Owner-Operator Truck Driver

What the IRS's own return data shows — tax year 2023

Source: IRS Statistics of Income (SOI), Sole Proprietorship Returns 2023, Table 2 — SOI column: “Truck transportation” · Checked 2026-10-08

Schedule C returns in this column

837,211

Business receipts, per return

$136,625

Business deductions, total, per return

$122,893 89.95% of receipts

Car and truck expenses, per return

$28,595 20.93% of receipts

Repairs, per return

$9,515 6.96% of receipts

Depreciation, per return

$9,330 6.83% of receipts

Meals deducted, per return

$3,447 2.52% of receipts

Every dollar figure is a per-return average — the column's SOI total divided by its number of returns — across every filer in the column, with and without net income. An average like this is not a typical filer, and no single return looks like it. These figures cover every sole proprietor in truck transportation. SOI publishes no owner-operator split, so they are not owner-operator-only figures.