I Thought The Industry Needed Drivers?

Who knew that a self employed business owner of 30 years that is behind on taxes would be unable to land a trucking job? They ALL keep asking me for a w-2 or 1099. I own and operate a Single Member LLC and it would be illegal for me to have or generate either one of those. Its 2022 and one can generate almost any documentation via that WWW thing, I just wont. My Mother raised an honest man. I can get a F.A.A. pilot job easier than this, I just don't want to sit in hotel rooms and live the commercial pilot lifestyle.

How do I "keep on trucking" if I cant even get started?

Needed to vent that.

Make it a great day.

Hey Jon,

As a business owner, your tax records should work just fine. There are plenty of former business owners in trucking. You may have to speak with recruiting for the various companies to find out exactly how they want you to handle it.

that is behind on taxes

Does that mean you haven't filed your taxes, or just that you owe them money? Your annual Schedule C for the previous three years should suffice. That's all I had to show as a business owner of 27 years. I did however include 1099s from clients, as well as references.

If you haven't filed, that's another story. As Brett mentioned, you'll have to find out what the various companies want from you. At the least you'll have to show some verification to what you've been doing for the past few years.

business owner of 30 years that is behind on taxes

Oh man. I completely missed that.

Trucking companies will require you to prove what you were doing over the past three years. They're quite serious about it. So you'll need proof of some sort that you've been running a business the past few years.

Gee, I had no problems and I’d been a business owner for 12+ years. But then, I wasn’t “behind on taxes” either. 🤔

We can help you but you need to clarify what you mean about your taxes.

I was a business owner before trucking. I supplied them years of tax returns to satisfy the requirements. Can you do that?

I am indeed behind on filing taxes. I can provide the first 27 years but not the last 2. These darn recruiters kept requesting I “just send 1099 or W-2” both of which are illegal for a single member LLC to utilize. It’s 2022, I could have certainly gone on line to pdffiller.com and attained Scgedule C form and sent them something.I just won’t do it for my liability or theirs. I’ve sent them the annual sales of company as well as documentation showing ownership, but that wasn’t sufficient. My fault, I’ll deal with the repercussion and will land exactly where I’m supposed to. I am a pilot friend of the owner of Tn Truck Driving School where I am enrolled to start on the 31st. Stevens wont take me, Prime won’t take me and I really wanted a company that serves the lower 48 so I can see the Country. I’ve driven the East Coast as much or more than some of you professionals. My company has work from Miami to Long Island and everywhere in between. I’ve got a job letter from a local company in TN that starts lower c.p.m than the majority of companies but it’s not about the $$$ to me. I’ll survive. I’m fairly confident I will be a top tier employee to any company I work for. For 30 years I’ve had to think, act, and react for as many as 20 employees. I can take care of my own obligations half asleep without igniting both half’s of my brain. Soooooooo, after filling out applications stating I’ve not had a speeding ticket or moving violation in 5 years which is accurate and factual, today my wife opens a piece of mail of my truck speeding through DC and running red light. My son drives 1 of my trucks in the field. All are registered to me. Talk about coming unglued. Giving my kids a business that generates a lot of money and I pay them more than I’m starting trucking at.

Make it a great night.

Jon

P.S. Old School, if you didn’t catch my acknowledgment in other thread of mine “ I appreciate you” and wisdom you share.

These darn recruiters kept requesting I “just send 1099 or W-2” both of which are illegal for a single member LLC to utilize.

Where are you getting that it's illegal? If you were in business you had to receive one or the other. You speak of a "single member LLC" as if it's something exotic. In fact it's quite common.

As a single member LLC myself for a very long time, I received a 1099 every year from each of my clients and accounts. This is nothing unusual or illegal. The fact that you haven't filed for a few years doesn't negate the fact that you should have received a 1099 from your accounts as well.

Even if you don't have 1099s to show, as you indicate, your business records should be enough. These companies really just want to know what you've been doing for the past few years.

But it sounds like you've landed somewhere, so good luck with that.

I was a business owner for 30 years before trucking as well, I gave them my business license, bank statements (with the individual items blacked out) and summary of formation for my LLC.

I finally ended up giving them a Schedule C that was subject to change because i had extensions filed and was redoing the taxes. They weren't concerned with the dollar amount, just that I was indeed in business.

One thing that comes to mind is that instead of blaming companies for a routine policy, the better solution is to come up with a solution. In my case, I asked my recruiter what alternatives would suffice.

There are so many times in trucking where it's up to you to figure out solutions to problems, such as missing documents, policy issues, planning and more. More often than not, my first line of thought is "What can I personally do to bring about a solution?"