How Owner Operators Can Reduce the Headache of Bookkeeping

 Being the owner and operator of your own business seems like a stealing opportunity. And the excitement might lead you to believe that you don’t have the need for the trucking accounting software and bookkeeping aspects of the job. While it might look difficult initially, there is some news that can provide you with some relief. Yes, you don’t require to be the master of record-keeping to handle your company’s finances. In this article, we are going to share some tips with you to be all set for the business.

1. Make it a daily habit

Practice makes a man perfect, and practice can also help you to handle owner operator expenses. When you start carving out time each day, you learn to make beneficial business or financial decisions for your business. While it may seem easy to leave the work for tomorrow while you remain caught up with the daily tasks, daily bookkeeping can make you have a more accurate picture of how your business is going to unfold in the near future.

2. Use the Right Software to make a difference

Technology has advanced enough to make your life a lot easier in everything you do. There are over a million software available for bookkeeping and accounting that can be at your service. You should explore as many options as you can to choose the best fit for your company. Software nowadays offer a free trial for 15-30 days. Never hesitate to try different software as this will help you in making a better decision. Specifically, you can try a cash-based system to start with as that allows you to count your income as you receive payments and your expenses as you can have a count of them. 

3. Digital is the way to go

This is obvious that taking care of papers can be a lot more tricky than digitally secured documents. Trucking business comprises of a lot of papers and invoices, and to keep track of the taxes and records can be more difficult. The mountains of paperwork can take up a lot of space and effort to organize them. So we advise you to go digital when it comes to keeping records of the documents. This will help you to organize the abundance of paperwork that you might be dealing with on the daily basis. Keep all the invoices and bank statements on a digital platform to access them quickly and easily from a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

4. Learn to Manage Your Cash Flow

This is one of the major concerns when it comes to the trucking business. While you will learn bookkeeping you will get to know more about cash flow. When you know the amount you have at a certain time, you can be efficient in managing money while you pay for suppliers and employees.

 

5. Prepare for Audits 

As a business owner, the last thing that anybody would want to deal with is missing deadlines. It is advised to be prepared for audits from early on. Save the receipts when you purchase anything on behalf of the company irrespective of the amount. You might need them to have the tack of the expenses or for an audit later on.

6. Get yourself a Business Credit Card

They are helpful to keep your business expenses separate from personal finances. A business credit card will help you remain sorted with fewer monthly statements and paperwork, to begin with. While keeping a track of the receipts is easy, a credit card will help you in saving time and effort. 

7. Never Forget About Tax Deductibles

Never forget about your tax deductibles and write-offs when you buy office equipment. Some computers, printers, company vehicles, and business software might qualify for tax deductibles. Keeping a track of them will help you in saving money while shopping.

8. Bring In the Pros

There may be a thousand tips to help you with the operations of your company or a million of software to make you work easy, but nothing beats the skills of a professional accountant who is familiar with the trucking industry. A professional accountant not only brings the experience to the table but careful insight and advice of them can make a big difference in your overall game. So if you ever feel that you are losing it, turn to a professional.

 

Even if you are doing fine on your own, taking the insight from a professional accountant once or twice a year will help your business to reach its full potential. This will make sure that you are on the right track and your company’s financial health is strong and fine. With the right tips, software, and expert help, you can be more confident, efficient, and productive.

 

IFTA Reporting Basics for New Owner-Operators

 

Don’t forget to file your Ifta report because October is coming fast.

There is a very common question in the trucking industry “What is IFTA & How to file it ?”. In this article, we will learn about the IFTA basics and How to file your IFTA Report.

Paying fuel taxes was very time-consuming in the past that requires the truckers to stop at a port of entry to buy a permit. So few states hammered out an agreement in the early 80s to create a permit that would be honored in all of them. And that permit is known as IFTA (International Fuel Tax Agreement).

IFTA is an Agreement between lower 48 united states and 10 Canadian provinces to simplify fuel tax collection and reporting for interstate commercial carriers.

How Does the Agreement Work?

Truck Drivers are required to track How much fuel they have used and the miles they have travelled in each jurisdiction. Based on the calculation of the report, you can find that you either owe money into your IFTA account or a refund is owed to your account. After that, your base jurisdiction takes care of dividing the fuel taxes to every jurisdiction based on mileage.

That’s the good news for member jurisdictions because it ensures that they can maintain roads that are used by heavy commercial vehicles.

What are the IFTA Reporting Periods?

You must have to file an IFTA tax report every quarter, even if you don’t buy fuel or haul load in any IFTA jurisdiction that quarter. If your report finds that any taxes are owed, you need to pay that amount to your base jurisdiction at the time the report is filed. Then your base jurisdiction redistributes that tax money.

IFTA Quarters And Due Dates are:

• Q1 (January-March): April 30
• Q2 (April-June): July 31
• Q3 (July-September): October 31
• Q4 (October-December): January 31

Records that you should keep to file IFTA Fuel Taxes

FMCSA requires the following records for at least 6 months:

Mileage Records: You’ll need to track the mileage travelled in each jurisdiction each quarter, specifying total mileage, total mileage for each trip, and the total mileage travelled in each jurisdiction.

Receipts of Fuel Purchased: Keep receipts of the fuel that purchased and which state or province you purchased it in. Make sure it shows the purchase date, fuel type, purchase location, the price per gallon, Truck vehicle registration number, the total purchase amount, and the number of gallons purchased.

Trip Reports: Be sure to include all the relevant trip information, such as starting and ending trip dates, trip origin and destination, and routes that you took for travel.

How to Choose the Right Trucking Management Software

If you want to choose the right trucking management software for your company, It can be confusing and overwhelming for you.

There are many different trucking management software out there. They all promise to reduce your costs and improve your productivity. But, how can you find the trucking software that best suits the needs of your trucking business?

Because not all trucking companies are the same, every company has different needs according to their work. So, it is important to evaluate your specific needs before making a decision about which software can be the right fit. 

The very first choice of every company is they want a software solution that is affordable and easy to use. Choose one that offers a range of convenient features to streamline your trucking operations and save you money and time.

With the right trucking software, you can have the accounting, dispatch, IFTA reporting and maintenance information you need right at your fingertips. This allows you to work on taking your company to the next level.

Here are some tips that can help you choose the right trucking software for your business: 

Get A Free Trial:

Before making any decision you should check the software at your place. You must try any software for 2-3 weeks to check if it fits best for your business requirement or not.

You can run some real data through as if you were using the system and see how it feels.  Use a support system to ask questions as you come across road blocks.  Did they get you through them quickly?  Do you feel more efficient?

Automation:

This is the best reason for Why you are looking for Trucking accounting Software. Automating is a cornerstone to building a scalable trucking business. Software which you are going to choose should automate some tasks and cut the time you spend doing non income producing activities.

Support System:

Support after the sale is very important for any business. It’s what makes any product successful in the market. Try out their support system for your different queries during 

Flexibility and scalability:

The software which you are going to choose not only just manages an average workload, but to successfully rise to the challenge during periods of high demand. 

That's why we designed the Online Trucking solution in a way to customize according to the client’s need.