If you drive under a 1099, the IRS treats you as a business, and a 1099 truck driver can write off just about every ordinary and necessary cost of running that business on taxes: the truck and its operating costs, travel and meals away from home, insurance and permits, phone and equipment, professional fees, retirement contributions, health insurance, half of your self-employment tax, and up to 20% of net business income through the qualified business income deduction. Most of these run through Schedule C, where each dollar of deduction lowers both your income tax and the 15.3% self-employment tax.1Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes) The rule behind every write-off is the same: the expense has to be common in trucking and helpful for running your business.2Internal Revenue Service. Ordinary and Necessary
The Truck
Your rig is the largest write-off you have. The IRS offers two ways to deduct it, and once you pick a method for a given truck, switching later can be restricted, especially if you’ve already claimed accelerated depreciation.3Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 510, Business Use of Car
Actual Expenses
Under the actual expense method, you deduct every real cost of running the truck: fuel, oil, tires, repairs, insurance, state registration, and interest on the truck loan. It takes more paperwork, but for a Class 8 the numbers almost always come out ahead of the mileage rate.
The largest piece is depreciation, which lets you recover the purchase price over time. You can stretch it across the truck’s useful life on a standard schedule, or you can accelerate it hard.
Section 179 lets you deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment in the year you place it in service. For 2026, the maximum Section 179 deduction is roughly $2,560,000, and the phase-out doesn’t start until total qualifying property placed in service exceeds about $4,090,000, so for a driver buying one or two trucks the whole cost qualifies.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 179 – Election to Expense Certain Depreciable Business Assets
Bonus depreciation is back at 100% for qualifying property acquired after January 19, 2025.5Internal Revenue Service. Notice 26-11 – Interim Guidance on Additional First Year Depreciation Deduction Before that change, bonus depreciation had been phasing down (60% in 2024, scheduled to hit 20% in 2026); a truck bought in 2026 now qualifies for the full first-year write-off. All depreciation and Section 179 elections go on Form 4562.6Internal Revenue Service. About Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization
Lease Payments
If you lease the truck, the business-use portion of each lease payment is deductible as an operating expense on Schedule C.7Internal Revenue Service. Income and Expenses 5 You can’t claim depreciation or Section 179 on a leased truck because you don’t own it. Higher-value leases may require an “inclusion amount” that reduces the deduction, so check the IRS lease inclusion tables for the year the lease started.
Standard Mileage Rate
The IRS sets a per-mile rate that bundles fuel, maintenance, depreciation, and insurance together. For 2026, the business rate is 72.5 cents per mile.8Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate at 72.5 Cents Per Mile Diesel, tires, and maintenance on a heavy truck run well above that, so the mileage rate is usually a bad deal for a Class 8. It fits better for a personal vehicle used for business errands or trips to a home office, and you can’t use it at all on a vehicle where you’ve already claimed Section 179 or bonus depreciation.
Travel and Meals on the Road
Travel costs are deductible only when you’re away from your tax home long enough to require sleep or rest. Your tax home is the city or general area where you regularly conduct a substantial portion of your business, not necessarily where you live.9Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 – Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses Driving from your house to a local terminal in the same metro area is commuting, and commuting is never deductible. Once you’re out overnight, lodging, truck stop showers, laundry, and parking fees become deductible business expenses.
Per Diem
Most drivers skip tracking individual meal receipts and use the special per diem rate for transportation workers. For October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, that rate is $80 per day inside the continental United States and $86 per day outside it.10Internal Revenue Service. Notice 25-54 – 2025-2026 Special Per Diem Rates The flat rate covers meals and incidental expenses.
Because you’re subject to DOT hours-of-service rules, you can deduct 80% of your meal expenses instead of the 50% limit that applies to most business meals.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 274 – Disallowance of Certain Entertainment, Etc., Expenses On the first and last day of a trip, claim 75% of the full daily rate rather than 100%.12Internal Revenue Service. Per Diem Payments Frequently Asked Questions
Keep a log showing dates, departure and arrival times, and locations away from your tax home. Without it, the per diem claim falls apart in an audit. And if a carrier reimburses you for meals, you can’t also claim the per diem for those days.
Running the Business
Everything else it takes to operate legally is deductible on Schedule C as long as it’s ordinary and necessary.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 162 – Trade or Business Expenses
Insurance. Commercial liability, cargo, and occupational accident premiums are fully deductible, and for most owners this is one of the larger non-vehicle costs.
Permits and regulatory fees. The Heavy Vehicle Use Tax reported on Form 2290 is deductible, along with IFTA fuel tax permits, International Registration Plan fees, and other state and federal permits.14Internal Revenue Service. About Form 2290, Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return CDL renewal fees and DOT medical physicals also qualify.
Phone and technology. The business-use share of your cell phone bill, dispatch software subscriptions, ELD devices, GPS units, and CB radio maintenance are deductible. Phone used 70% for business means deducting 70% of the bill.
Supplies and equipment. Chains, binders, straps, tarps, hard hats, reflective vests, logbooks, and bill-of-lading forms all count.
Professional services. Accountant fees for preparing Schedule C, attorney fees for reviewing contracts, and percentages paid to a dispatch service or freight broker are deductible.
Association dues. Dues to a professional trucking organization are deductible when the organization’s primary purpose relates to your trade. The lobbying portion of any dues is not deductible.
Education
Training that maintains or improves skills you already use in trucking is deductible: hazmat endorsement renewals, safety courses, and advanced driving certifications qualify.15Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 513, Work-Related Education Expenses Education that qualifies you for a new career or meets the minimum requirements to enter trucking is not. Initial CDL school doesn’t qualify. A course to add a tanker endorsement on top of an existing CDL does, including tuition, books, and related travel.
Home Office
If you handle dispatch, invoicing, and bookkeeping from a dedicated space at home, that space can be deducted. It has to be used regularly and exclusively for business, so the kitchen table doesn’t count.16Internal Revenue Service. Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction The simplified method gives you $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet, capped at $1,500. The regular method tracks actual mortgage interest or rent, utilities, and insurance allocable to the office and often produces a larger deduction.
Deductions That Live Off Schedule C
Some of the biggest write-offs for a 1099 driver are not Schedule C expenses at all. They show up as adjustments on Form 1040 or on Schedule SE, and they still cut your tax bill.
Half of self-employment tax. You owe the full 15.3% SE tax on net earnings (12.4% Social Security up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500, then 2.9% Medicare on everything).1Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes)17Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base Half of what you pay is deductible as an adjustment to income on Form 1040, lowering your AGI.
Health insurance premiums. Self-employed drivers can deduct the full cost of medical, dental, and qualified long-term care premiums for themselves, a spouse, and dependents, as long as the plan is established under the business.18Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 7206 The deduction is lost for any month you were eligible for a subsidized plan through a spouse’s employer, even if you didn’t enroll. It’s an adjustment to income, not a Schedule C expense.
Retirement contributions. These reduce taxable income without touching self-employment tax:
- SEP IRA: up to 25% of compensation, effectively about 20% of net self-employment earnings after the SE tax deduction, with a 2026 maximum of $72,000.19Internal Revenue Service. SEP Contribution Limits (Including Grandfathered SARSEPs)
- Solo 401(k): an employee deferral up to $24,500 for 2026 plus an employer profit-sharing piece up to 25% of net self-employment income, with a combined cap of $72,000 for drivers under 50 and catch-up contributions for older participants.20Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plans for Self-Employed People
- SIMPLE IRA: lower limits, simpler paperwork, more practical for drivers with modest net income.
The Solo 401(k) usually shelters more income at lower earnings because of the deferral component. The SEP IRA takes less administration.
Qualified business income deduction. Sole proprietors and single-member LLCs can generally take up to 20% of net qualified business income as a deduction under Section 199A.21Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 199A – Qualified Business Income Trucking is not a “specified service trade or business,” so the restrictive rules that hit lawyers, consultants, and financial advisors don’t apply here. For 2026, wage and property limitations start phasing in above roughly $203,000 in taxable income for single filers and $406,000 for joint filers; below those thresholds you generally get the full 20%. Because owner-operators own substantial depreciable property (the truck), many still claim a meaningful QBI deduction above the thresholds. The deduction reduces taxable income on Form 1040 but does not reduce self-employment tax.
Paying Quarterly So the Deductions Actually Help
Nobody is withholding tax from your settlement checks, so the IRS expects quarterly estimated payments on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year, with weekend or holiday dates rolling to the next business day.22Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Tax
You avoid the underpayment penalty if you’ll owe less than $1,000 at filing, or if you’ve paid at least 90% of the current year’s tax or 100% of last year’s (110% if AGI exceeded $150,000).23Internal Revenue Service. Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals Penalty New owner-operators get caught here more than anywhere else. Setting aside 25–30% of each settlement into a separate account is the simple habit that keeps it from becoming a problem.
Records That Keep the Write-Offs
Every deduction above is only as good as the paper behind it. The IRS wants receipts, invoices, bank statements, and canceled checks that clearly show income and expenses.24Internal Revenue Service. What Kind of Records Should I Keep Digital copies work as long as they’re legible, so scanning receipts into cloud storage is fine.
Hold most records at least three years from the date you filed. For the truck and other depreciable assets, keep records for as long as you own the asset plus three years after you sell or dispose of it, because the IRS can revisit purchase price, Section 179 elections, and depreciation history at any point during ownership.
For per diem, keep a trip log with dates, departure and arrival times, routes, and locations. The IRS audits per diem harder when drivers claim the maximum rate for every day of the year with nothing to back up which days were actually travel days. A weekly spreadsheet is enough, and several trucking-specific apps pull the data straight from your ELD.