Company truck or vehicle allowance

[Shran]

I had the option of a company truck or a pay raise... I took the raise. Would have had to pay for gas when I use it, plus take up another valuable parking spot, and it is a bigger hit on taxes than a raise. And it was a half ton, crew cab Dodge... useless for what I personally would need a truck for.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Imo, depends.
If they load the company vehicle with GPS, cameras, ELD, etc, then take the allowance. Being spied on blows.

Otherwise, company vehicle is worth 10k+ /year.

 

[JohnnyO]

Alright I have the info.

mileage: 500 per month rough average
Insurance: $18 more per month
Use: strictly for transporting me
Gas is on them

A Mazda5, Sonata, or K5 is looking really attractive. So is a Miata… NO NO be responsible, no Miata…. But that Miata tho… NO, look away.

That's not really a lot of work miles. Was gonna say, if you put on a lot of miles for work then take the company car because you don't have to worry about trade-in value. Company cars often come with strings attached like you can't use it for personal stuff or other family members can't drive it.
For 500 miles a month I'd take the allowance and no strings attached. I put on about that much and my employer pays me 53 cents a mile.

 

[Chapap]

That's not really a lot of work miles. Was gonna say, if you put on a lot of miles for work then take the company car because you don't have to worry about trade-in value. Company cars often come with strings attached like you can't use it for personal stuff or other family members can't drive it.
For 500 miles a month I'd take the allowance and no strings attached. I put on about that much and my employer pays me 53 cents a mile.

Yea mileage isn’t going to be bad. Smaller regional construction company. Projects are pretty close and will be mainly admin stuff… delivering bids, occasional site visits. Think: the guy who shows up in a BMW, yells at everyone to work faster, then gets lunch.

 

[racsan]

glad the phone company didnt have gps back in the day, the year before dad retired his work van was a new big dodge with a 360, most gte vans were a 318 at best then. Id never drove a van before or anything above a inline 6 at that point so one weekend when the parents were off somewhere I took it for a test drive. Nothing rattles as bad as a work van with loose gear in it. Was a 360 because dad frequently pulled a small trailer with a small machine that buried cable (that looked cool, 4 wheel drive, bent in the middle to steer, tiny 10x12 tractor tires). would do quite the burnout! siphoned some fuel out of too on more than one occasion. Glad I didnt get busted for my joyride or gas acquisitioning.

 

[Chapap]

Update: I took the allowance. Turns out that its not taxed (or already taxed). That goes against everything I’ve read about “non-accountable” allowances… so hopefully I don’t get a surprise next tax season.

 

[Roert42]

I had a car allowance for years. Got $550 a month, with an additional $.18 per mile for fuel both non taxes. I had to report how my starting and ending mileage for the year, and how many of those miles were personal. Then at the end of the year I had to pay taxes on it, but my company with would cover whatever taxes were owned on the car allowance.

If you already own a car and don't plan on using that money to buy a new one, then it goes a long way, especially if you aren't putting many more then normal miles. Perk is when your done you still have a car.

 

[Bill]

I had a car allowance for years. Got $550 a month, with an additional $.18 per mile for fuel both non taxes. I had to report how my starting and ending mileage for the year, and how many of those miles were personal. Then at the end of the year I had to pay taxes on it, but my company with would cover whatever taxes were owned on the car allowance.

If you already own a car and don't plan on using that money to buy a new one, then it goes a long way, especially if you aren't putting many more then normal miles. Perk is when your done you still have a car.

I've had it both ways. One company I worked for paid full IRS reimbursement for mileage and kicked in some extra change when the gas prices spiked in 2007-2008, and paid for time to for vehicle maintenance. Mileage was from the front door. Most places deduct some set mileage amount every day. Around here it's 50 miles a day. Plus, they don't want to pay full IRS rates, and vehicle maintenance is on your own time. I don't take jobs that pull that. I've also had a company vehicle. I didn't have a problem with GPS tracking. They didn't care if you went on a short detour to go to the grocery store on the way home. The one exception was a substitute supervisor was always checking up on people and asking them why they took the route they took to get to and from a destination, and would give people a speech about the routing feature in Google maps without looking at the traffic feature before calling people about the shortest way to go someplace. But, it wasn't much of a problem if I couldn't answer the phone because I was driving. Anyway, I prefer to put the miles on their vehicle and let them worry about the insurance.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

They might just 1099 you at the end for taxes. I've had that before, its whatever, my accountant figures it out lol.

 

[Bill]

They might just 1099 you at the end for taxes. I've had that before, its whatever, my accountant figures it out lol.

There are various 1099 forms. I think there are two for non-taxable disbursements. One for interest where the dividend is place back into the accountts, and another for reimbursed expenses. You should pay taxes in either case.

 

[Chapap]

There are various 1099 forms. I think there are two for non-taxable disbursements. One for interest where the dividend is place back into the accountts, and another for reimbursed expenses. You should pay taxes in either case.

How much do tax accountants cost? I’m thinking I’m going to pay for one next year. Turbo tax has always told me that the standard deduction is best, and that has always made sense. Now that I have this, and a small va comp, and a wife, I think I’ll go for it. This past season I paid extra for TurboTax’s (most likely worthless) audit protection cause something weird happened last year… I forget what, but I was nervous about it. I think I paid like $40 between the prep and insurance

 

[superj]

va, like veteran compensation? that is not taxable. the va rep should have gave you that heads up when you got your first welcome to the va call that explained how everything works. you don't report that for anything

 

[superj]

VA Disability Benefits
Disability benefits you receive from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) aren't taxable. You don't need to include them as income on your tax return. Tax-free disability benefits include: disability compensation and pension payments for disabilities paid either to veterans or their families.

 

[Bill]

How much do tax accountants cost? I’m thinking I’m going to pay for one next year. Turbo tax has always told me that the standard deduction is best, and that has always made sense. Now that I have this, and a small va comp, and a wife, I think I’ll go for it. This past season I paid extra for TurboTax’s (most likely worthless) audit protection cause something weird happened last year… I forget what, but I was nervous about it. I think I paid like $40 between the prep and insurance

A tax accountant will cost you a fortune. But you probably don't need one. Just inquire about pricing at the various tax preparation businesses. They have various fee schedules ranging from a flat rate to charging you for additional services. My taxes are simple, so I don't use them. Maybe someone who uses one can give you some feedback. I would think Turbotax software should work out for most people if they have all their documents in front of them.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

My accountant is a family friend of which I am 2nd generation client. So I'm probably getting a good deal. I have various sources and forms of income. It would take me a long time and many mistakes to try doing em myself. I get a handful of various w2's from different tv show productions every year from my day job.