Question about Per Diem and Taxes

mjg407

Well-Known Member
I remember some postings on how a lot of the 121 guys claim the difference in per diem they are paid vs the Fed Rate on taxes for the area. (IE you are in Spain, and get your $48 bucks, but the Fed Rate in 90 for food). What do you do for domestic areas where your per diem is higher than the fed rate?:dunno:
 
Basically, there's a worksheet that goes with your Form 1040 where you add up all your expenses (fed perdiem rate) on one side, and put all your reimbursements on the other side. Then, for 2008 anyway, you took 80% of that number, and were able to write off that amount minus a small percentage of your income (I think 2.5%). Turbotax and/or the worksheet walks you through the math.

If you total reimbursements exceed the totals of the fed perdiem rates, I'm not sure whether or not that would be taxable income, but naturally you wouldn't have a deduction.
 
way i understand it you can take whichever is higher, the federal standard, or your actual pay.

for 2008 it worked out for me to take the fed standard every day for lodging and food.
 
way i understand it you can take whichever is higher, the federal standard, or your actual pay.

for 2008 it worked out for me to take the fed standard every day for lodging and food.
Completely correct. Mine worked out the same way last year as well.
 
I remember some postings on how a lot of the 121 guys claim the difference in per diem they are paid vs the Fed Rate on taxes for the area. (IE you are in Spain, and get your $48 bucks, but the Fed Rate in 90 for food). What do you do for domestic areas where your per diem is higher than the fed rate?:dunno:

There's a table somewhere, I'm not too sure where.

But here's kind of an example from last year:
View attachment Exp.pdf

You can see the different amounts for each city. Not quite sure why SVO is so cheap because you can't have a snack and a coke outside of a kiosk and not spend an arm and a leg.
 
There's a table somewhere, I'm not too sure where.

But here's kind of an example from last year:
View attachment 9099

You can see the different amounts for each city. Not quite sure why SVO is so cheap because you can't have a snack and a coke outside of a kiosk and not spend an arm and a leg.
Thanks Doug. I know you posted that you use a program to do this, just curious where the meal amounts come from?
 
I use www.ezperdiem.com. It costs me about 25 bucks but, it gets me between $11k and $16k in deductions.

What do you do for domestic areas where your per diem is higher than the fed rate?:dunno:

There is no such area. Everywhere we go we are underpaid for that city.
 
Pull a Tim Geithner*.

In a year you will be flying Air Force 1.

b.


*Tim Geighthner is *our* current Treasury Secretary . He hasn't paid taxes for years and is making more money than you.
 
Completely correct. Mine worked out the same way last year as well.

yeah all i did was whip up an excel sheet and plugged in the counties i was at each night, then referenced the govt PDF, and had excel add it all up for me. file is saved for reference if the IRS ever needs it.

easy stuff.

and yeah like someone said above, EVERYWHERE i stayed, we were paid less than the federal per diem rate. WTF.
 
and yeah like someone said above, EVERYWHERE i stayed, we were paid less than the federal per diem rate. WTF.

Well the Government reimbursement for mileage is somewhere around $0.50/mile yet I bet the actual cost is around $0.10/mile (depending of course, on if you are driving a Hummer vs Camry).

I know in the last 6 years/60,000 miles I've had my car (Gov. avg MPG of 21) I've spent around $6000 on gas, oil, mx, tires, registration, etc. If you use the Government average I should've been out of pocket around $27k (using $0.45/mile as the average from 2003-2009).

It wasn't even close to that...so don't feel so bad ;).

The Government average domestic M&I is around $52/night IIRC. To do that you're looking at a $10 breakfast, $15 lunch, $20 dinner and some additional tips for maids and such. I doubt many people spend that on the road. Especially when you consider M&I is to compensate you for not being at home eating...
 
I know in the last 6 years/60,000 miles I've had my car (Gov. avg MPG of 21) I've spent around $6000 on gas, oil, mx, tires, registration, etc. If you use the Government average I should've been out of pocket around $27k (using $0.45/mile as the average from 2003-2009).

QUOTE]

Youre forgetting insurance, depreciation, plus the loss of interest tied up in the capital involved in owning the vehicle (or monthly payment if you do that). Granted it does work out better for the 89 corrola vs the 09 5 series. But still the average cost of driving a median cost vehicle is probably still in the 40 cent range per mile.
 
That is a good point. In my case it is tipped in my favor. Certainly for newer cars with full coverage insurance and a large amount of depreciation right off the bat they will cost more.
 
Back
Top