Trucking calculators for owner-operators

Price the load

Know your costs and your real profit before you say yes to a load.

• Cost per mile calculator

  Find your true cost per mile and the break-even and target rate you need to charge.

  Use it every month, and again whenever fuel or insurance costs change, so you always know the lowest rate you can accept.

• Load profit calculator

  See your real profit per mile including deadhead, and the lowest pay worth accepting.

  Use it on every load offer before you agree, especially when the pickup is far from where you are.

Get paid what you are owed

Turn waiting time into an invoice line.

• Detention pay calculator

  Work out what you are owed for waiting past free time, including waits past midnight.

  Use it when a shipper or receiver keeps you waiting, to know what to invoice.

Taxes and paperwork

Estimate fuel tax and deductions before you file.

• IFTA fuel tax calculator

  Estimate your quarterly diesel fuel tax by state, using the official IFTA rates.

  Use it near the end of each quarter to estimate what you will owe, or get back, before you file.

• Per diem calculator

  Estimate your meal per diem deduction using the IRS special rate for truckers.

  Use it at tax time, or through the year, to see what your days away from home are worth as a deduction.

How the calculators fit together

1. Start with the cost per mile calculator. Your break-even rate per mile is the floor for everything else.
2. When a load is offered, run it through the load profit calculator. It adds deadhead miles and broker or factoring fees, so you see the rate you really keep. The non-fuel part of your cost per mile goes in there.
3. If you are kept waiting, the detention pay calculator shows what to invoice, and the amount can go back into the load profit calculator as an accessorial.
4. Each quarter, use the IFTA calculator to estimate your fuel tax, which is part of your true operating cost.
5. At tax time, the per diem calculator estimates your meal deduction for days away from home.

Each calculator has a matching guide that explains the method with worked examples and sources.

Where the numbers come from

Each calculator shows its formula and a worked example. Where a tool depends on official data, the page says where it came from and when we retrieved it. IFTA diesel rates are read from the fuel tax matrix published by IFTA, Inc., and per diem rates come from the IRS notice for the current period. Quarters IFTA has not finalised are labelled preliminary.

These are estimates based on what you enter, not financial, tax or legal advice. Contract terms, your base jurisdiction and your own tax situation decide the real figures, so check them before you rely on a result.