April 20, 2026

Trucker Bookkeeping Keeping it Simple

Trucker Bookkeeping Keeping it Simple

Tax Talk 4 U Trucker Bookkeeping Keeping it Simple Trucker Bookkeeping as an Over the Road Trucker doesn’t have to be hard learning to keep it simple and lowering your tax burden. Being an Owner Operator keep you on the road for days but still...

iHeartRadio podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconAmazon Music podcast player iconApple Podcasts podcast player iconAudible podcast player iconPandora podcast player iconDeezer podcast player iconPodchaser podcast player iconSpreaker podcast player iconPodcast Addict podcast player iconJioSaavn podcast player iconCastbox podcast player iconYoutube Music podcast player iconYouTube podcast player iconCastamatic podcast player iconOvercast podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconFountain podcast player iconGoodpods podcast player iconPocketCasts podcast player iconPodurama podcast player iconPodverse podcast player iconPodyssey podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon
iHeartRadio podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconAmazon Music podcast player iconApple Podcasts podcast player iconAudible podcast player iconPandora podcast player iconDeezer podcast player iconPodchaser podcast player iconSpreaker podcast player iconPodcast Addict podcast player iconJioSaavn podcast player iconCastbox podcast player iconYoutube Music podcast player iconYouTube podcast player iconCastamatic podcast player iconOvercast podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconFountain podcast player iconGoodpods podcast player iconPocketCasts podcast player iconPodurama podcast player iconPodverse podcast player iconPodyssey podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon

Tax Talk 4 U Trucker Bookkeeping Keeping it Simple
Trucker Bookkeeping as an Over the Road Trucker doesn’t have to be hard learning to keep it simple and lowering your tax burden. Being an Owner Operator keep you on the road for days but still requires Business owner duties such as Bookkeeping & Taxes! To save money on taxes and avoid audits you need to be on top of the bookkeeping and know where you can save money. OOIDA Truck to Success,

Tax Talk 4 U is broadcast live Mondays at 10AM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Tax Talk 4 U is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

Tax Talk 4 U Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tax-talk-4-u--6333550/support.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.439
The topics and opinions express in the following show are

2
00:00:02.439 --> 00:00:04.080
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

3
00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:07.040
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

4
00:00:07.080 --> 00:00:10.160
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,

5
00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:12.519
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No

6
00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:15.839
liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio

7
00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:18.640
or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should

8
00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:21.000
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

9
00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:23.440
W FOURCY Radio.

10
00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:28.440
Barry G.

11
00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.679
Fouler EA brings you tax talk for you right here

12
00:00:31.719 --> 00:00:35.280
on W four CY Radio and talk for TV. As

13
00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:39.079
an enrolled agent and a national leader in tax resolution

14
00:00:39.719 --> 00:00:43.799
as well as trucker bookkeeping and tax planning. With over

15
00:00:43.880 --> 00:00:49.280
thirty years of experience, Barry will break down taxes, bookkeeping,

16
00:00:49.799 --> 00:00:53.960
tax planning, and tax relief for individuals and businesses just

17
00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:57.159
like you. So let's have some tax talk for you

18
00:00:57.600 --> 00:00:58.520
with your hosts.

19
00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:06.079
Barry G. Hey, welcome in, good morning. Hopefully we have

20
00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:09.000
a lot of truckers here over the road. Maybe you're

21
00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:11.920
a W two driver and you're looking to become over

22
00:01:11.959 --> 00:01:14.959
the road trucker Funday morning is a great day to start,

23
00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:21.120
you know, talking about bookkeeping and taxes for truckers. I mean,

24
00:01:21.319 --> 00:01:25.120
you guys have a lot of work on the road

25
00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:30.719
away from home, limited time to do things such as bookkeeping,

26
00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:33.920
you know, much less trying to do your own taxes.

27
00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.560
And you know, you when you're out there on the

28
00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:41.239
road and don't have the time, it becomes very very complicated.

29
00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:45.879
But yet as an owner operator, you're a business person.

30
00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:50.239
You are in business. Hey, it's a great Monday morning.

31
00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:55.879
It's great to be here talking about bookkeeping, taxes, you know, specifically,

32
00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:58.359
you know, working with owner operators and a lot of

33
00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:01.920
this that we talk about day because we're talking about

34
00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:06.840
keeping it simple. You know, the old philosophy keep it simple, stupid,

35
00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:09.800
and you know, we're just trying to keep it simple.

36
00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:13.560
It's all we're trying to do so that anybody can

37
00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:19.000
do it. Anybody can track their expenses. Now, using bookkeeping

38
00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:22.319
company like Trucker Tax Tools is going to give you

39
00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:24.919
a lot better information. It's going to give you information

40
00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:28.080
that can help you run your business where you can

41
00:02:28.120 --> 00:02:31.240
sit down and look at the profit and loss balance

42
00:02:31.240 --> 00:02:34.360
sheet and maybe understand a little bit more what's going

43
00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:36.800
on in your business, but today we need to talk

44
00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:40.120
about keeping it simple and Monday's are a great day

45
00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:43.000
to do that because who wants to get lost in

46
00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:48.800
the details of you know, bookkeeping taxes, especially on a

47
00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:53.680
Monday morning, and you know we're to be here helping.

48
00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:55.759
And if you've got questions, you know, make sure you

49
00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:59.280
send the questions in. You know, again, if you're an

50
00:02:59.319 --> 00:03:03.400
owner operator, maybe you're looking to become an owner o

51
00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:08.360
i D a Owner operator. Independent Drivers Association along with

52
00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:12.879
their foundation every year usually puts on a seminar called

53
00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:17.159
Truck to Success and it's a great seminar where they're

54
00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:22.599
actually going through everything it takes to be in business

55
00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:26.680
as an owner operator, you know. So if you're looking

56
00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:31.080
out there to become you know, an owner operator, Truck

57
00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:34.800
to Success a seminar walks you through everything from developing

58
00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:38.479
a business plan that actually works for you, you know, maybe

59
00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:45.120
buying a new or use truck, equipment, financing, insurance pros

60
00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:49.240
and cons of running under your own authority or even

61
00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:52.919
leasing onto a carrier. And then if you're a new

62
00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:56.400
entering into the business, you know, safety audits and compliance,

63
00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:02.840
you know, the wonderful drug and alcohol testing requ vironments, permits, licensing,

64
00:04:04.439 --> 00:04:09.960
brokerage firms, factoring a lot of the current issues that

65
00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:13.400
are affecting the industry. And then my favorite and the

66
00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:18.199
best speaker that they have there is business structure, business

67
00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:22.360
taxes and business bookkeeping. And guess who's there, b I

68
00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:26.319
could do this stuff. As president founder of tax Tools

69
00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:31.160
Taxation Solutions, I get invited to come up and speak

70
00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.439
to these people wanting to get started in business and

71
00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:39.240
wanting to know and what is the proper business structure,

72
00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:43.240
what's going to happen to my taxes as a business owner?

73
00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:46.680
And then especially no I keep track of what's going

74
00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:51.480
on business and you know that becomes one of the

75
00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:55.120
highlights of the session because you know, we take the

76
00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:58.000
time to go through exactly what you're looking for and

77
00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:02.399
what you need as a business owner. Now you know

78
00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:06.879
we say this because you know, we specialize in dealing

79
00:05:07.079 --> 00:05:10.759
with truckers at Trucker tax Tools and so if you

80
00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:12.519
get if you are an over the road trucker and

81
00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:16.519
looking for some great pricing on bookkeeping and taxes, things

82
00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:21.439
that most companies don't include that we do include to

83
00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:25.160
help you the owner operator, you can go to Trucker

84
00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:29.079
tax Tools dot Com Again it's Trucker tax Tools dot

85
00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:31.800
com or call us at eight seven seven ninety nine

86
00:05:31.879 --> 00:05:34.480
six two four seven seven. And when you call that

87
00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:37.240
number mentioned you heard it here on tax Talk for

88
00:05:37.319 --> 00:05:40.759
you so that you can get your proper discounts. We

89
00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:43.160
gave you great discounts just for listening to the show.

90
00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:48.120
We want you to be informed business owner, and again,

91
00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:51.480
many people don't think about it. I am an over

92
00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:56.920
the road trucker owner operator working for who myself. When

93
00:05:56.920 --> 00:05:59.480
you work for yourself, it comes with a lot of

94
00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:06.079
regulations requirements, including things bookkeeping and taxes. So you know,

95
00:06:06.199 --> 00:06:10.079
we need to get you up to speed so that hey,

96
00:06:10.279 --> 00:06:13.839
you're ready to go and that you don't have tax

97
00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:18.720
problems that need a solution to solve them. So you know,

98
00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:21.120
maybe if you're one of those truckers and we've helped

99
00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:24.879
many truckers at owe ten twenty thousand or much much more,

100
00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:28.759
you can go to Taxations Solutions dot net or call

101
00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:31.360
us at eight eight eight nine three zero one zero

102
00:06:31.399 --> 00:06:34.680
one six again eight eight eight nine three zero one

103
00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:39.240
zero one six. Hey, mention the show, get some special discounts.

104
00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:43.839
All right? Why is it important? Well? Bookkeeping keeps track

105
00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:48.000
of not just your gross revenues that are coming in.

106
00:06:48.439 --> 00:06:52.399
But it also keeps track of all the money going

107
00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:55.480
in trustment. There's a lot of money goes out in

108
00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:00.319
the trucking. Yeah, some of it's really easy. Okay. You

109
00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:02.439
may be leased on to somebody that give you a

110
00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:06.120
settlement statement and each week it breaks down, here's your

111
00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:11.480
gross revenue, and here's certain expenses they all out, such

112
00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:15.040
as fuel. You're one of your largest, if not the

113
00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:19.279
largest expense you're going to have in the drunking business

114
00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:22.279
is the cost of fuel. So if you're leased on,

115
00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:26.720
it's really simple, really easy, because they're going to track

116
00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:30.000
it for you. Now, I will say this, you might

117
00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:32.800
want to keep your receipts and you might want to

118
00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:35.439
look at your settlement statements to make sure they're deducting

119
00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:38.120
the correct amount of fuel. Now, they may be giving

120
00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:40.279
you some discounts and everything else. So maybe the fuel

121
00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:43.279
is less than once you paid at the pump, a

122
00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:46.120
good thing. Every now and then you see it on

123
00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:49.319
their settlement statements and they charged you more. You need

124
00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:52.199
to take that receipt back to your company or leased

125
00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:56.879
onto and let them know something wrong. The other expenses

126
00:07:56.920 --> 00:07:59.399
they could be charging you for, they could be charging

127
00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:03.079
you for inurance. Maybe you take some advances. Make sure

128
00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:06.759
the advances are correct. You may have paid a lumper

129
00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:10.519
and they've deducted that from there. Maybe you had some

130
00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:14.399
damage through the goods that you've dropped off and they

131
00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:18.399
made that deduction. Is that deduction right? Are you responsible?

132
00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:21.160
Look at your lease go back and see what the

133
00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:24.600
terms are when you decided to lease on with them.

134
00:08:24.839 --> 00:08:27.240
Now if you're operating under your own authority and you're

135
00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:31.000
not leased onto anybody. Now you're dealing with fuel yourself.

136
00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:33.200
Did you put on your EFS card? Do you have

137
00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:36.080
a fuel card? Do these cards come with any kind

138
00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:41.320
of discount? You know? Are you factoring invoices and maybe

139
00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:45.320
they're offering you a fuel card with discounts and you're

140
00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:50.320
taking advantage of that. Are any charging you riding their holdbacks?

141
00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:53.000
Correct in factor? Do? These things? Are all the things

142
00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:57.159
that get really really complicated. So the first thing that

143
00:08:57.240 --> 00:08:59.279
I tell you to do, if you're going to keep

144
00:08:59.320 --> 00:09:01.960
your own book keeping it even if you're not, even

145
00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:04.879
if you're going to just keep track of receipts and

146
00:09:04.919 --> 00:09:08.879
what you're paid and what went out, get a folder

147
00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:12.480
for each month. And better yet, if you get one

148
00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:16.600
of those expanding folders. You can put different sections in there,

149
00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:22.320
or you know, fuel maintenance, you know, telephone, whatever the

150
00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:26.320
expenses may be that you're charging to your business. Have

151
00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:29.519
a separate section in that folder, and put the receipts

152
00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:32.320
right in there as soon as you get back into

153
00:09:32.360 --> 00:09:36.200
your truck, before you get going down the road, because

154
00:09:36.200 --> 00:09:38.399
I guarantee you, if you don't do it, and you

155
00:09:38.440 --> 00:09:42.080
don't make it a habit, you're not going to follow through.

156
00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.919
I've seen many a truck's receipts just on the floor,

157
00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:50.480
receipts just going into the back. You know, you want

158
00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:53.320
to keep your truck nice, clean and eat. You want

159
00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:55.639
to you know, that's where you live. You know, if

160
00:09:55.639 --> 00:09:59.240
you're on the road, seventy eighty percent of the year's

161
00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:03.279
where you are saying. You're in that truck. So you

162
00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:06.080
do want to, you know, not have receipts all over

163
00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:08.240
the place. You do want to make sure that you

164
00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:12.039
follow them. And maybe you just need to take your phone,

165
00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:15.759
take a picture, receipt and folders on your phone. Keep

166
00:10:15.799 --> 00:10:18.480
it simple, put it there. Those are the kind of

167
00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:22.600
little things that you can do in the philosophy of

168
00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:25.840
keeping it simple. We're going to tell you a quick

169
00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:27.320
break and when we come back, we're going to talk

170
00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:31.120
about bad or no bookkeeping and what is the problem,

171
00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:34.559
what can happen? You have no keep it? Do that.

172
00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:38.279
Right after that, we have only scratched the surface of

173
00:10:38.360 --> 00:10:42.320
today's show. Please stand by as Barry G. Fowler will

174
00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:47.919
be right back with tax talk for you. If you

175
00:10:48.120 --> 00:10:50.480
own the I R S or are going through an

176
00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:55.240
IRS audit, don't go at it alone. Called Taxation Solutions

177
00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:59.080
tax relief that eight eight eight nine three zero one

178
00:10:59.240 --> 00:11:04.600
zero one. We are your solution for IRS TETs, audits,

179
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:10.440
back taxes, garnishments, leans and levees. Whether you're an individual

180
00:11:10.519 --> 00:11:14.759
or business, you need a solution and a strong, aggressive

181
00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:18.879
tax resolution. Don't let the IRS walk all over you.

182
00:11:19.159 --> 00:11:23.000
Stop the IRS now call eight eight eight nine three

183
00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:27.919
zero one zero one six or go to Taxationsolutions dot

184
00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:36.519
net now for a free no obligation consultation. Let's get

185
00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:39.559
back to tax stock for you with more tax stock

186
00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:43.159
once again, here's your host, Barry G.

187
00:11:43.399 --> 00:11:43.759
Fowler.

188
00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:49.440
You know a truck to success. I get asked a

189
00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:51.879
lot of questions. I spent a lot of time with

190
00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:57.320
truckers talking to them about being in business. You know, hey,

191
00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:59.960
what's my business structure, what's the best way for taxes?

192
00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:05.240
What should we do to help us reduce the taxes?

193
00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:08.960
And we come back to the first thing, and it's bookkeeping.

194
00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:14.399
And we talk a lot about bad What is bad bookkeeping?

195
00:12:14.919 --> 00:12:18.799
You know, we start out with no bookkeeping is bad

196
00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:23.559
bookkeeping to begin with. If you're not keeping track of

197
00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:29.480
your business through keeping your financial statements and keeping bookkeeping,

198
00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:32.960
knowing what's coming in, what's going out, where it's going,

199
00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:39.120
that is terrible, bad, worst bookkeeping you can possibly have.

200
00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:43.039
And what happens when you're doing bad bookkeeping or no bookkeeping,

201
00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:47.240
you're missing deductible business expenses. You know what should be

202
00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:51.440
deductible what shouldn't be deductible in your business? You don't

203
00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:56.360
want to miss those expenses. And when you're missing those expenses,

204
00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:01.399
then you have completely incomplete bookkeeping. If you're only doing

205
00:13:01.399 --> 00:13:04.240
it half hearted or keeping up with it a little bit,

206
00:13:04.919 --> 00:13:07.120
you know, it's not keeping up with what's going on

207
00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:09.919
in your business. Again, you're a businessman, you know, it's

208
00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:13.600
not what cash I have in my pocket today, it's

209
00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:18.279
how we can save money on taxes, saving money on taxes.

210
00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:23.360
Guarantees that you're going to lower your tax burden, pay

211
00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:27.320
less if you're paying more in tax, and you shouldn't be. Well,

212
00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.039
you've now paid it out here that's not deductible, and

213
00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:33.240
then you're paying it over here to Uncle Sam because

214
00:13:34.039 --> 00:13:36.879
you didn't find the deductions. You didn't look for them,

215
00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:39.120
you didn't know what you were looking. You miss them

216
00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:43.480
because you forgot to save the receipt, you forgot to document,

217
00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:47.039
and you don't know. Bookkeeping after the fact is really

218
00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:49.840
only half hearted bookkeeping because you can only do what

219
00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:53.279
you can find something else. It happens in bad bookkeeping

220
00:13:53.480 --> 00:13:56.480
is not reading your settlement statements. You know, even though

221
00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:59.279
you may be a bookkeeping client of ours. We read

222
00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:02.279
your settlement state, we go through yourself. When we find

223
00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:05.039
a mistake, we let you know there's a mistake. But

224
00:14:05.559 --> 00:14:08.679
sometimes there's things we can't see that you know. And

225
00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:10.919
then if you read your settlement statement, you would understand

226
00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.559
what they're charging you. Oh wait a minute, I just

227
00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:15.879
got charge back for some damage. Oh wait a minute,

228
00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:18.559
they're taking out insurance for what. Now I've got a

229
00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:21.120
duplicate an insurance. I've got an insurance over here that

230
00:14:21.159 --> 00:14:23.399
I'm paying for it, and now making me pay them

231
00:14:23.799 --> 00:14:26.320
to find out what that insurance coverage is. Maybe you

232
00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:29.559
don't need both, maybe you do read your settlement statement,

233
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:33.720
ask the questions. Hey, something we see in our industry.

234
00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:37.919
You hire a bookkeeper or a bookkeeping firm and they

235
00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:43.000
kind of don't know fucking no clue the different deductions

236
00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:45.360
for truckers. I've seen it where they don't even know

237
00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:48.320
some of the basics to even look for a settlement

238
00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:51.120
statement that all they're doing is recording the amount of

239
00:14:51.159 --> 00:14:54.039
money that was divided into your bay account, but they're

240
00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:57.799
not taking and putting the gross amount and deducting the expenses.

241
00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:01.320
Then you get your ten ninety nine and what why

242
00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:05.159
is my ten ninety nine fifty thousand dollars higher? They

243
00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:07.399
don't want what went into my bank or what you're

244
00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:10.399
showing in your bookkeeping because they didn't pick up fuel

245
00:15:10.679 --> 00:15:14.360
and insurance expense and gross up for the gross revenues

246
00:15:14.440 --> 00:15:16.600
that you should have gotten that they sent you the

247
00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:20.000
ten ninety nine on, So they don't know to look

248
00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:23.559
for other expenses. They don't know to look for per

249
00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:26.399
diems and how many nights you were on the road

250
00:15:26.440 --> 00:15:29.440
away from home or even how to calculate it, or

251
00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:32.679
that you would get eighty percent of per diems. It's

252
00:15:32.679 --> 00:15:35.919
not a fifty to fifty thing like regular meals or

253
00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:40.039
regular travel for ordinary people that are running a business

254
00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:43.279
for in taking meals and entertainment, you get the eighty

255
00:15:43.320 --> 00:15:48.519
percent because of DOT rules, because of IRS rules, and

256
00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:53.000
because you are on the road. Hey you're going over

257
00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:57.600
the road, you get these per diems. It makes things nice,

258
00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:00.840
it makes things simple. So check your keeper, make sure

259
00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:05.120
they know trucking. We've e'sn't seen bookkeeping companies that are

260
00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:09.039
relatively large in the drugging industry who do the books

261
00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:13.279
really don't only care about their bottom line, not yours.

262
00:16:13.480 --> 00:16:17.320
It's not what you charge. How will you do bookkeeping?

263
00:16:17.480 --> 00:16:19.480
You know, if you're just getting a cash flow statement

264
00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:21.879
of what went in and what went out, and here's

265
00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:24.519
your cash flow, Hey, look at your bank statement. Your

266
00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:27.559
bank statement if everything's going through your bank account is

267
00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:29.679
the same as a cash flow statement for the most part,

268
00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:31.759
but you just don't know where it's going here. All

269
00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:34.080
they're doing is listing out, Oh, you had a truck payment,

270
00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:37.440
you had a trailer payment, you had insurance payment. They

271
00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:40.600
didn't break out principle and interest. They didn't look for

272
00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:43.279
other deductions. They never asked a single question of what

273
00:16:43.320 --> 00:16:45.759
this was or what this wasn't. But they gave you

274
00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:48.960
a nice looking cashlow statement that makes no sense whatsoever.

275
00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:52.639
We've had to fix their stuff because people come to

276
00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:55.159
us and do taxes and we go help. This isn't right.

277
00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:57.879
They haven't even broken these things out. Because the only

278
00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:02.360
deductible portion of your equipment that you're purchasing is the

279
00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:05.960
interest expense. You get an depreciation for the drug. The

280
00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:09.559
principle that gets paid back is principal, so it offsets

281
00:17:09.559 --> 00:17:13.640
your liability. It's not a deductible expense. But they didn't

282
00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:17.160
tell you that. They didn't explain this to you no way,

283
00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:20.400
shape or form. So look at it for what you got.

284
00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:24.839
If you get bookkeeping and they're giving you financial statements

285
00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:27.839
and they don't give you a balance sheet and a

286
00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:32.079
profit and loss rum, come to Drug tax tools dot com.

287
00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:35.039
Let us show you what book keeping looks like. Then

288
00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:38.160
you compare. Will you explained your financial statements to you?

289
00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:41.200
If you've got questions, call us. We got somebody that

290
00:17:41.240 --> 00:17:43.440
will explain them to you. We'll go through them to

291
00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:46.920
you how to look at We've designed our own special

292
00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:50.920
program to where we have financial statements that you can

293
00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:54.640
actually look at. Here is my gross revenue, Here is

294
00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:58.480
my cost of service. Here's what I'm making before general

295
00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:02.920
and administrative expenses. You can take this financial statement roll

296
00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:08.240
it into the spreadsheet that OIDA Foundation has called cost

297
00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:10.599
per mile. You can look that up on their web

298
00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:14.480
caculate cost per Mile from OIDA and you can find

299
00:18:14.759 --> 00:18:18.279
that spreadsheet. You can drop in numbers on that spreadsheet

300
00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:21.720
to determine what is my fixed cost per mile? What

301
00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:25.559
is my operating cost per mile? This becomes an easy

302
00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:29.480
routine to know, Hey, what should I be charging per

303
00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:32.680
mile just to break even? And want to try to

304
00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:37.640
be charging gross to be able to make a what profit?

305
00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:43.960
You're in business? You need one desire to make a

306
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:49.720
profit from your business. Otherwise just spinning your wheels, sitting

307
00:18:49.720 --> 00:18:52.079
on ice and wheels are just going round and round

308
00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:54.759
and round. No chains, no nothing to get you going,

309
00:18:55.240 --> 00:18:58.920
and you're just sitting in place, spins it. If all

310
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.400
you're doing is working to pay your debt, your truck

311
00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:06.599
and your trailer and pay everybody else but not yourself,

312
00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:09.880
get out of business. That's all I can say. Get

313
00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:11.920
out of business. You don't need to be in business.

314
00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:14.039
Go back to being a W two driver. There's more

315
00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:16.640
money in a W two driver than being an over

316
00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:19.400
the road trucker or owner operator that are just sitting

317
00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:23.519
there spending their wheels, not making money, just paying down balance,

318
00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:26.920
paying for insurance, paying others. You know, there's a great

319
00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:29.720
book out there, you know, Wealthy Barbary. You know you

320
00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:32.640
should be paying yourself ten percent first and foremost, going

321
00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:36.720
right to what retirement, and most truckers don't ever say

322
00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:39.599
for retirement. So you know you should be putting money away.

323
00:19:39.799 --> 00:19:43.000
You should be able to pay yourself before everything else.

324
00:19:43.480 --> 00:19:46.839
So you've got to be looking for ways to make

325
00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:51.000
it simple. Look at the systems to know that you

326
00:19:51.640 --> 00:19:55.240
are making money, you're deducting the things that you need

327
00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:58.039
to be deducted. And we're going to take a quick break.

328
00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:01.319
We're going to get back to keeping it simple, stupid

329
00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:05.960
kiss method. What should you be doing now as an

330
00:20:05.960 --> 00:20:10.079
owner operator to keep it simple? And then we'll start

331
00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:13.680
talking about how to make things that you're paying after

332
00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:17.880
tax dollars pre tax dollars to save even more money.

333
00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:18.759
Do that right.

334
00:20:21.079 --> 00:20:24.720
We have only scratched the surface of today's show. Please

335
00:20:24.759 --> 00:20:28.000
stand by as Parry Chief Fowler will be right back

336
00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:34.039
with tax talk for you. As an owner operator, you

337
00:20:34.200 --> 00:20:37.759
already spend too much time away from your family. Trucker

338
00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:41.160
Tax Tools handles all your bookkeeping and taxes. No matter

339
00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:43.920
what level trucker you are. Life on the road can

340
00:20:43.960 --> 00:20:47.519
be taxing, but that doesn't mean that your wallet or

341
00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:51.519
time with your family should suffer. Trucker Tax Tools makes

342
00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:55.359
your life run smoothly. Go to Trucker tax Tools dot

343
00:20:55.400 --> 00:20:57.880
com for a free guide that will give you the

344
00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:02.519
tools to never worry about your taxes again. Call Trucker

345
00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:06.720
Tax Tools eight seven seven nine six six two four

346
00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:10.759
seven seven, or go to Trucker tax Tools dot com

347
00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:17.279
now and let the experts keep you trucking. Let's get

348
00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:20.359
back to tax stock for you with more tax stock

349
00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:23.920
once again, here's your host, Barry G.

350
00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:31.359
Fallon. Hey, welcome back. You know, keeping it simple, keeping

351
00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:35.160
book keeping simple. You know, I've looked at all the

352
00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:39.640
different ads online, you know, being in the business and

353
00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:42.799
comparing you know, what other people are doing. You know,

354
00:21:43.079 --> 00:21:47.240
I've seen some companies out here, you know, bragging about

355
00:21:47.799 --> 00:21:52.759
being able to finish your bookkeeping for last year or

356
00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:56.799
last twelve months or whatever that may be. Within forty

357
00:21:56.799 --> 00:22:00.519
eight hours. There's a catch to it. One they kind

358
00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:04.200
of use an AI and scanning things and skipping, or

359
00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:07.680
they're sending it overseas. But the forty eight hours doesn't

360
00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:10.119
start until you get all the documents there. And then

361
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:14.039
their forty eight hours is just to process whatever you submitted,

362
00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:18.559
not to say that it ever makes sense. And trust me,

363
00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:23.200
I know truckers inside and out. You know, you're not

364
00:22:23.240 --> 00:22:27.119
always getting all the documents to us probably or to

365
00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:33.359
them timely out there. And sometimes it's piece mailed in

366
00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:36.799
and he provides half the information and we've got to

367
00:22:36.839 --> 00:22:40.200
go back and get you fill in the gaps. Maybe

368
00:22:40.200 --> 00:22:42.759
that's what they're doing too, I really don't know. So

369
00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:45.759
sometimes don't fall for those things. And you know they're

370
00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:50.640
you know, two hundred dollars a month, we're there, Hey,

371
00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:54.960
we start below that. Our basic book keeping starts at

372
00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:57.480
twenty five dollars a week. You know, that's you know,

373
00:22:57.720 --> 00:23:01.359
maybe one hundred and twenty five dollars some months, you know,

374
00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:06.079
so you know, we've got reasonable costs for bookkeeping. We've

375
00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:09.839
got full fledged plans that include bookkeeping and taxes. And

376
00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:12.279
you know, all you got to do is give us

377
00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:15.200
a call, let us look at it and get started.

378
00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:18.000
We'll give you a quote and then we can get

379
00:23:18.039 --> 00:23:20.599
you going in the right direction. So go to Trucker

380
00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:23.960
tax tools dot com. You can get information over there,

381
00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:28.319
you know, or feel free to give us a call

382
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:31.519
and let us get started. And all you got to

383
00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:34.720
do is call us at eight seven seven nine nine

384
00:23:34.839 --> 00:23:37.960
six six four seven seven and mentioned you heard it

385
00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:41.599
right here on W four c Y Radio Tax Talk

386
00:23:41.880 --> 00:23:47.160
for you. Keeping it simple. You know, I supposed to

387
00:23:47.240 --> 00:23:50.960
sound simple, but it kind of is. You know. It

388
00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:55.119
starts with save every receipt. You know, open a separate

389
00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:59.599
checking account just for your business. Now, if you form

390
00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:03.400
an l or you formed an inc. You've got to

391
00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:07.880
open that separate checking account for that business. Don't run

392
00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:14.480
anything personal through that account, only business expenses. If you

393
00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:18.680
put money into the business, you contributed money to the business.

394
00:24:19.559 --> 00:24:23.960
That documentation so that you know it's not everything that

395
00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:28.519
goes through your business bank account is revenue. Sometimes you're

396
00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:31.799
making an investment, sometimes you've taken a loan from a bank.

397
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:34.279
So you know, you want to be able to keep

398
00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:37.559
those documents and keep that information so that it doesn't

399
00:24:37.559 --> 00:24:40.359
get included in your revenue. So if you get audited,

400
00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:43.200
IRS is going to ask for all your bank statements

401
00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:46.599
for that year, and any money that goes in the

402
00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:52.640
IRS is going to tell you, you know, point blank that

403
00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:56.960
all the revenue, everything that was deposited is considered revenue

404
00:24:57.079 --> 00:25:01.640
until you explain otherwise and show the documentation. So if

405
00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:03.640
you got a loan to go out and buy a

406
00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:07.000
truck or a trailer, or you put cash into the

407
00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:11.079
business to get it started, keep that documentation so that

408
00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:14.960
you have it in opening that separate set checking account,

409
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:18.720
you can show, hey, this transferred from personal to business

410
00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:21.480
and there, Hey, there you go. If you need to

411
00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:25.640
pay personal expenses, take a distribution, move the money from

412
00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:28.640
your business account to your personal account, and then pay

413
00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:32.160
your personal expenses out of there. Now, I'm not an attorney,

414
00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:34.480
never wanted to be an attorney, and don't charge legal fees,

415
00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:38.240
but I've talked to many, many attorneys and they tell

416
00:25:38.279 --> 00:25:42.880
you the same thing. Once you start commingling business and personal,

417
00:25:43.480 --> 00:25:46.839
any liability protection that you may have had kind of

418
00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:52.039
versus that corporate bail. If you get audited, you've now

419
00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:57.279
commingled business and personal. Sometimes the IRS agents will frown

420
00:25:57.400 --> 00:26:01.759
up on that and see right through that as well.

421
00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:04.920
The other thing we tell you to do is use

422
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:09.680
a separate card for business expenses. So maybe you couldn't

423
00:26:09.799 --> 00:26:13.200
get a line a credit or a business credit card

424
00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:16.000
in the business name when you first get started and

425
00:26:16.039 --> 00:26:19.079
you're going to use a personal card for the business,

426
00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:23.640
make that personal card only for business. Make it have

427
00:26:23.799 --> 00:26:27.960
started with a zero balance, and only charge things that

428
00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:32.880
are business related on that card, nothing else, so that

429
00:26:32.920 --> 00:26:37.559
it can be tracked separately, not with both business and

430
00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:41.319
personal out there where You've got to determine what percentage

431
00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:44.960
of that interest rate is covered by the business and

432
00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:48.599
is covered by personal. So if you are going to

433
00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:52.480
charge on a credit card and have a revolving debt,

434
00:26:52.759 --> 00:26:56.200
then yes, you do want to make sure you're doing

435
00:26:56.319 --> 00:27:01.319
with one card or two that are just exclusively used

436
00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:05.319
for business. And we tell you to save your log books.

437
00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:09.319
Logbooks is the old fashioned way of people, you know,

438
00:27:09.319 --> 00:27:12.000
and you used to as a owner operator would have

439
00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:14.759
your paper log books that are out there w two drivers.

440
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:18.079
Every time you stop and did things, you logged your

441
00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:22.680
bileage and everything else. Now you have an eled so

442
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:25.400
if you have an electronic blog, they have a copy

443
00:27:25.559 --> 00:27:30.160
of these logs. They can be used to prove for DMS.

444
00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:33.799
They can also be used to track your mileage. We

445
00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:36.920
tell you to get a notebook, carry that notebook with

446
00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:41.519
you with your receipts, and you're in an envelope so

447
00:27:41.559 --> 00:27:43.799
that you can make a note of special items that

448
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:47.240
are out there so you can be able to track it. Hey,

449
00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:50.480
they have wonderful notes sometimes right here in an app

450
00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:53.519
on your phone. You can use that as well. It's

451
00:27:53.559 --> 00:27:57.319
whatever you're comfortable with. You can take pictures of your

452
00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:00.640
receipts I recommend it, and put them into a folder

453
00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:03.480
so you have them. Don't just put them in your

454
00:28:03.480 --> 00:28:06.559
general folders, but move them and put them in a

455
00:28:06.599 --> 00:28:09.960
separate folder that's for business. And you can even set

456
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:12.279
those folders up by year and month if you want.

457
00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:17.400
But we suggest you do that because receipts do fade

458
00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:19.759
over a period of time. And if you do that

459
00:28:19.799 --> 00:28:23.480
with your phone, hey, they're they're saved out there, not

460
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:25.359
just on your phone, but if you've got a backup

461
00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:27.720
on your phone, then they're saved up in the cloud.

462
00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:32.279
And guess what, you've got multiple copies of them, or

463
00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:34.960
if you maybe you've got one driver or Google Drive

464
00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:37.359
or something like that. You can take pictures and move

465
00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:39.960
it over to one of those drives and not have

466
00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:42.559
it residing phone and you can delete it.

467
00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:48.880
Stuff. To be diligent in doing that, loans, keep those

468
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:51.559
loans documented. First thing I'm going to say about loans,

469
00:28:51.559 --> 00:28:55.079
and I say this all the time. You sign a loan,

470
00:28:55.559 --> 00:28:58.200
Read the loan document. I don't care if it's just

471
00:28:58.279 --> 00:29:02.480
something as you know, so as getting loan maybe on

472
00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:06.000
an APU. Read it. What's my interest rate? What is

473
00:29:06.039 --> 00:29:08.240
this really going to cost me? Is there a better

474
00:29:08.279 --> 00:29:11.640
way of financing this? Maybe you're a tractor or your

475
00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:15.359
trailer you're getting out there, you're purchasing it, No what

476
00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:17.880
the interest rate is behind it? Know what this is

477
00:29:17.960 --> 00:29:21.599
going to cost you over the long haul. See that's

478
00:29:21.640 --> 00:29:24.279
the hard part. It's going to cost you money over

479
00:29:24.359 --> 00:29:27.920
a long period of time while you're paying this. You know, Hey,

480
00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:30.279
I've seen people sign these things have no clue what

481
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:33.160
their interest rate is or what this has costing you.

482
00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:35.279
You may be signing a loan, maybe you're signing at

483
00:29:35.359 --> 00:29:38.440
lease and you have no clue because you didn't look

484
00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:40.359
at it, or they did it all in lump. Some

485
00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:44.160
Hey you're fifty thousand dollars truck. Now it's costing you

486
00:29:44.200 --> 00:29:48.400
one hundred thousand dollars because they have payments for five years,

487
00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:52.119
and you didn't really think about how much money this

488
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:54.279
lease was going to cost you at the end of

489
00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:57.240
the day. But they embedded a lot of interest or

490
00:29:57.799 --> 00:30:01.559
other expenses in there, and you're now forking up money

491
00:30:01.559 --> 00:30:04.960
out over a longer period of time, So you kind

492
00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:08.119
of got to watch what they're doing. So read everything

493
00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:13.240
before you sign it. Again, read everything before you sign it. Hey,

494
00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:16.039
we do contracts engagement letters with our clients. We tell

495
00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:22.039
them read them before you sign Know what you're signing for, loans, leases,

496
00:30:22.119 --> 00:30:26.880
equipment purchases. When you lease on, read the documents, read

497
00:30:26.920 --> 00:30:31.119
the fine print. Know what's going to equipment purchases. Again,

498
00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:34.160
save the receipts. Save that buyer's order so you can

499
00:30:34.200 --> 00:30:37.880
make sure that you get credit for all the depreciation

500
00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:41.799
that you should have. Don't let somebody just take your

501
00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:45.400
word for what I bought this truck for. There's many

502
00:30:45.519 --> 00:30:48.599
times I hear from people I paid seventy five thousand

503
00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:51.119
dollars for it. We get there buyer's order and they

504
00:30:51.119 --> 00:30:54.720
paid seventy eight or seventy nine, or they attacked in

505
00:30:54.839 --> 00:30:58.920
other fees and they didn't think about the taxes and

506
00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:03.039
other fees being charged. So now you're over eighty thousand,

507
00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:06.640
whatever that number is. You need to make sure that

508
00:31:06.759 --> 00:31:11.680
you're using the right number for depreciation, and you don't

509
00:31:11.720 --> 00:31:14.000
want to have errors. We see that all the time.

510
00:31:14.079 --> 00:31:17.240
We bring in somebody for bookkeeping with US and taxes

511
00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:20.160
with US. We get their documents, we get their tax return,

512
00:31:20.640 --> 00:31:23.319
and we went back and tied out everything to their

513
00:31:24.119 --> 00:31:29.000
buyer's order and come, oh and behold, they either overestimated

514
00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:32.519
what they paid for the truck or underestimated what they

515
00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:35.680
paid for the truck. But it doesn't tie to anything particular.

516
00:31:36.839 --> 00:31:40.960
Maybe the person that was doing your taxes had no

517
00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:43.680
clue to come back to you and ask you for

518
00:31:43.799 --> 00:31:47.240
those documentations so they could get it right. So equipment

519
00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:50.880
purchases that buyer's order at the end of the day

520
00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:53.640
is extremely important when we get to do in your taxes.

521
00:31:53.720 --> 00:31:56.880
Not only that, it's important on your financial statements because

522
00:31:57.319 --> 00:32:00.480
as an asset, you want it recorded correctly on the

523
00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:04.559
balance sheet, so you know what you own and equipment

524
00:32:04.599 --> 00:32:07.119
and what the original value was, and what is the

525
00:32:07.160 --> 00:32:11.279
depreciation I'm taking here. And then the last thing is

526
00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:16.000
is save your records. You know, we're wanting to keep

527
00:32:16.039 --> 00:32:20.440
it simple. Save your receipts, save your records, don't let

528
00:32:20.519 --> 00:32:24.519
them get lost in any way, shape or form. That's

529
00:32:24.519 --> 00:32:27.039
why I do tell you, Hey, if you're using the cloud,

530
00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:31.920
it's great probably to put things keeping it simple, you know,

531
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:34.200
and then you don't have to buy and maybe that

532
00:32:34.279 --> 00:32:39.200
expanding folder. Don't need the calculators and some of the

533
00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:43.640
other things that you could be buying to keep track

534
00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:46.279
of things. If you're using your phone or maybe a

535
00:32:46.359 --> 00:32:49.119
laptop or computer, you can do some of this through

536
00:32:49.319 --> 00:32:53.440
Excel where you can track some of the expenses in

537
00:32:53.480 --> 00:32:57.799
a decent way. But it's going to give you their

538
00:32:57.799 --> 00:33:00.240
proper financial statements. No, it's not going to give you

539
00:33:00.279 --> 00:33:03.160
the proper financials to run your business the right way.

540
00:33:03.640 --> 00:33:06.880
It is going to give you a simple way of

541
00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:12.920
at least doing something and keeping those things together, a

542
00:33:12.920 --> 00:33:16.200
lot of information, a lot of things that you could do.

543
00:33:16.599 --> 00:33:19.119
You know what I tell you, Make sure you're getting

544
00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:22.799
a good service to help you with your bookkeeping. As

545
00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:26.759
a trucker, as an overroad driver, call us today at

546
00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:30.400
eight seven seven nine nine six two four seven seven.

547
00:33:30.759 --> 00:33:33.799
Again it's eight seven seven nine nine six two four

548
00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:36.119
seven seven or go to truck or tax tools dot

549
00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:39.960
com and don't forget to mention taxtoc for you so

550
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:43.839
we can give you those special discounts we have going today. Hey,

551
00:33:44.039 --> 00:33:45.480
we're going to take a short break and when we

552
00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:48.640
come back, we're talk about some of the most overlooked

553
00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:52.920
truck driver deductions there are that right after this.

554
00:33:54.480 --> 00:33:58.160
We have only scratched the surface of today's show. Please

555
00:33:58.200 --> 00:34:01.440
stand by as Barry g Or We'll be right back

556
00:34:01.559 --> 00:34:07.359
with tax talk for you. As an owner operator, you

557
00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:11.039
already spend too much time away from your family. Stop

558
00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:15.480
spending time doing paperwork. Go to Trucker tax tools dot com,

559
00:34:15.559 --> 00:34:20.079
a solution built specifically for truckers. Trucker tax tools dot

560
00:34:20.119 --> 00:34:26.199
Com makes your life run smoothly. Let's get back to

561
00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:30.039
tax stock for you with more tax talk once again.

562
00:34:30.519 --> 00:34:32.440
Here's your host, Barry G.

563
00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:33.119
Fallum.

564
00:34:35.639 --> 00:34:37.679
All right, welcome back. You know we got some of

565
00:34:37.719 --> 00:34:43.039
the most overlooked truck driver deductions there are. You know

566
00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:46.800
some of these things to be maybe inexpensive, maybe little items,

567
00:34:46.840 --> 00:34:50.679
but remember everything adds up. So if you are paying

568
00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:55.639
self deployment tax fifteen point three percent on your bottom line,

569
00:34:55.960 --> 00:35:00.840
and maybe you're paying a twenty percent federal income tax marginally,

570
00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:04.440
and then add to that whenever your state income tax,

571
00:35:04.480 --> 00:35:07.800
if you have one, do it well, you're at thirty five,

572
00:35:07.880 --> 00:35:12.039
maybe forty percent. The forty cents of every dollar that

573
00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:17.159
you spend could be savings on taxes. So you're going

574
00:35:17.239 --> 00:35:20.199
to reduce your tax. Burt your your taxable income by

575
00:35:20.239 --> 00:35:22.920
a dollar saves you forty cents. So when you start

576
00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:26.039
thinking about all these things that you could be missing

577
00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:29.840
not deducting, it adds up to quite a bit of money,

578
00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:32.800
and it could be saving you quite a bit of money.

579
00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:36.199
So you know, things like association dues if you're paying

580
00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:40.519
for oh Ida or American Trucking Association or even any

581
00:35:40.599 --> 00:35:44.760
state trucking association that's out there, and you're paying dues

582
00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:48.480
in those are deductible. Your bank fees, the fees the

583
00:35:48.519 --> 00:35:51.639
bank charges you to have your bank account, are deductible.

584
00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:56.280
Your cell phone and internet plan they're deductible. Now, cell

585
00:35:56.280 --> 00:35:58.599
phones and internet, you're going to have to back out

586
00:35:58.639 --> 00:36:02.000
personal use of cell phone. But if you're using them

587
00:36:02.039 --> 00:36:05.880
in the truck and it's eighty percent business, ninety percent business,

588
00:36:05.880 --> 00:36:08.840
whatever it may be, maybe it's only business. If you

589
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:12.320
got her that you can have that deductible. So you know,

590
00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:16.519
these are expenses that we're going through that are deductible

591
00:36:16.599 --> 00:36:20.840
for you because as a general rule by the IRS,

592
00:36:21.320 --> 00:36:24.920
for you to have a deduction to be deductible, it

593
00:36:25.039 --> 00:36:28.440
has to be any expense in curd that are necessary

594
00:36:28.599 --> 00:36:34.599
or required in the operation of your trucking business, just

595
00:36:34.719 --> 00:36:38.800
operation of your truck, your trucking business. Though some are

596
00:36:38.840 --> 00:36:42.280
really simple. You know, it's like truck and trailer that

597
00:36:42.360 --> 00:36:48.000
you bought. Released those our deductible business expenses. Now you

598
00:36:48.039 --> 00:36:50.719
know things that we just talked about, association DUS, bank fees,

599
00:36:50.920 --> 00:36:55.039
cell phones. Yeah, something that may be simple and common sense,

600
00:36:55.480 --> 00:36:59.679
but they're overlooked at times. We're seeing coffee pot certifications,

601
00:37:00.440 --> 00:37:05.679
simple calculator, cleaning supplies, clean your truck, your chains for

602
00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:08.960
your truck, and willows to keep track of business expenses

603
00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:13.199
and receipts, stabler to staple those receipts or other paper

604
00:37:13.239 --> 00:37:17.760
work together. If you get tax and bookkeeping service, guess

605
00:37:17.800 --> 00:37:21.960
what those services are deductionble So when you pay to

606
00:37:21.960 --> 00:37:25.159
get your tax return done, you can deduct that as

607
00:37:25.239 --> 00:37:28.239
a business expense in the year you paid it. Your

608
00:37:28.280 --> 00:37:34.599
license fees, your fire extinguisher ice grapers, excise taxes, road

609
00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:38.039
at LISS if you still have one, I mean many people,

610
00:37:38.400 --> 00:37:41.400
I'll tell you, you know, at the truck to success,

611
00:37:41.480 --> 00:37:44.039
I ask everybody, do you have a road at LISS?

612
00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:46.760
Sometimes it's fifty to fifty. Some people just count on

613
00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:50.159
their GPS. I'm sorry. There are many places I have

614
00:37:50.360 --> 00:37:54.159
been where my GPS just doesn't work unless I have

615
00:37:54.280 --> 00:37:58.639
been running those roads across that section of the country.

616
00:37:59.119 --> 00:38:02.239
I wouldn't necessarily know how to get from point A

617
00:38:02.360 --> 00:38:06.760
to point B unless been on that road before. Maybe

618
00:38:06.840 --> 00:38:08.880
I looked at it and I know that, Hey, I'm

619
00:38:08.920 --> 00:38:13.199
going from you know, I can up to High twenty

620
00:38:13.559 --> 00:38:16.400
and I got to take this road fine, and then

621
00:38:16.440 --> 00:38:17.960
I got to head to east or west when I

622
00:38:18.039 --> 00:38:20.760
hit High twenty or whatever road you may be going to.

623
00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:24.760
That may be simple, but if your GPS craps out

624
00:38:25.159 --> 00:38:28.440
and you're just taking maybe back roads or some hey,

625
00:38:28.880 --> 00:38:31.719
you might need that road outlets to figure out where

626
00:38:31.760 --> 00:38:34.760
you're going. Purchase of it is deductible, and of course

627
00:38:34.800 --> 00:38:38.079
your fuel and things to operate your trug. The paper

628
00:38:38.480 --> 00:38:43.400
that you may need to keep track of expenses, pens insurance,

629
00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:49.480
so your liability insurance, your equipment insurance. You know, all

630
00:38:49.559 --> 00:38:56.400
these things are deductible. Workers comp that's deductible, but life

631
00:38:56.440 --> 00:39:00.199
insurance is not deductible. If you deduct life insurance, life

632
00:39:00.199 --> 00:39:05.320
insurance pays out those benefits become taxable benefits. You do

633
00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:10.039
not want life insurance to be deductive. Interest expense. When

634
00:39:10.039 --> 00:39:13.159
you're paying on your loan on your truck or trailer

635
00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:18.400
or other equipment, the interest portion of that is deductible.

636
00:39:19.519 --> 00:39:24.119
Labor if you get to use a lumper, deductible. Your lease.

637
00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:28.039
If it's an operating lease where you know you're not

638
00:39:28.119 --> 00:39:31.360
getting owning the truck or trailer or whatever equipment you're

639
00:39:31.440 --> 00:39:33.599
leasing at the end of the lease you turn it

640
00:39:33.639 --> 00:39:37.039
back in maybe those walk away leases that they talk

641
00:39:37.119 --> 00:39:39.519
about that you're not going to own the equipment at

642
00:39:39.519 --> 00:39:43.639
the end. Those leases are deductible. Now, if it's a

643
00:39:43.719 --> 00:39:47.239
capital lease, we actually got to capitalize the value of

644
00:39:47.239 --> 00:39:50.599
the truck and depreciate it, and the interest embedded in

645
00:39:50.679 --> 00:39:54.360
the lease is then deductible. So we've got to figure

646
00:39:54.400 --> 00:39:57.599
those things out. So you're becomes a little bit complicated.

647
00:39:57.599 --> 00:40:01.480
But an operating lease is your life license. Fees, your

648
00:40:01.519 --> 00:40:06.760
maintenance and repairs are deductible. Now if you're doing major

649
00:40:06.800 --> 00:40:11.679
engine overhaul that may be capitalized and depreciated. Different rules

650
00:40:11.719 --> 00:40:16.280
for different types of maintenance out there. Your dot medical exams.

651
00:40:16.400 --> 00:40:20.800
Medical expenses aren't deductible for your business unless maybe you

652
00:40:20.920 --> 00:40:22.840
are an eleven twenty and you have that as a

653
00:40:22.840 --> 00:40:25.800
benefit program. But that's a whole nother ball of wax

654
00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:29.000
out there. But your dot medical exams are because they're

655
00:40:29.039 --> 00:40:32.639
required for you to be in your business. The safety

656
00:40:32.679 --> 00:40:38.159
gear you know, steeltoas shoes, whatever other safety gear you

657
00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:43.000
may need, gloves to operate your business are deductible. Datellite

658
00:40:43.159 --> 00:40:50.800
radio or satellite TV are deductible. Subscriptions descriptions you use

659
00:40:50.880 --> 00:40:54.440
within the drug are deductible. So you need to make

660
00:40:54.480 --> 00:40:57.599
sure you're looking and reviewing all your subscriptions and then

661
00:40:57.639 --> 00:41:01.400
get them paid through the business, not through personal. Move

662
00:41:01.519 --> 00:41:04.880
the money, move the subscription to be in the right

663
00:41:04.920 --> 00:41:09.400
place to get all the tax reductions that you Tolls

664
00:41:09.400 --> 00:41:12.760
and parking, of course they're deductible, so as you're running

665
00:41:12.760 --> 00:41:18.519
tolls or scales, those are deductible. Parking your truck somewhere,

666
00:41:19.039 --> 00:41:22.519
you know, whether it's overnight parking or whether it's parking

667
00:41:22.559 --> 00:41:26.280
when you're at home. Those things are all deductible. Your tools.

668
00:41:26.840 --> 00:41:30.679
Travel expenses, so you know, on top of per deems,

669
00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:33.679
if you maybe stay somewhere, you get lodging, or maybe

670
00:41:33.719 --> 00:41:37.760
you take a trip for the business for your corporate meetings.

671
00:41:38.199 --> 00:41:44.239
Those travel expenses are deductible as well. Education, so you know,

672
00:41:44.280 --> 00:41:48.760
maybe you're getting has Man certified and you're paying for

673
00:41:48.840 --> 00:41:51.320
the education, not the company you're going to drive for

674
00:41:51.920 --> 00:41:59.400
those deductions, the expense is deductible, Postage deductible, and you know,

675
00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:03.039
as we talk about, you know, scale fees, those things

676
00:42:03.119 --> 00:42:07.519
are deductible as well. But you've got to remember is

677
00:42:07.559 --> 00:42:11.360
the I r S does require that expenses need to

678
00:42:11.400 --> 00:42:16.920
be ordinary and necessary for the operation of the business.

679
00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:21.559
You know, we can get into details about you know,

680
00:42:21.719 --> 00:42:24.719
maintenance and repairs. We're gonna be talking about that maybe

681
00:42:24.760 --> 00:42:28.000
in next week's show. You know, how do you make

682
00:42:28.280 --> 00:42:33.719
repairs and stuff deductible? What's an improvement, what's other repairs?

683
00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:37.199
And realistically the only you know, we can go in

684
00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:39.199
depth in this and that's one of the things that

685
00:42:39.239 --> 00:42:44.119
we will cover next week. Repairs, maintenance and improvements. What

686
00:42:44.199 --> 00:42:47.039
can you deduct what do you have to capitalize? Hey,

687
00:42:47.079 --> 00:42:50.000
as always, man, we have fun out here. Monday's ten

688
00:42:50.079 --> 00:42:54.679
am Eastern time W four c Y Radio, you know,

689
00:42:54.719 --> 00:42:57.840
tune in every Monday right here at ten am Eastern time.

690
00:42:57.920 --> 00:43:01.480
Get your questions in, let us answer those questions. Let's

691
00:43:01.519 --> 00:43:05.159
make this question and answer about repairs, maintenance and all

692
00:43:05.199 --> 00:43:08.079
things trucking. We'd love to be out here and doing this.

693
00:43:08.679 --> 00:43:10.440
The one thing you got to do and one thing

694
00:43:10.519 --> 00:43:13.519
constant is tuning in here today in Eastern time and

695
00:43:13.639 --> 00:43:17.519
W four CY Radio. Follow us at tax Talk number

696
00:43:17.519 --> 00:43:21.400
four lettere dot com so that you never miss an episode.

697
00:43:21.440 --> 00:43:24.400
And of course you can find us on all the

698
00:43:24.719 --> 00:43:28.400
podcasting sites like I heard, Spotify and stuff. You have

699
00:43:28.480 --> 00:43:31.599
a very god blessed, glorious week. We will see you

700
00:43:31.679 --> 00:43:36.159
next week on tax TALKFORU dot com. See you next week.

701
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:41.280
Are you an individual or business that wants to understand

702
00:43:41.360 --> 00:43:44.639
taxes and how they affect you. Are you looking for

703
00:43:44.800 --> 00:43:50.199
specific tax advice for self employed business owners and truckers.

704
00:43:50.760 --> 00:43:54.800
Are you behind on taxes and your bookkeeping? Are you

705
00:43:54.920 --> 00:43:57.880
dealing with dirs and ready to have some wee leave?

706
00:43:58.719 --> 00:44:02.559
Then you need packs Talk for you, hosted by tax

707
00:44:02.639 --> 00:44:04.760
and trucker expert Barry G.

708
00:44:05.079 --> 00:44:06.079
Fowler EA.

709
00:44:06.320 --> 00:44:10.159
Tune in ten am Eastern time every Monday, right here

710
00:44:10.199 --> 00:44:13.000
on W four c Y Radio and Talk for TV.

711
00:44:13.440 --> 00:44:16.880
Don't forget to check this and past episodes at tax

712
00:44:16.960 --> 00:44:21.039
talkforyu dot com. See you next week at W four

713
00:44:21.079 --> 00:44:24.480
c y dot com