Trucking
Bookkeeping for trucking
Settlements reconciled and fuel coded monthly, from $150.
Built around how a carrier actually files
- Settlement statements from your broker or carrier reconciled against what actually reached the bank
- Fuel, tolls, repairs, insurance, and permits categorized every month rather than reconstructed at year end
- Truck and trailer purchases coded as assets when they happen, so depreciation on Form 4562 is straightforward
- Payments to other drivers categorized as they happen, so what you paid out is in the books rather than reconstructed
- A profit and loss statement and a balance sheet every month, for the month and the year to date
- Everything filed in your client portal, so a lender or a factoring company can be given what they ask for without waiting on a rebuild
A one-truck operation and a six-truck fleet have the same problem in different sizes. Money arrives as settlements with deductions already taken out, fuel is bought in several states, the largest purchases are financed rather than expensed, and none of it is written down anywhere until the return is due. We keep it current instead.
Settlement statements
Advances, escrow, insurance, plate and permit charges, and cargo claims come out of a settlement before the money lands, so the figure in the bank is never the figure you earned. We reconcile the statement against the deposit and categorize what was taken out, which is what makes the profit and loss statement mean anything. If you want a particular treatment for escrow or for reserves, tell us and we will set the books up that way.
Fuel, and where it was bought
Fuel is one of the largest costs a carrier carries, and we categorize it monthly with the rest of your activity so it never has to be reconstructed. If you file IFTA returns, which cover fuel tax across the states you run in, and you want the fuel and mileage records prepared alongside your books, ask us and we will tell you what we can take on and what it would cost.
Equipment
A tractor, a trailer, or a major rebuild is an asset, not a repair, and the split between the two is where owner-operators most often lose deductions or invite a question. We code purchases when they happen rather than a year later, so the depreciation schedule on your business return follows from records that already tie to the bank.
People you pay
If you pay other drivers as contractors, those payments are categorized in the month they happen rather than assembled from memory later. Our office does not run payroll. If you have employees or expect to hire, tell us and we will point you toward a payroll provider, then take their monthly reports into your books so the two systems agree.
What it costs
Plans start at $150 a month and are set by how many accounts you run and how many transactions move through them. If you are behind, catch-up work is scoped and priced separately before it starts, so you know the number in advance. Your exact price is confirmed before any work begins.
The first consultation is free and there is no obligation at the end of it. Bring a recent settlement statement and a bank statement and we can tell you what your books would take.