Trucker Per Diem: The IRS Special Rate and the 80% Rule
Truckers spend nights away from home and eat on the road. For tax purposes, the IRS lets people in the transportation industry deduct a flat daily amount for meals and incidental expenses instead of keeping every receipt. This guide explains how that special rate works, who it is meant for, how days are counted, why only 80% of the amount is deductible for many drivers, and what to keep on file. It is general information from IRS publications, not tax advice.
What the special per diem is
The IRS publishes a standard meal allowance for travel away from home, and a separate special rate for transportation workers. IRS Publication 463 describes the transportation industry as work that directly involves moving people or goods by airplane, barge, bus, ship, train or truck, and that regularly requires you to travel away from home. The special rate saves you from working out the standard allowance for every place you stop to sleep or rest.
The current rates
The special meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) rates in IRS Notice 2025-54 are $80 a day for travel in the continental United States and $86 a day for travel outside it. That notice covers the period from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026. The IRS publishes new special rates every year for the period beginning October 1, so always check the newest notice, because the amounts can change.
Who can claim it
Two ideas matter here: whether you are traveling away from home, and how you earn your living.
- Away from home. Publication 463 says you are traveling away from home if your duties take you away from the general area of your tax home for substantially longer than an ordinary day's work, and you need to sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away.
- Self-employed versus employee. The deduction is normally claimed by self-employed people such as owner-operators, who report business expenses on Schedule C. Publication 463 says employees who are not in a few listed categories cannot deduct unreimbursed employee expenses, because miscellaneous itemized deductions are suspended. A company driver should not assume this deduction applies, and should ask a tax professional and check how their employer reimburses travel.
Counting your days
Full days away are counted at the full daily rate. The day you leave and the day you return are treated differently: Publication 463 says you must prorate the allowance for those two days, and one allowed method is to claim three quarters of the daily rate for each. Another is any consistent method that follows reasonable business practice. The calculator on this site uses the three-quarters method.
Why only 80% is deductible
Meal expenses are generally limited to 50%. Publication 463 gives an exception for people subject to the Department of Transportation's hours of service limits, who can deduct 80% of meal expenses that take place during or incident to a period subject to those limits. Interstate truck operators and bus drivers under Department of Transportation regulations are named in the list of people covered. If you are not subject to those limits, the 50% rule applies.
A worked example
You are away 10 full days, plus a departure day and a return day, in the continental United States.
Days counted: 10 + (2 × 0.75) = 11.5.
Per diem total: 11.5 × $80 = $920.
Deductible at 80%: $920 × 0.80 = $736.
If your combined tax rate were 25%, that reduces your tax by about $184. The rate you use for that last step should be worked out for your own situation, including self-employment tax if it applies.
The per diem calculator repeats this from your own day counts, and shows the rate period it used.
The all-trips rule
The special rate is a choice, and it is all or nothing for the year. Publication 463 says that if you use the special rate for any trip, you must use it for all trips you take that year, and not switch to the regular per diem rates for some of them.
What to keep on record
Publication 463 says that when you use the standard meal allowance, you do not have to prove the amount of your meal costs. That does not mean you need no records. The days you claim must be days you were traveling away from home for work, so keep a simple log of when you left and returned, where you went and why. Trip records from your logging device or dispatch history are a good backup.
Common mistakes
- Counting home days. Nights and days at your tax home are not travel days.
- Using the wrong period's rate. Rates run from October 1 to September 30, so a trip that spans the change may need two rates.
- Forgetting the 80% versus 50% choice. Apply the percentage that matches your situation.
- Assuming employees can claim it. The rule for unreimbursed employee expenses is different.
- Mixing methods within a year. The special rate applies to all trips that year once you use it.
Sources
- IRS Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses for the transportation worker rules, the away-from-home test, partial days, the 80% rule and the employee limits.
- IRS Notice 2025-54, 2025-2026 Special Per Diem Rates for the $80 and $86 transportation rates.
Tax rules change and depend on your circumstances. Talk to a qualified tax professional before you file.