Transportation workers are eligible to use a
higher standard per diem rate than the general public to generate a
per
diem deduction
calculation. While this is likely to change in the future, the special rate it
the time of this writing was $52 for
CONUS cities
and $58
for OCONUS
cities. Their are a couple of cautions that taxpayers should be aware of when
thinking about using this special rate.
- You can use the special per diem rate in
lieu of the
city-by-city
per
diem rates. You CANNOT switch from one method to
another in a given tax year. Once one method is used, you must use that
method for the entire year.
- The special per diem rate is generally
lower than the city-by-city per diem rates.
- You can only use these rates if you are a
transportation worker (i.e. truck driver, airline pilot, flight attendant,
sailor, railroad worker, etc.)
- Generally, the special per diem rates do
NOT give as high a deduction as the city-by-city per diem rates do.
EZPerDiem.com automatically calculates the
per diem deduction using BOTH the special rate AND the city-by-city rates so
that the taxpayer get the highest deduction allowed.
