290 and IFTA are separate taxes

Two trucking taxes often get mixed up with income tax:

• Form 2290 (heavy vehicle use tax): a federal excise tax for trucks with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 lb or more. The tax period runs July 1 to June 30, and you file by the last day of the month after the month you first use the truck on public highways. You need an EIN, not a Social Security number. See our Form 2290 guide.
• IFTA: a fuel tax agreement, not income tax. You report miles and fuel by state on a quarterly return to your base jurisdiction. See our IFTA filing guide.

Paying these doesn't replace your income tax or SE tax. Keep the receipts, because they also back up your business expense records.

1099-NEC and 1099-K

• 1099-NEC: businesses report nonemployee pay for services of $2,000 or more per year, a threshold that applies to payments made in 2026 and later. It's due to the IRS and to you by January 31. Payments for freight and payments to most corporations generally don't require one, so many brokers won't send you a 1099 for hauling loads.
• 1099-K: card processors send one for card payments of any amount. Payment apps and online marketplaces send one when your payments for goods or services top $20,000 in more than 200 transactions, though some send them for less.
• If you pay others, such as a contract driver who isn't your employee, you may have to file a 1099-NEC for them once you pay $2,000 or more in a year.

The key point: report all your business income whether or not you get a form. Your settlement statements, rate confirmations and bank deposits are your proof.

How long to keep records

Keep paperwork that backs up your income and deductions until the IRS can no longer audit that return. The IRS guidelines:

Keep invoices, settlements, receipts, bank statements, 1099s and your logs that support per diem days. Electronic copies are fine if they're complete, readable and you can produce them. Your insurer, lender or IFTA may require you to keep some records longer.

Questions carriers ask