Trucking Bookkeeping for Drivers: Smart Tips for the One-the-Go Trucker
As a professional truck driver, you know that there’s a lot more to the industry than sitting behind the wheel of a big rig. Piloting an 18-wheel vehicle is no easy task on its own, but there’s a host of other things to be mindful of besides getting to and from your destination safely. Compliance is perhaps the biggest of them all. The truck carrier profession can often seem like one big resolution.
Trucking bookkeeping is one of the most important activities of successful owner-operators. The receipts and records you keep are used in some areas of your business — income tax reporting and minimization, warranty issues, maintenance information and monthly profitability, to name a few. The more organized and thorough you can be in your receipt gathering, the better, whether you hire a business services provider or not. You can simplify the trucking bookkeeping task by following six simple practices that translate to higher profit with less hassle.
Every owner operator needs to understand trucking bookkeeping for truck drivers. Fortunately, you don’t need a degree in accounting to handle this aspect of the business.
Here Are Six Tips for Handling Chores of Trucking Bookkeeping Correctly:
Use the right accounting system: Most businesses use either a cash-based or accrual based system. With the cash-based system, you count income when you receive money and expenses when you pay them. This is usually the best trucking bookkeeping for truck drivers system.
Maintain Your Records Daily: This is essential to having an accurate picture of where your business is going money-wise. Once you’ve set up your system, keeping the records should only takes few minutes a day.
Handle Checks with Care: This is important because business checks are almost as easy to use as cash, which sometimes invites fraud or misuse. Make sure you sign checks in a clear, legible way that discourages forgery. And, when you review canceled checks from your bank, make sure they’re for authorized expenses. Of course, the vast majority of employees and business partners are completely trustworthy. But, as the old saying goes, it always pays to check twice.
Use a Banking Account with a Month-End Cutoff: This is one of the most overlooked rules of trucking bookkeeping for truck drivers. Yet it’s also one of the most important, since coordinating your monthly records will prevent mistakes and misunderstandings.
Keep Your Books Audit-Proof: This applies to both IRS and state fuel tax matters. Maintain separate checking accounts for your personal and business expenses. Save receipts for every business-related purchase. In fact, you may want to create digital copies of each receipt by scanning them into your computer. That way, if the tax collector does come a calling, you’ll have all your ducks in a row.
Use the right Trucking Bookkeeping for Truck Drivers: Of all the tips mentioned above, this one is the most vital. It’s also why trucking bookkeeping software is highly recommended. The trucking bookkeeping software was built by Truckers Helper LLC for truckers. It offers important features that general purpose programs just can’t match, ones that can make all the difference when it comes to your trucking business.
Find out how good the trucking bookkeeping software is for your trucking business by taking it for a free trial starting today. For further information, contact Truckers Helper LLC.
