Bookkeeping for Owner-Operator Truck Drivers

An accounting solution is also essential for most small businesses, including trucking companies. If you link your trucking accounting software to your business bank account and credit card, it should track your every invoice and expense automatically. Created by a professional accounting firm in Atlanta, Georgia, TranspoCFO provides quality bookkeeping services to trucking businesses. Ideal for small transportation companies without in-house accounting, their team of accountants can take care of your accounting and tax preparation needs so you don’t have to. Keeping accurate books may not be the most exciting aspect of managing your trucking business, but it’s essential to maintaining its success. So you can lessen your load, we’ve compiled a list of the best trucking bookkeeping services to make your life a little easier.

You’ll also get burn rate calculations, which is helpful for startups that need to closely track their spending. 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 https://www.bookstime.com/ you may need to keep some supplemental records. All business owners must make quarterly estimated tax payments to cover their income and self-employment taxes, and truck drivers are no exception. You’ll incur penalties and interest if you don’t meet your federal and state liabilities.

Bench: Best for new businesses

We believe everyone should be able to make financial decisions with confidence. You can also monitor individual trucks at a glance to replace them when it’s time instead of waiting too long and suffering unneeded and major repair bills. In Rigbooks, you enter your loads, dispatch them to your drivers, invoice them, and generate payroll for your drivers. The last three only need a couple clicks each, because you can use the information you’ve already entered before. In the real world, you book loads, dispatch them to your drivers, invoice them, and pay your drivers.

For example, most small business owners can only take 50% of meal expenses, but truckers are allowed to take 80% of either their actual costs or per diem allowances. Fortunately, you don’t need to hire an accountant for your business full-time. Outsourced accounting lets you select only the specialized accounting services you need, keeping your costs down. One of the primary problems with managing your small business accounting is the sheer amount of time and energy it takes. Running a trucking company alone is enough work to keep you busy, and trying to do both is a lot to handle at once. The cash basis involves recognizing revenues when you receive payments and deducting expenses when you pay them.

Keep a notebook in your truck.

As a trucking business owner, you have to juggle many moving parts to make your business thrive. From managing routes, repairs, staffing and more—maintaining efficiency is critical. Finding the right accounting software can be one of the most important decisions an owner can make.

• If you want your business to save time and money then, yes, you should consider hiring a bookkeeping service.
• You’ll incur penalties and interest if you don’t meet your federal and state liabilities.
• Tell us more about your business and an advisor will reach out with a list of software recommendations customized for your specific needs.
• Some bookkeeping services charge a monthly fee while others charge by the hour.
• You must be strategic about which tools you invest in to avoid wasting resources, but it’s worth utilizing in many areas.

From filing quarterly IFTA fuel taxes to invoicing, there is a trucking bookkeeping solution for your business. Check out these five nationwide trucking bookkeeping services to get started today. As a trucking business owner, you should keep records of all your expenses and the documents that support them, such as receipts and account statements. For example, that includes data from your ELD, invoices, bills of lading, payroll statements, and tax payment receipts.

Workday Financial Management

It’s a routine, administrative process that requires relatively little critical thinking. If you’re looking for bookkeeping software specifically tailored to the needs of trucking companies, here are some other options to consider. These aren’t bad reasons, and I don’t blame anyone who uses Quickbooks, especially when they’re just getting started. But if you’re unsure whether Quickbooks will work for you, it can be one of the best decisions you make in your business to figure out exactly what you need from your accounting software. Kathy Haan, MBA is a former financial advisor-turned-writer and business coach.

That’s why it may be best to look into using a bookkeeping service for your business that works specifically with owner-operator truck drivers. Forbes Advisor analyzed 13 online bookkeeping services and considered 15 metrics such as price, features, customer service, ease of use, integrations and service level. We also looked truckers bookkeeping service at real customer experiences to determine if their expectations were met based on what each company promised. After assigning a weighted score to each category, we formulated rankings for each company. Each plan comes with a finance expert, automated transaction imports, P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statements.