Thanks to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s people-pleasin’ budget released earlier this month, the meal tax deduction limit for truckers slowly will be slowly creeping its way from 50% back to 80%, hitting its goal around the 2010 mark. So all drivers from all types of fleets across the country can count on reaping the rewards, right? Well, some will – but maybe not all.

Scott Taylor, vice-president of TFS Group, has written two articles for Truck News (March and April 2007) which point out that not all truckers are created equally in the eyes of the Canada Revenue Agency. The columns (appearing on pages 43 and 74, respectively) outline how the Income Tax Act treats all manner of truckers differently. From private fleets to for-hire carriers, from self-employed drivers to company employees, from longhaul drivers to shorthaul drivers; a different set of rules applies to each category (and every combination in between). Taylor takes away all the guesswork in his articles, which serve as vital sources for any trucker unsure of his tax claiming rights. Check out the issues on newsstands or search for them in our print archives at www.trucknews.com/archives.asp.