How does per diem work for truck drivers in the U.S. and Canada?

 Per diem for truck drivers is a tax calculation applied when the return is prepared, not a transaction in the books. In the U.S., drivers under DOT hours-of-service rules can use $80 a day in the continental U.S. ($86 outside) and deduct 80% of it. In Canada, long-haul drivers deduct 80% of meal costs, with a simplified $23 a meal, up to three a day. ZeraBooks keeps the records that calculation needs.

A lot of drivers keep every meal receipt from the cab in a shoebox and hand it over at tax time. Under per diem, most of those receipts aren't what matters. What matters is the count of qualifying days away from home.

The U.S. side

The IRS sets a special transportation industry meal and incidental rate. It is $80 a day in the continental U.S. and $86 a day outside it, for the period October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, and again for October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027.

Drivers under the Department of Transportation hours-of-service limits can deduct 80% of that amount. And once you use the special rate for a trip in a year, you use it for all your trips that year.

A fictional example. An owner-operator is away from home on qualifying travel for 18 full days in October 2026, all in the continental U.S.

18 days times $80 is $1,440.00. 80% of that is $1,152.00, the deductible amount for the month.

Notice that nothing in that calculation came from a bank statement or a receipt. It came from a count of days, which comes from logs.

The Canadian side

The CRA lets long-haul truck drivers deduct 80% of meal costs for eligible travel periods: trips of 24 hours or more, beyond a 160 km radius of the home terminal. You can claim actual receipts, or use the simplified method at $23 a meal, up to three meals a day.

A fictional example. A Canadian driver has 15 eligible days in a month and uses the simplified method with three meals a day.

$23 times 3 is $69 a day. 15 days times $69 is $1,035.00. 80% of that is $828.00.

For employee drivers, the trips and meal count go on Form TL2. For anyone, the records that matter are trips and meals, not the receipts in the cab.

What this means for the books

The books record what you actually spent. If you bought lunch on the business card, it's a business card transaction, and it's recorded as meals. The per diem calculation is done separately, by whoever prepares your return, from your days away.

That's why mixing personal and business spending on one card causes so much trouble for drivers. Meals on the road, a phone, groceries for the sleeper cab: if they're all on one card, someone has to sort them, and the sorting is guesswork unless you kept notes.

What we'd suggest keeping, every month:

  • Your ELD logs or trip sheets, which show days away and where you were.
  • A simple count of qualifying days for the month, written down once.
  • Your fuel card and bank statements, so actual spending is recorded.
  • A note of which trips were outside the continental U.S., since the rate differs.

Your accountant decides whether per diem or actual costs works better for you, and applies the rate.

Depreciation is the other big number

While we're on things that change the tax bill: over-the-road tractor units in the U.S. are usually 3-year property, and in Canada, freight trucks over 11,788 kg are usually CCA class 16 at 40% a year. Your accountant makes the elections. The books need the purchase date, the cost and the loan.

Where ZeraBooks fits

ZeraBooks is a bookkeeping service for owner-operators and small carriers on both sides of the border. Our team books settlements gross, keeps fuel card detail for IFTA, splits truck loan payments, and hands your accountant clean books and an asset list at year end. You upload statements and settlements through a portal; there's no bank, fuel card or ELD connection. We don't prepare tax returns or calculate per diem for you.

The monthly fee starts at $150 in U.S. dollars, agreed on a free call. Read the full guide: bookkeeping for truck drivers and owner-operators.

Written by ZeraBooks. We offer the bookkeeping service described.

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