Covenant Transport left me on the road for 2 days with no food, and no heat in 2 foot of snow Chattanooga Tennessee

You say this

If you itemize your taxes per diem is of no advantage to you other than to make you owe uncle Sam at the end of the year. If you are not on Child support, have a garnishment,or 5 kids or more to support then per diem is only benefiting the company not you.

1st

The forced per diem CAN NOT make you owe the government more money. It's mathematically impossible as it LOWERS your TAXABLE income (thats what determines your tax bracket and what you owe) which is why it screws you on social security down the road.

2nd

Your confused about per diem being of no advantage if you itemize. In fact it's THE VERY REASON YOU DO ITEMIZE. The standard deduction in 2010 for single was 7,000. That means you OWE taxes on EVERYTHING you make ABOVE 7,000. That's your TAXABLE income. When you itemize using your per diem then your itemized figure becomes your standard deduction IF it's higher than 7,000. The HIGHER your standard deduction the LESS your taxable income.

Where you are confused is that the .02 CPM covenant takes from you for it (forced per diem) actually equals more money than you save ( on your taxes) with the FORCED per diem if your filing single no dependents.

Next you say

Page 2 of your w-4 withholding tells you you are entitled to 1 exemption for ever 3,500 worth of your income you will write off in itemizations.

What are you talking about??? NO WHERE ON FORM W-4 does it say that. Here is a link to the IRS website showing the form.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

Next you say

- FIRST OFF - If a driver claims the daily with-holding rate (it varies depending on area of country you run and it DOES NOT include the day you leave home or the day you return - no matter what the hour).

WRONG AGAIN. it does NOT vary for EMPLOYEES. ONLY THE EMPLOYER or self employed owner operators. The IRS determines the max per diem for employees each year. In 2010 it was 53.00.

You are correct about the day you return and leave home as excluded.

Next you say

If a driver claims the daily rate, a driver is by claiming that rate claiming everything possible including food, lodging, personal use items etc.

100% wrong. Per diem covers meals and entertainment ONLY. Everything else is 100% deductible. Again this is why you itemize.

Next you say

While it is true that a driver on per diem shows a lower income, a portion of your income is not taxed at all.

Of course per diem is a tax write-off. It lowers your taxable income as ALL write-offs do.

Next you say.

How this MAY help the driver - if the driver makes an amount that puts them in a higher tax bracket if they do not claim per diem instead, or if a driver wants to show a lower income for things like child support (but who wants to cheat his/her children NO NOT HIS/HER EX).

Why wouldn't you claim it ITS A TAX WRITE-OFF It doesn't matter if it's done via the forced per diem from covenant or you do it yourself on your taxes the end result is IDENTICAL. Where covenant and other companies are getting you is the .02 CPM in less pay, and only because the loss in pay is GREATER than the tax saving. BUT that only affects single filers with zero dependents. Every other tax status actually benefits.

How this may hurt the driver - if the driver would actually be making more by claiming the daily rate, and being paid his/her normal rate of pay. It will also hurt a driver as far as retirement and SS Disability (showing less income).

This time you got it right and at the same time contradicted yourself LOL.

DEMETRIOUS - you said:
I also heard that as of January 12, 2009 they have placed every company driver back on per diem so they getting all your tax breaks now too and cheating you out of your social security and disability matches so you will draw less money. If you itemize your taxes per diem is of no advantage to you other than to make you owe uncle Sam at the end of the year. If you are not on Child support, have a garnishment,or 5 kids or more to support then per diem is only benefiting the company not you.
Page 2 of your w-4 withholding tells you you are entitled to 1 exemption for ever 3,500 worth of your income you will write off
in itemizations. that means take your $52.00 a day plus your other expenses like cell phone bill, tools, office supplies, personal hygeine products.


- FIRST OFF - If a driver claims the daily with-holding rate (it varies depending on area of country you run and it DOES NOT include the day you leave home or the day you return - no matter what the hour).

If a driver claims the daily rate, a driver is by claiming that rate claiming everything possible including food, lodging, personal use items etc.

While it is true that a driver on per diem shows a lower income, a portion of your income is not taxed at all.
How this MAY help the driver - if the driver makes an amount that puts them in a higher tax bracket if they do not claim per diem instead, or if a driver wants to show a lower income for things like child support (but who wants to cheat his/her children NO NOT HIS/HER EX). 
How this may hurt the driver - if the driver would actually be making more by claiming the daily rate, and being paid his/her normal rate of pay.
It will also hurt a driver as far as retirement and SS Disability (showing less income).

First - you should be prepared for several days on the road (money, food, clothes, etc.).
I do agree that the Covenant policy is VERY unfair and the cost to drivers is EXCESSIVE.
Actually many states now, including NY NJ and CA and others do have laws that drivers can not idle their truck engine for more than 5 minutes.
As far as telling you no due to you breaking a state law - yes but as far as just saying no caring more about company profits rather than employees (driver's) health - well that is WRONG!!

I am a driver for Covenant and I'm sorry but they would never refuse you an advance unless you had already maxed out your $200 wk allowance. If that's the case then you need to learn how to manage your money better. Yes, they are threatening to charge for idling but we have never been charged. Why didn't you use idle air? It's only .85 an hour.

While I don't agree with covenants forced per diem policy you have no idea what you are talking about.....

per diem per the IRS ONLY COVERS meal and entertainment........THAT'S IT NOTHING ELSE..... ALSO if you are entitled to more per diem then what covenant has paid you for per diem you can still claim the excess on your federal tax return. Example covenant paid you 10,000 in 2008 for per diem pay, but you were out on the road for 300 days and at 52 a day that equals 15600 you can claim that 5600 on your tax return. As far as all your other tax breaks....THEY ARE STILL THERE....AGAIN PER DIEM ONLY COVERS MEALS AND ENTERTAINMENT....If you fill out your W-4 with so many excemptions that you have nothing withheld for federal taxes then of course your going to owe the IRS money....Your standard deduction if your single is around 7500 married filing jointly around 10500 (no kids) you would have to show enough business deductions to get you under these amounts to not owe anything, and if your making 35000 a year or more that is near impossible....unless your cheating......I am married with 3 kids and made 37000 last year and I still had enough taxable income to owe some money (however child tax credit did cover it).

Again I don't agree with their BS forced per diem policy as it's just another excuse to take 2cpm from the drivers and put it in their pocket, but get your facts straight.

One last thing.....If you can REALLY show enough deductions to get you under the standard IRS deduction and not owe anything to uncle sam then you need to budget your money better because life on the road isn't cheap but it also isn't THAT expensive either.....

make life really difficult for EVERYONE! Hindsight2020 may have had good intent in saying emergency blankets and food is necessary, but the fact is Covenant will tell drivers they will send them home to gather belongings. The new drivers rightfully expect a company to at least attempt to do as they say. It is in Covenant policy that drivers are entitled to $25 a day minimum expense money... advances. So, when a driver is told to ride up to a location "only to pick up a truck" and "we will route you right back", it's common to get hung out there for a couple of weeks. Now the driver expecting to come right back only takes a change of clothes and minimum else. Nobody has a right to do this to people.
I have been in such position with Covenant as a driver and worse. It took me threatening to call Red Cross or local churches; have a family member call the family emergency hotline on my behalf (the hotline no longer is staffed); threaten to sell their fuel; etc. on various occations to get what they state is entitlement for their drivers. Other tactics include getting advances for anti-gel; scales; oil; tolls; etc. always before dropping my load. Once I asked for an advance and was denied by night dispatch even though I was under a load. They needed the weight of the load and I told them I did not know the weight since they would not advance the money. I also informed them that DOT would be shown the request on my qualcomm if ticketed. They approved the advance only for the part the scale cost, but not the ATM fee and minimum amt of $20.00 to withdrawl the funds at a truckstop who did not cash Comdata Checks. Another time I drove past a toll booth because I had no cash. Covenant later charged me $80 for the fine. Covenant is a bunch of rogue hillbillies bumming off the drivers. No other company EVER has treated me so bad! So any driver who defends Covenant is either living in a fantasy world or is pure ignorant. There is NOTHING Christian about Covenant Transport, so don't EVEN lend credence to that claim... it's only part of baiting drivers who would prefer to work for REAL Christians.

Regardless of what you think of ANY company--one thing you learn asap is yes--you do take extra blankets with you on any truck. You also carry food as you never ever know where you will be "stranded" and even if its not a layover out in no where land where there is no food to buy--you at least have that jar of peanut butter & jelly to keep you alive. You also have those blankets to keep you from freezing when you are broken down out where no one can come fix the truck or tow it, for hours. Common sense tells you to carry these things. Any job you take in the future please think of these things that may happen. Extra water is also a must necessity. If you are out in the Arizona desert broken down, where your cell phone doesn't work, your qualcomm tattle tale box has no signal, you are going to need that water and it is not the companies fault you have none. Or that blanket when its cold. Not all the places you stay when you drive a truck are truck stops. Besides--of al the complaining of what people do NOT make while driving a truck, doesn't it make sense to bring your own food to eat and cooler to keep it in versus spending $10 or more a meal 2 or 3 times a day? $50 at a grocery store will keep you fed all week on that truck even if you have to choke down that sandwhich you've had 20 times all week long. So..........regardless of what happened with this company--wherever you go next take extra blankets if its winter, and take some of your own food so you don't starve while sitting those 2 days someplace where you don't want to be. Welcome to the world of trucking too.

Marie stated she only worked for two weeks and got her paycheck when she got home. She obviously put a week in the hole. I don't know if she took a bus to Chattanooga for orientation or not but what I am sure of is I can bet you there was no mention of the idling policy until she got to orientation. Kind of hard to prepare ahead to bring extra blankets if you're not aware you will be needing them and I know the bus allows two bags which as a woman I can tell you if you are going to take care of yourself on the road you need more items than blankets in your luggage.

If Covenant couldn't give her $50 to eat with over the weekend I am sure if she couldn't eat she couldn't afford blankets either til she got a first paycheck. And she stated the deductions were out of a check they mailed to the house. I can only assume her check was held for 3 weeks as they normally do when you quit before they send you your final pay and when she got it she saw they tagged her for the deductions. I can assure you to that even if she hadn't of idled that truck Covenant would have created some deductions from that paycheck. That's their motto, Please work for me so I can steal back some of your paycheck through any means necessary and if you don't stay on top of your payroll everyweek thats exactly what they do. No Marie I do not blame you one bit at least they warned you before they took your check. They used to just take it and tell you nothing!!!

I totally disagree with just another truckers advise to bring more blankets. The price of fuel has dropped tremendously and Covenant started charging before they skyrocketed and are still charging now that they have dropped. They even go so far to lie in the unemployment hearings like they are no longer charging drivers for idling they just did it when the fuel prices were high. At least you got a warning that they would charge you if you overidled the truck. Guess they implemented that tactic after I filed my complaint of informing you now before they deduct your pay. Like Anthony from Rossville. Ga said, anyone who would agree to be charged for idling a truck on a 10 hour break when you are running less than 2000 miles a week is a nut. Tell me what is the difference between being unemployed in the economy we are now in and working to give your employer back your paycheck? I thought the whole point of having a job was to have money to bring home to pay your own bills not pay a company bills for them. Would you take an office job and let them charge you to run the central unit while you are on duty? Would you run your central unit at the house while you worked all day or turn it off til you came home from work? What people are forgetting is we live on the trucks when we are not at home. Wew run our shift when we have freight and we are supposed to rest in between. When you work at and office you go home and relax you are not going to go spend all evening sitting in McDonald's are the shopping mall til it closes after ytou have worked hard all day you want to go home and relax so you can be ready to go the next day. Why should a trucker expect any less accomodations than one of the dispatchers expect to have when he goes home in the evening to his home after a hard days work. Equip the trucks with APU units !!! For the millions they have illegally taken from their drivers over the last 8-12 months alot of them with no notification whatsoever,they ought to have more than enough assets. Covenant is not going to stop doing anything they are doing until someone eventually goes postal at the white house in Chattanooga bout the monies they are stealing from their drivers or either someone dies in one of the trucks from exposure to cold. Its sad but so true and as bad as the economy is getting with jobs I believe if they don't shape up soon we will see them again on CNN making national headlines. Thats exactly what I believe it is going to take to shake down the white house in Chattanooga. Good Luck and I don't blame you one bit for quitting. You lasted 2 weeks I put up with the crap for over 2 years. Glad you saw the light before it was too late. No one should be treated that way out on the road. Even an electric blanket will only keep you so warm and if the engine is completely shut off in 1 hour you will be freezing again with 4 or 5 comforters on your bed. I know been there done that. You might as well get a cardboard box and go sleep next to the homeless while you on the road cause after you done paying idling fees, eating, and paying a bill or two if you can out of 1800 miles you have nothing left. I also heard that as of January 12, 2009 they have placed every company driver back on per diem so they getting all your tax breaks now too and cheating you out of your social security and disability matches so you will draw less money. If you itemize your taxes per diem is of no advantage to you other than to make you owe uncle Sam at the end of the year. If you are not on Child support, have a garnishment,or 5 kids or more to support then per diem is only benefiting the company not you. Page 2 of your w-4 withholding tells you you are entitled to 1 exemption for ever 3,500 worth of your income you will write off in itemizations. that means take your $52.00 a day plus your other expenses like cell phone bill, tools, office supplies, personal hygeine products. When you are done. You should at least have 7 exemptions for Federal automatically. Then it tells you to add that to whatever you have on page 1 which means most drivers would average around 10-12 exemptions anyway if they itemized correctly. This would almost make your Federal withholding for most weeks be nothing with held and anything that was withheld you will get back.. When you add that up it comes out to about 15- 20 a week more bring home on average off per diem than on. It makes Covenant have to match your earnings to social security at a higher rate, it also would make you show you earn 40,000- 50,000 per year versus 30,000 or less a year on per diem.When you go to make a major purchase like a home a car, if you don't have your settlement sheets to show what was withheld from per diem the earnings will not be used to calculate your obligation to repay giving you a lower loan amount for purchases. Then you pay them 3.5cents of your salary to set it up for you. I challenge you to see if the majority of you will not owe uncle Sam at the end of the year after being on per diem. You just gave Covenant all your major tax breaks you would be entitled to by itemizing your expenses, you are only entitled to your Schedule A deductions now!!!! OTR drivers have the highest reimbursement back than any other occupation at tax time if they Itemize. You also don't have to keep records like the average taxpayer. If you have a steady record of receipts ( Jan 1-7, Feb 1-7, March 1-7, etc.) and you can produce receipts for that same week for 12 consecutive months and keep an expense book along with it and major purchase receipts. It will sustain you in an audit as long as you can show a pattern of the record keeping they will allow those 7 days of each month to cover the whole entire month. It is not as much to it as they want you to believe. I was dumb to alot of stuff when I came into the trucking industry but Covenant Transport will teach you real fast to recognize the game and the bulls*$# cause they got it down to a science and if you are going to roll with them you better have it down to a science too or you will be screwed literally. Good luck and don't take it lying down!!!

I totally disagree with just another truckers advise to bring more blankets. The price of fuel has dropped tremendously and Covenant started charging before they skyrocketed and are still charging now that they have dropped. They even go so far to lie in the unemployment hearings like they are no longer charging drivers for idling they just did it when the fuel prices were high. At least you got a warning that they would charge you if you overidled the truck. Guess they implemented that tactic after I filed my complaint of informing you now before they deduct your pay. Like Anthony from Rossville. Ga said, anyone who would agree to be charged for idling a truck on a 10 hour break when you are running less than 2000 miles a week is a nut. Tell me what is the difference between being unemployed in the economy we are now in and working to give your employer back your paycheck? I thought the whole point of having a job was to have money to bring home to pay your own bills not pay a company bills for them. Would you take an office job and let them charge you to run the central unit while you are on duty? Would you run your central unit at the house while you worked all day or turn it off til you came home from work? What people are forgetting is we live on the trucks when we are not at home. Wew run our shift when we have freight and we are supposed to rest in between. When you work at and office you go home and relax you are not going to go spend all evening sitting in McDonald's are the shopping mall til it closes after ytou have worked hard all day you want to go home and relax so you can be ready to go the next day. Why should a trucker expect any less accomodations than one of the dispatchers expect to have when he goes home in the evening to his home after a hard days work. Equip the trucks with APU units !!! For the millions they have illegally taken from their drivers over the last 8-12 months alot of them with no notification whatsoever,they ought to have more than enough assets. Covenant is not going to stop doing anything they are doing until someone eventually goes postal at the white house in Chattanooga bout the monies they are stealing from their drivers or either someone dies in one of the trucks from exposure to cold. Its sad but so true and as bad as the economy is getting with jobs I believe if they don't shape up soon we will see them again on CNN making national headlines. Thats exactly what I believe it is going to take to shake down the white house in Chattanooga. Good Luck and I don't blame you one bit for quitting. You lasted 2 weeks I put up with the crap for over 2 years. Glad you saw the light before it was too late. No one should be treated that way out on the road. Even an electric blanket will only keep you so warm and if the engine is completely shut off in 1 hour you will be freezing again with 4 or 5 comforters on your bed. I know been there done that. You might as well get a cardboard box and go sleep next to the homeless while you on the road cause after you done paying idling fees, eating, and paying a bill or two if you can out of 1800 miles you have nothing left. I also heard that as of January 12, 2009 they have placed every company driver back on per diem so they getting all your tax breaks now too and cheating you out of your social security and disability matches so you will draw less money. If you itemize your taxes per diem is of no advantage to you other than to make you owe uncle Sam at the end of the year. If you are not on Child support, have a garnishment,or 5 kids or more to support then per diem is only benefiting the company not you. Page 2 of your w-4 withholding tells you you are entitled to 1 exemption for ever 3,500 worth of your income you will write off in itemizations. that means take your $52.00 a day plus your other expenses like cell phone bill, tools, office supplies, personal hygeine products. When you are done. You should at least have 7 exemptions for Federal automatically. Then it tells you to add that to whatever you have on page 1 which means most drivers would average around 10-12 exemptions anyway if they itemized correctly. This would almost make your Federal withholding for most weeks be nothing with held and anything that was withheld you will get back.. When you add that up it comes out to about 15- 20 a week more bring home on average off per diem than on. It makes Covenant have to match your earnings to social security at a higher rate, it also would make you show you earn 40,000- 50,000 per year versus 30,000 or less a year on per diem.When you go to make a major purchase like a home a car, if you don't have your settlement sheets to show what was withheld from per diem the earnings will not be used to calculate your obligation to repay giving you a lower loan amount for purchases. Then you pay them 3.5cents of your salary to set it up for you. I challenge you to see if the majority of you will not owe uncle Sam at the end of the year after being on per diem. You just gave Covenant all your major tax breaks you would be entitled to by itemizing your expenses, you are only entitled to your Schedule A deductions now!!!! OTR drivers have the highest reimbursement back than any other occupation at tax time if they Itemize. You also don't have to keep records like the average taxpayer. If you have a steady record of receipts ( Jan 1-7, Feb 1-7, March 1-7, etc.) and you can produce receipts for that same week for 12 consecutive months and keep an expense book along with it and major purchase receipts. It will sustain you in an audit as long as you can show a pattern of the record keeping they will allow those 7 days of each month to cover the whole entire month. It is not as much to it as they want you to believe. I was dumb to alot of stuff when I came into the trucking industry but Covenant Transport will teach you real fast to recognize the game and the bulls*$# cause they got it down to a science and if you are going to roll with them you better have it down to a science too or you will be screwed literally. Good luck and don't take it lying down!!!

Most trucking compaines these days have a NO IDLING policy. I know, it sucks. especially since rigs only use about 1 gallon an hour idling. Its not covenant thats the only one charging drivers for fuel, many companies are. Im sorry you were stuck. but prepare well next time and bring plenty of warm clothes, blankets, etc. when fuel was around the 5 dollar mark, they couldnt keep affording 10-12 hrs of idle time, thats 10 to 12 gallons, at 5 dollars a gallon. you do the math. some companies i know of have a flat rate they charge drivers, 3 dollars per hour of idle. if they absolutlely must idle.