Double-entry bookkeeping aims to balance your accounts and ensure that all debits and credits are properly recorded. We collaborate with key players like Gusto, Stripe, Shopify, and Square—ensuring your financial records are always meticulously accurate. Finally, a professional bookkeeper can handle all of the tax issues for your trucking company.

1. We meticulously address any gaps, ensuring that your records are not just current but also compliant.
2. Some trucking-related expenses, like truck repairs and fuel, are tax-deductible.
3. It’s important to remember to scan and archive receipts and files so that you don’t have to keep track of physical receipt copies.
4. In conclusion, the mastery of bookkeeping is not just a regulatory obligation but a strategic move toward a resilient and prosperous trucking business.
5. With the right trucking software program in place, you can organize your fleet’s miles or fuel gallons by state.

These types of programs can automatically record and categorize your financial transactions, saving you time and ensuring accuracy. One significant software prevalent in the logistics industry for bookkeeping and accounting processes is the transportation management system (TMS). This software is a logistics platform that employs technology in managing a trucking business. They come integrated with accounting platforms that simplify bookkeeping and automate complex and lengthy administrative processes. By separating business and personal expenses, you can maintain better financial organization, simplify bookkeeping, and ensure accurate tax filings. This will ultimately contribute to the success and growth of your trucking business.

There are many trucking accounting software programs specifically designed for trucking businesses, so there’s no excuse for not using one. When operating a trucking business, certain records should always be kept track of in order to ensure that you avoid auditing-related issues. Save your receipts, proof of business expenses, logbooks, bill of ladings and tax return records for as long as possible.

Use a Separate Credit Card for Business Purchases

This template is primarily meant for people looking for a bookkeeping template to manage their bookkeeping activities as a truck driver in an easy and intuitive way. Not only that but your truck would also be known as a non-current asset (also known as a fixed asset). You can sell it, but it would affect your ability to run your business without it. Every business has specific metrics that can be used to measure its health and performance, and for trucking, one significant metric is the average cost-per-mile. Determining the cost per mile is pretty straightforward; thus, business owners need to calculate the number of miles traveled in a month and divide it by fixed and variable costs. Owners looking for a quicker alternative can employ software in calculating their average cost per mile.

For example, if you place your truck into service in July, the due date is August 31. As a sole proprietor, you and your trucking business are a single entity. The first thing every business owner should do https://accounting-services.net/ to simplify their accounting is to separate their business activities from their personal ones. The easiest way is to open up a new checking account and credit card and reserve them for business use only.

Trucker Invoicing & Accounts Receivable Support

The IFTA is a way to redistribute the fuel taxes truck drivers pay in the lower 48 states and the 10 Canadian provinces. It ensures your funds go to the areas where you used your fuel instead of the ones where you purchased it. All businesses need to keep track of their expenses, but it’s more challenging in some industries than others. Unfortunately, trucking is a business that requires you to be particularly diligent in your record keeping. It’s often even more difficult for truck drivers, whose gas and food expenses could easily be personal costs if they occurred outside of a trucking trip. While they’re theoretically distinct, the line between them is somewhat blurred.

This might involve creating financial statements, calculating taxes, or making budget projections. This means keeping track of all the money coming into and out of your business. However, there are limits on how much you can deduct, so it’s important to familiarize yourself with the IRS rules before claiming any deductions on your taxes. Make sure you save all your receipts, whether they’re for truck repairs or tolls.

Head Into Tax Season Prepared

You can document trucking costs manually, but connecting your business accounts to accounting software is much easier. It can track and categorize your expenses automatically, though you may need to keep some supplemental records. In broad terms, bookkeeping involves maintaining financial records of your trucking business’s day-to-day transactions in a general ledger. It’s a routine, administrative process that requires relatively little critical thinking. While it may be tempting to use your personal checking account for your business, it’s not a good idea, and it will make taxes or audits much more complicated. If the fees are too high for a business account (which they can be), consider opening a separate personal checking account for the business, which could save you money.

Its tough to understand the best technology and the ideal approach to handle accounting for truckers on your own. Decimal will build processes and systems for your needs that work with your broader business. While you’re transporting goods, our team will handle the daily work to keep your financials accurate and up-to-date. Avoid the struggle of remembering what expenses were for from weeks prior with our team addressing transactions as they happen every day while you are on the road. When we spoke with Barry, he told us that not taking per diems or calculating them incorrectly can end up costing truckers a lot of money in the end. Trucker Tax Tools’ free smart phone bookkeeping app makes it easy for you to upload receipts and track your per diems.

Be the Bookkeeper of Your Own Destiny

Truckers must choose between the two fundamental methods of accounting, the cash and accrual bases. They impact your tax return significantly, so consider consulting an accountant before choosing one. Another decision every small business owner has to make is what type of legal entity they want to use. Sole proprietors are the default structure, do truck drivers need bookkeepers so owner-operators who start doing business without filing any paperwork will fall into that category. Accounting is more sophisticated and analytical than bookkeeping, and there’s often more at stake. For example, accounting errors could cause you to miss out on valuable financing or get you in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Bookkeeping for Truck Drivers in Excel

Keeping up with your IFTA data is one of the most important parts of running a trucking business. With the right trucking software program in place, you can organize your fleet’s miles or fuel gallons by state. The miles are automatically calculated using the tools incorporated in the system. We manage the accounting for owner-operator and small fleet trucking businesses. In conclusion, the mastery of bookkeeping is not just a regulatory obligation but a strategic move toward a resilient and prosperous trucking business.

In addition, we can assist with preparing your taxes and ensure you’re taking advantage of all possible deductions. At Accracy Accounting, we aim to make managing your finances easier and stress-free, so you can focus on your work without worrying about the state of your books. Once you completely fill out your invoice and send it to your client, they will be responsible for issuing payments within the designated payment arrangement timeframe. Invoices often include a statement that details the total amount due for these services as well as an itemized breakdown of the costs. Trucking invoices should be sure to list the services that the company provided as well as the costs and descriptions of these services.

If you are making use of a trucking management software program, you should have templates that you can use to create invoices. An invoice ensures that your company will receive payments in full and on time. Truck drivers and trucking companies alike will create invoices that they will send to their clients in an effort to receive payments for their provided services.

All you need is an Internet-capable device to log on and start managing your business from anywhere you like. This concludes how a Freelancer can use the Truck Driver Bookkeeping Template to manage the financial affairs with ease. With Countingup, you can sign up for a business account online in minutes.