I don’t understand, I clearly spelled it out, if you work for a company that does not provide per diems, you claim meals on your income tax and reduce your taxable income, therefore more money in your pocket.RoAF-Mig21 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 01, 2023 10:28 amIt's perfectly fine to include per diems, as long as we make it clear that our base salary is X, average salary is XY and per-diems are XYZ.
The flying I do at work, 16 days a month, 15 nights away from home, I make anywhere between $350 - $450 CAD every 4 days in per diems. That could be $1400 to $1800 tax free a month. ($17,000 - $20,000 a year extra, all tax free). Sure that's meant to cover meals and other expenses while away from home, but it's still important to point out that while I'm away I don't eat at home and my family only buys food for themselves. Also our electricity and water bill is lower because I'm not there to use it. Sure it's small potatoes, but every penny counts in today's economy.
The problem is when you count those per diems toward your "standard of living".
It's tough when you have bills and expenses that could not be covered without having those per diems. Depending on that extra income is tough. Personally my per diems are all spent on food / gas to and from work, as well as attractions or activities that I do when I'm away from home, such as going to a museum in NYC, a hockey game in Boston or catch a movie in Montreal. It's not hard to blow thought $350 in 4 days if you're careless, especially
More money in my pocket goes towards standard of living expenses, if the union came to us and said, instead of a raise the offer is 250.00 per diem, based on hours works, so about 10/hr tax free. Would you not take it and count it towards your total income?
