How to Become an Expert in Trucking Bookkeeping

Keeping your trucking company’s accounts in order is one of the most important things you can do to support its growth. We’ve created a list of 10 Ingenious Ways to Become an Expert in Trucking Bookkeeping. From using a corporate credit card and being aware of your company’s entity type to reducing the amount of unpaid day sales.

Save all of your receipts, regardless of the cost.

As many legitimate expenses as you can should be deductible. To collect receipts, place an envelope in your van or use electronic receipt files stored on your computer or cloud. For precise quarterly tax computations and monthly profit-and-loss statements, consult the files.

Maintain Current IFTA Data

One of the most important things about running a trucking business is maintaining track of your IFTA data. At the conclusion of each quarter, you are required to submit an IFTA report that includes the miles travelled and gallons purchased. These reports will determine whether you are eligible for a refund or if you still owe money on taxes. Your trucking company’s home state’s IFTA office will contact you regarding any outstanding balances or refunds.

For business expenses, use a different credit card.

Your bookkeeping may be made easier by using a corporate credit card, and the majority of accounting programs allow you to link your credit card and bank accounts. Time is saved and errors are eliminated because the data is automatically entered whenever a payment is received. Having a business credit card will also make bookkeeping easier for you because you can usually classify expenses like maintenance, meals, and gas.

Examining multiple options and selecting one with a low-interest rate and no yearly fee is the first step. Fuel-benefit credit cards are an excellent option for truckers, as their fuel expenses are quite high. Make sure you pay off your loan in full each month to avoid incurring high-interest rates.

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 Understand Your Mileage Cost

Your variable costs per mile (fuel, for example) should not change much no matter how many miles you drive. Your fixed costs per mile, like insurance, should drop significantly as the miles driven increase. You could want to calculate cost-per-mile independently for each category, such as drivers, equipment, states, or consumers, in order to spot trends or areas that could use improvement.

You ought to have saved all of your log books.

• Your best evidence of qualifying for a per diem is your logbook and/or electronic log records (which are mainly made up of food expenses). Make sure you can access and maintain your history if your truck driver bookkeeping is solely dependent on your electronic logging device (ELD). In any event, inspections require that you know this.
• It is recommended that you mandate that your truck drivers save trip reports, maintenance receipts, and spending receipts. Additionally, make sure they always have a notepad in their vehicles to record mileage and any unreceived expenses.
• Your best evidence of being eligible for per diem expenses—which are primarily food expenses—is found in your logbooks. Even if a payment isn’t immediately recorded, keep track of what it’s for because this will help you deduct as many legitimate expenses as you can.

Store all of your documents.

After the date of submission, you have three years to preserve all of the documents that were used to prepare your tax return. It is also advisable to save all IRS quarterly estimated tax payments, monthly profit and loss statements, insurance paperwork, maintenance logs, warranty information (which needs to be readily available to keep your truck operating), registration details, bank and settlement statements, credit card statements for your trucking business, and voided checks.

Keep a notepad in your vehicle.

Truckers are required by law to maintain a record of the date, location, sum, and explanation of each charge. For any expenses for which you do not have a receipt, note them down in this notebook (together with your receipt envelope) or in a document on your computer or smartphone. This includes things like using a coin-operated car wash to wash your truck or tracking the kilometres you drive your own car for work. Give any extra receipts together with a monthly record to your tax accountant or business services supplier.