Sept. 8, 2025

Trucking, Business and Taxes

Trucking, Business and Taxes
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Season 3

TaxTalk4U.com Trucking, Business and Taxes. What you need to know about trucking, how taxes effect your business. Minimize taxes for business. Truckers, tax requirements differ significantly depending on whether you are a company driver or an independent owner-operator. Owner-operators file as self-employed business owners, which involves paying quarterly estimated taxes but also allows for claiming many business-related deductions. Quarterly estimated taxes how much and when to pay the IRS.

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.

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions express in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

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make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,

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or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,

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explicit or implied shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio

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or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should

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be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

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W FOURCY Radio.

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Barry G. Fouler EA brings you tax talk for you

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right here on W four CY Radio and talk for TV.

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As an enrolled agent and a national leader in tax

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resolution as well as trucker bookkeeping and tax planning. With

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over thirty years of experience, Barry will break down taxes, bookkeeping,

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tax planning, and tax relief for individuals and businesses just

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like you. So let's have some tax talk for you

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with your hosts.

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Barry G.

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Hey, welcome, good morning man. It's a great Monday morning

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to be here talking to you trucking and taxes today.

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You know, but hey, what we talk about here for

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truckers and owner operators, business owners can apply to most

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any business.

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Now.

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Trucking has a lot of specific deductions that are just

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for the trucking industry. But you can relate a lot

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of the stuff that we talk about to your business

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and what you're doing your business. You know, as a

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small business owner, owner operator, you know, your taxes look

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completely different than if you were a employee company driver.

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You know your taxes are going to be not taken

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out of your paycheck.

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You actually have.

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To go through and calculate what your taxes are going

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to be, and the biggest thing you've got to do

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is stay on type of those quarterly as made the taxes.

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You know, one of the things we preach and people

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get in trouble when they're in business is not making

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sure that they're paying enough money in to cover the

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taxes that they are going to come to April fifteenth. Now,

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as an owner operator, small business person, you know you've

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got to make sure that you're covering, you know, the

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self employment taxes if you're reporting on scheduled to see

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you've got to make sure you're covering the federal taxes

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as well, and you've got to make sure you're paying

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at least the minimum amount in based on your twenty

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twenty four taxes. So you know, whatever the tax amount

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is for twenty twenty four, it's going to come up

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with a calculation on how much you should be paying

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in twenty twenty five in your quarterly estimates. So you've

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got your third quarterly estimate coming to next Monday the fifteenth,

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So you should have made the first one on April fifteenth,

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and then June fifteenth, September, and the next one is

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to do in January. So you got to make sure

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you're calculating those correctly and making sure that you're paying

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the right the end. Now, taxes, taxes, taxes, and everybody

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hates taxes.

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You know.

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Sometimes you hate the tax guy because they bring you

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bad news. Other times you love us because we're telling

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you you've got a refund because guess what you overpaid,

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or maybe you got more deductions because maybe you bought

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a new truck, or you actually got a good bookkeeper

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who actually goes through and finds all the deductions be

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available you in your business. You know, for the trucking industry,

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taxes very significantly based on you know, type of operations

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you're on the company structure. Are you an LLC? Are

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you multi member ll SEE single member LLC? Are you incorporated?

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Are you an escort? All these things can drive how

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your business taxes are calculated out there.

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But you as an.

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Owner operator or an independent contractor treated as a business

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owner for tax purposes, you can use all the deductions

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that apply to your business to reduce your overall tax liability.

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And then if you are a sole proprietor, you're then

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reporting on scheduled CEE and then you calculate your self

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employment taxes. You should schedule SEU self employment. Of course,

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if you're now LLC and your single member, your first

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reporting status is going to still be on scheduled c. However,

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you can make the election to be an escort. If

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you are incorporated, your first and status of reporting taxes

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is an eleven twenty C corp means you're going to

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get tax twice. You're going to get taxed at the

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corporate level, and then you're going to get taxed when

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you give dividends. Distributions are dividends in AC corp or

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you again make that es CORP election. So what other

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taxes do you have as an owner operator? Before we

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get into deductions and other things like that. You're going

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to have to file your Heavy Highway Vehicle Use tax.

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It's an annual federal excess tax for twenty two ninety

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and it's required for all heavy vehicles operating on public

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highways with a taxable gross weight of fifty five pounds,

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and those are usually filed midsummer, so you've got to

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make sure you're meeting those deadlines. You could also be

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responsible for the International Fuel Tax Agreement if the taxes.

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If you operate across state or provincial lines, you must

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report and pay fuel taxes based on your traveling each urisdiction. Now,

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a lot of times if you're released on driver, your

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carrier takes care of the if the taxes. If you're

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running under your own authority, then you would have to

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take care of your own if the taxes, hire a

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company out there that will actually calculate these taxes, but

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make sure you're doing those. I believe those are also

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reported on a quarterly basis. Federal excise tax is a

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twelve percent tax imposed on the first retail sale of

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heavy trucks tractors over specific weight thresholds, So you can

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be responsible for that.

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And then you have other taxes.

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Now it depends on your location, your business structure. Your

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location can determine that if you've got to file state

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tax return for your company, franchise taxes, gross receipts, tax,

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property taxes on your assets, all these things could apply

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you in business. So you know, you got to think

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about where you are, where your business is located, and

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then how is that business going to be taxed, both

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on the personal level and the business level. So when

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you're on Schedule C, your bottom line tax tax for

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Social Security, Medicare, and then federal income tax. If you

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are a partnership, you should be doing what you call

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guaranteed payments. Those are the payments for the person that

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owns the business that's working in the business. So you,

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as a business owner that's working in the business, you

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would determine what is a reasonable wage for what you

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do in the business, and then that reasonable wage.

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Or salary is considered.

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Guaranteed payments and that is what's subject to that self

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employment tax. Social Security and medicare not potentially the full

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bottom line. Now, if you are an es corp, you

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are required to do payroll, including for you as the owner.

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Now again you set what the IRS calls a reasonable

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salary or reasonable wage for what you do in the business.

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I mean that's everything from administrative work to drive in

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the truck to being the corporate business owner. And you

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set that wage based on the type of activity you're

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doing for the business, and that is what gets taxed

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for Social Security Medicare. Now the full bottom line for

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both a partnership and eleven twenty s escorp is taxed

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for federal income tax purposes. So you're going to report

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partnership on a ten sixty five and you're going to

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report es Corp On eleven twenty s and then each

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is going to generate what we call a K one,

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which is a distribution of earnings from that company to

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the owner's base on on your ownership percentage. So if

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you own it fifty to fifty, you get fifty percent

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of the profits with whoever your partner is. If you're

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an S corporate, it's fifty to fifty again, you get

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fifty percent of the profit and the other shareholder gets

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fifty percent of the profit or whatever the percentages are,

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and that shows up on the K one. Now that

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is the only amount that's going to be taxed for

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federal income tax purposes coming from the company, whether you

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make the distributions or not. And then your wages or

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your guarantee salary will also be taxed for federal income

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tax purposes. But the only amount tax or Social Security

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and Medicare is your w two wages or your guarantee

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distributions guaranteed payments from your partnership. So this kind of

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dictates you know how much tax you're going to have

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out there.

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If you are.

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Running as a schedule see, and you have huge profits,

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it might benefit you to look at becoming an escort

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or a multi member partnership out there as well. You

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got to run some key numbers out there and make

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sure it's going to work and make sure that it's

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going to benefit you not just today but over the

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long run. And that's where you know, we get into

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looking at this and helping you make that determination. We're

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going to continue talking about taxes and tax deductions. Matter

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of fact, if we're going to get into another segment

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here later on of cost per mile. When you're operating

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a truck, you kind of got to use these kind

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of information to better your business. So make sure you

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stay with us because as we continue to talk about

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key tax reductions and then we get into cost per mile.

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It's going to be a great show today. It's something

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you're not going to want to miss. If you've got

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some friends, family who's an owner operator out there, tell

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them to tune in right now to Tax Talk for you.

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Go to Tax Talk for you dot com and it's

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tax Talk number four Letter you dot com.

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Hey, get into the show. It's gonna be a great one.

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We'll talk to you right back after this.

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We have only scratched the surface of today's show. Please

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stand by as Barry G. Fowler will be right back

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with Tax Talk for you. If you own the IRS

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or are going through an IRS audit, don't go at

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it alone. Called Taxation Solutions Tax Relief at eight eight

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eight nine three zero one zero one six. We are

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your solution for IRS debts, audits, back taxes, garnishments, leans

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and levees. Whether you're an individual or business, you need

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a solution and a strong, aggressive tax resolution. Don't let

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the IRS walk all over you. Stop the IRS now

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call Ada he eight nine three zero one zero one

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six or go to Taxation Solutions dot net now for

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a free no obligation consultation. Let's get back to tax

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stock for you with more tax stock once again. Here's

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your host, Barry G. Fowler.

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Hey, welcome back.

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Yeah, we're talking about trucking taxes, small business taxes. Hey,

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there are a lot of deductions you can take as

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a small business owner. Now, you know we're getting in

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particulars about trucking and taxes today, but a lot of

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this stuff can be applied to you and your business.

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You just got to put thought to it. Is, Hey,

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what am I doing in my business? What applies to

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ordinary necessary business expenses? What can I deduct that I

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haven't been deducting that applies to the business, And maybe

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I've been paying from the personal account and maybe it

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could be related to a business expense. So you've got

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to find these deductions by looking at what you do

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in your life. A good example, and I know a

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lot of people. You know you don't miss this very much,

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but I do see it. Missed your cell phone? You

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use your cell phone in your business. Now what percentage

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of your cell phone may be what matters. But you're

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using your cell phone. You know, people call you all

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the time on this little device here, and whether it

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relates to your personal or business. The percentage that relates

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to business is a tax right off. So when you're

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making and taking calls on your personal cell phone, or

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maybe you're running those apps that apply on your cell

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phone as well. So like in our office, we use

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our phone service, you know, Ring Central, and we have

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the app on our phone. So whether I'm in the

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office or not, they can transfer calls to me and

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I can take the calls right there on my cell phone.

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And you know, it doesn't count on the minutes.

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00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:06.039
It's usually on Wi Fi or whatever it's you know,

229
00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:08.679
it could be through the data service part of it,

230
00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:13.840
but it is a percentage use of the phone. So

231
00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.480
you can take those kind of deductions that are out

232
00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:19.559
there now. One of the key deductions that's out there

233
00:14:19.559 --> 00:14:22.559
for owner operators excuse me.

234
00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:23.639
Is predems.

235
00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:27.919
You know, this allows a owner operator to detect a

236
00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:33.000
set amount for daily meal and incidental expenses while traveling

237
00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:37.480
overnight away from your tax home. It's a special rate

238
00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:42.879
for the transportation industry. It's eighty dollars a night and

239
00:14:42.919 --> 00:14:46.559
it's deductible eighty percent of it, so you get a

240
00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:47.679
very good deduction.

241
00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:49.639
Now you've got to keep track of.

242
00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:52.519
Your nights that you are away from home. Now, the

243
00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:56.480
first night you're away and the last night before you

244
00:14:56.679 --> 00:14:59.559
the day you return counts is a half a day,

245
00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:04.159
but all the days in between is a full day.

246
00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:07.000
Do you want to be able to track that.

247
00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.039
And keep track of it because it becomes a very

248
00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:15.279
valuable deduction for you and the business. Now, don't come

249
00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:17.759
reporting that you were on the road over nine four

250
00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:20.919
hundred and sixty five days last year, because we all

251
00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:22.720
know there's only three hundred and sixty five days in

252
00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:25.240
a year. And if you're on the road every single day,

253
00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:28.279
guess what, you don't get the deduction. You never returned home.

254
00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:30.879
Your home was your truck. Now, they have a lot

255
00:15:30.919 --> 00:15:33.559
of special requirements in this prettym and meaning that you

256
00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:36.639
do have to have a tax home someplace you're supporting

257
00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:40.320
and paying for, you know, rent or mortgage, utilities and

258
00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:43.240
all that. So you've got to have a home you

259
00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:46.440
return to. But you know, hey, if you're on the

260
00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:49.200
road two hundred and eighty five days, you know three

261
00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:52.559
hundred days a year you're returning home. You know, weekends

262
00:15:52.600 --> 00:15:55.519
here and there, and you know maybe a week a

263
00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:58.480
month or you know, whatever you may be doing the

264
00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:05.720
deduction becomes valuable in lowering federal taxes, self employment taxes.

265
00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:08.639
Who works, so you want to make sure you're tracking

266
00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:12.799
those days and keeping track of p dms out there

267
00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:15.480
while you're on the road and away from home. Now,

268
00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:19.879
the other thing you get as an owner vehicle expenses.

269
00:16:20.279 --> 00:16:22.679
And that makes sense, doesn't it. You're operating a vehicle

270
00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:28.360
now for your semi truck, this is a qualified non

271
00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:33.600
personal use vehicle, and you have to deduct actual expenses.

272
00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:38.279
You cannot use the standard mileage rate. You get that

273
00:16:38.919 --> 00:16:42.320
you cannot use the standard mileage rate. Now, I've seen

274
00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:45.879
people try to take this deduction. I've seen CPAs and

275
00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:49.519
other people doing taxes thinking hey, we can take the

276
00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:53.840
standard mileage rate. Now you actually have to take actual

277
00:16:53.879 --> 00:17:03.399
expenses fuel, oil repairs, maintenance, tires, cleaning, washing, your insurance premiums,

278
00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:08.920
registration fees, your license, depreciation on the vehicle, or if

279
00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:11.880
you're leasing a lease, expense. Now you kind of got

280
00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:14.480
to watch this because your lease could either be an

281
00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:16.200
operating lease or a capital lease.

282
00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:17.599
Capital lease, you've.

283
00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:22.279
Got to capitalize and depreciate operating lease. You're going to

284
00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:25.640
be taking deduction every single month as you pay the lease.

285
00:17:26.279 --> 00:17:29.400
You kind of got to look at these things. Repairs

286
00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:32.799
and maintenance is not simple and cut and dry, because

287
00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:37.119
if it improves the useful life of the truck, that

288
00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:41.799
again would have to be capitalized and depreciated. Now, you

289
00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:44.160
might be able to use full depreciation on this or

290
00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:48.759
bonus depreciation or Section one seventy nine and still get

291
00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:53.359
take advantage of taking the full deduction of the expenses

292
00:17:53.400 --> 00:17:56.640
out there. But that's something your tax preprayers should be

293
00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:01.480
sitting down and talking to you about as they're doing taxes,

294
00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:05.119
because if you're in the very lowest tax bracket, you

295
00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:08.279
may not want to take that kind of bonus depreciation

296
00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:13.559
or accelerated depreciation in section one seventy nine. You might

297
00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:16.880
really want to depreciate it over the useful life that

298
00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:17.559
is out there.

299
00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:17.920
Now.

300
00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:21.000
The other thing that you're going to have is travel expenses.

301
00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:25.160
It costs incurred while you're away from home overnight aren't deductible.

302
00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:30.240
You know, hotels, lodging, you know, if you're traveling somewhere

303
00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:34.720
taking flights, maybe your truck broke down and you've got

304
00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:37.599
to have a hotel, you get those expenses. You're going

305
00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:43.720
to fly home. The flights would be covered, tolls, parking fees.

306
00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:48.759
All these things are deductible. You know, other business expenses

307
00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:52.200
that you would need to think about, ordinary and necessary

308
00:18:53.559 --> 00:19:01.799
communication tools besides your cell phone, computers, GPS, laptops, iPads,

309
00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:07.000
office supplies software apps that you may be using on

310
00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:09.720
your phone and you're not really thinking about it that

311
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:12.799
you pay pay for The business should be paying for

312
00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:16.039
it because it's a business app. You know, your GPS,

313
00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:17.920
all those fun things that are out there.

314
00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:19.359
Your eld.

315
00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:25.799
Association or union dues, interest on your business loans. All

316
00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:29.559
these things are deductible, and you need to make sure

317
00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:33.359
that you know what you're doing is you're getting every

318
00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:37.599
possible deduction to bring that profit down from your business

319
00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:41.839
to minimize the tax on your business. You know, payroll

320
00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:46.279
taxes that you pay also bring down your income is

321
00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:50.759
a deduction, you know. So you need to make sure

322
00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:57.200
that you're finding every deduction possible in your business. And

323
00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:01.599
that's why record keeping. Bookkeeping is is extremely crucial and

324
00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:06.440
important in your business. Now, speaking of bookkeeping and everything else, man,

325
00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:09.599
we're celebrating truckers this month. We're going to have some

326
00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:15.079
new billboards coming out Long I ten in the Louisiana area.

327
00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:18.079
So look for those around Hammond. I think it is

328
00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:20.799
we're going to have those. But we have great specials

329
00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:25.599
going on to celebrate truckers. Trucker Tax Tools has got

330
00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:29.839
low cost bookkeeping for you. But if you come in,

331
00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:34.079
you know this week next week, while we're celebrating truckers,

332
00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:37.880
we're going to give not only our low cost trucker bookkeeping,

333
00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:42.160
but we're also going to give away the first eight

334
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:45.240
months of this year's bookkeeping to get you caught up.

335
00:20:45.480 --> 00:20:51.160
Absolutely free. Terms do apply to this, but give us

336
00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:53.960
a call. Let us talk about our bookkeeping and how

337
00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.960
we help you in the trucking industry keep track of

338
00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:02.480
all your expenses. How we look to organize your systems

339
00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:08.960
to help you maintain the accuracy of bookkeeping for your

340
00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:13.319
business and find you the most tax deductions is possible.

341
00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:18.119
To minimize the taxes, maximize the profit, maximize what you

342
00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:22.960
can keep in your pocket by doing great bookkeeping for truckers,

343
00:21:23.559 --> 00:21:28.319
owner operators, and keeping tabs on what's going on in

344
00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:31.079
your business. Now you're going to want to give us

345
00:21:31.079 --> 00:21:34.480
a cop at eight seven seven nine sixty six two

346
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four seven seven again eight seven seven nine sixty six

347
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two four seven seven to take advantage of this special

348
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and it's Trucker tax Tools dot Com. So if you've

349
00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:48.119
got owner operators truckers in your family, don't let them

350
00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:52.599
pass up this opportunity to start getting absolutely great trucker

351
00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:56.920
bookkeeping and tax is done right here by Trucker Tax Tools.

352
00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:57.960
Hey we come back.

353
00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:00.680
We're going to talk a little bit about cost per

354
00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:04.240
mile and why that is so important to know in

355
00:22:04.359 --> 00:22:07.880
your trucking business. We're gonna do that right after the screen.

356
00:22:09.160 --> 00:22:12.799
We have only scratched the surface of today's show. Please

357
00:22:12.839 --> 00:22:16.079
stand by as Barry gif Fowler will be right back

358
00:22:16.200 --> 00:22:22.119
with tax talk for you. As an owner operator, you

359
00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:25.839
already spend too much time away from your family. Trucker

360
00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:29.240
Tax Tools handles all your bookkeeping and taxes. No matter

361
00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:32.000
what level trucker you are. Life on the road can

362
00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:35.599
be taxing, but that doesn't mean that your wallet or

363
00:22:35.720 --> 00:22:39.599
time with your family should suffer. Trucker Tax Tools makes

364
00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:43.440
your life run smoothly. Go to Trucker tax Tools dot

365
00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:45.960
com for a free guide that will give you the

366
00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:50.599
tools to never worry about your taxes again. Call Trucker

367
00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:54.799
Tax Tools eight seven seven nine sixty six two four

368
00:22:55.160 --> 00:22:58.839
seven seven or go to Trucker tax Tools dot Com

369
00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:05.359
now and let the experts keep you trucking. Let's get

370
00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:08.440
back to tax stock for you with more tax stock

371
00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:15.200
once again. Here's your host, Barry G. Fallum.

372
00:23:15.319 --> 00:23:18.200
Hey, welcome back. You know, hey, record keeping isn't important.

373
00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:20.720
I'm going to give you some great examples of why

374
00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:24.960
good bookkeeping, great bookkeeping by truck or tax toles becomes

375
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.400
really important. Now I speak a Truck to Success, a

376
00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:33.319
seminar put on by oh Ida's Foundation. Matter of fact,

377
00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:36.519
that's coming up in October. I think it's a twenty

378
00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:40.039
second of October. So get in and get register, come

379
00:23:40.119 --> 00:23:42.839
to the seminar out there. But when I'm there talking

380
00:23:42.839 --> 00:23:48.559
about bookkeeping and taxes, lease, purchase entities, all the things

381
00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:52.440
we talk about to save you money about business. We

382
00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:56.240
also talk about o ideas, cost per mile, and we

383
00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:59.000
talk about their worksheet and how the things that we

384
00:23:59.160 --> 00:24:04.240
do become import to working through. Knowing what your operating

385
00:24:04.279 --> 00:24:06.599
costs is what it costs you to run your truck

386
00:24:07.079 --> 00:24:09.559
every mile out there? Do you know what your break

387
00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:13.079
even is? That's important for every business. Do you know

388
00:24:13.160 --> 00:24:16.400
what it's costing you just to open the doors, just

389
00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:18.880
to have your truck. Do you know what it's costing

390
00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:23.519
you to run that mile loaded or unloaded. These are

391
00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:26.640
things that you should know as an owner operator in

392
00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:30.720
your business, and it becomes really really important. You know,

393
00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:33.799
the old idea cost per mile, as they talk about

394
00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:35.920
and we talk about it, it's not a fixed amount

395
00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:40.640
but varies based on expenses. It's just fuel, maintenance, insurance,

396
00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:44.519
and taxes. And with reason data showing there's been a

397
00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:47.680
general increase. You know, back in twenty twenty three, to

398
00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:50.680
the last survey that I saw, the American Transportation Research

399
00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:56.359
Institute reported the average overall marginal cost of operating a

400
00:24:56.440 --> 00:24:59.799
truck at two dollars and twenty seven cents per mile,

401
00:25:00.200 --> 00:25:04.440
and that's increasing. You know, those costs out there are

402
00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:09.559
influenced by fuel costs, maintenance, repairs, tires, insurance, premiums, taxes,

403
00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:15.480
equipment costs, driver wage, you know, and stuff like that.

404
00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:18.920
But what you're going to want to do is first

405
00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:22.160
sit down and look at what your fixed costs are.

406
00:25:22.759 --> 00:25:26.240
You know, your truck payment, your trailer payment. Now this

407
00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:29.160
is the full payment amount, not just the interest that

408
00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:32.599
you're able to dug, not the depreciation, but just actual

409
00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:39.559
payment amount. Your insurance collision comp bobtail insurance, maybe your

410
00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:44.519
cargo insurance, your health insurance that you're paying any licenses

411
00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:49.960
and permits, your bookkeeping services. All these are going to

412
00:25:50.039 --> 00:25:53.960
contribute to fixed costs. Now, also in there you can

413
00:25:54.039 --> 00:25:58.119
throw in, you know, your telephone costs, things that you're

414
00:25:58.119 --> 00:26:01.680
going to continue to have whether you're actually running a truck,

415
00:26:01.880 --> 00:26:04.799
you know, cost per mile out there, you're going to

416
00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:09.759
have these set costs still coming out. Just to have

417
00:26:10.359 --> 00:26:14.559
that truck sitting there waiting to be running. Is your

418
00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:20.079
fixed cost. Then you're going to have your variable costs.

419
00:26:20.200 --> 00:26:23.200
You're going to have your tractor fuel, your reefer fuel,

420
00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:27.240
your tires for your tractor, your trailer. You're going to

421
00:26:27.319 --> 00:26:31.240
have your maintenance costs on your truck. Repair costs, they're

422
00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:34.039
going to go into your truck. Maybe you have a

423
00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:37.960
truck wash that you need to wash your truck, removing

424
00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:40.079
the snow off the top of your truck, you know

425
00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:45.400
in the winter, things like that. Maybe you have lodging costs.

426
00:26:45.799 --> 00:26:48.799
Much of my truckers, unless you're traveling somewhere, you're not

427
00:26:48.839 --> 00:26:52.599
going to have those lodging costs because you're usually staying truck.

428
00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:56.839
But those things can occur I use when we do

429
00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:01.279
our cost per mile, I'll use actual meal expenses, not

430
00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:05.960
the per diem amount. So you know exactly what your

431
00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:11.079
out of pocket costs is, not necessarily all your deductible costs,

432
00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:14.559
but your actual travel meals you're incurring while you're on

433
00:27:14.599 --> 00:27:22.000
the road, loading fees, unloading charges, lumper fees, your tolls,

434
00:27:22.279 --> 00:27:28.319
your scales, and he finds you may incur along the road,

435
00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:34.400
any cargo claims that you may have against you, your taxes,

436
00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:40.599
your road tax, fuel tax, and then your miscellaneous expenses.

437
00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:42.359
Now you're going to add these up. You're going to

438
00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:45.640
come up with your your total fixed costs. You're going

439
00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:51.960
to come up with your total variable costs. Wow, sorry

440
00:27:51.960 --> 00:27:55.000
about that. Uh So I've got to be there real quick.

441
00:27:56.279 --> 00:27:58.000
And then you're going to have what comes down to

442
00:27:58.039 --> 00:28:04.039
your driver's income and your total costs of operation. So

443
00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:07.039
you know the driver's income. It could be your income

444
00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:10.319
that you're expecting to have or wanting to have. It

445
00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:12.920
could be you know what you're paying other drivers out there.

446
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:15.720
But you've got to have income, right, you need to

447
00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:21.279
figure this into you know, this equation. And so you

448
00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:23.200
go through and do this, and then you've got to

449
00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:26.279
track your miles. So you're going to take these costs

450
00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:28.480
and you're going to look at what is my fixed

451
00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:31.759
costs out there, and then what is my total.

452
00:28:31.480 --> 00:28:35.200
Cost per mile. So, if you've got costs.

453
00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:38.640
Out here, the more miles you run, the fixed cost

454
00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:42.319
per mile is going to go down. So you'll see

455
00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:47.279
a decrease of cost per mile the more mileage that

456
00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:51.200
you run out there. If you're running less miles, your

457
00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:53.759
costs are going to be higher because those fixed costs

458
00:28:53.799 --> 00:28:58.279
don't change. Those fixed costs that you have are going

459
00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:00.240
to be divided up by how many miles you run.

460
00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:03.000
So the more miles that you do run during a month,

461
00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:06.480
if you're looking at this on a monthly basis, then

462
00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:12.359
you're going to see a lower cost per mile out there. Now,

463
00:29:12.440 --> 00:29:17.559
all these other things that you have that are affecting this,

464
00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:20.559
your variable costs. If you're not paying attention to your

465
00:29:20.599 --> 00:29:24.279
fuel costs and everything, then your fuel costs out there

466
00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:27.960
are you know, would be increasing and would increase your

467
00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:32.000
cost per mile. If you run into major repairs or

468
00:29:32.039 --> 00:29:34.880
a lot of maintenance during a particular month and maybe

469
00:29:34.920 --> 00:29:37.680
not running isn't hard, then you're going to see that

470
00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:41.920
cost per mile go up. Out there, So it's controlling

471
00:29:42.039 --> 00:29:45.759
some of these expenses that you have to make it

472
00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:49.000
make sense and make this work. Now, you know, sometimes

473
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:51.519
we're looking for expenses to move over here and it.

474
00:29:51.480 --> 00:29:52.880
Increases your cost per mile.

475
00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:54.759
So you may have to play with this a little

476
00:29:54.799 --> 00:29:57.680
bit and say, you know, hey, you know, if I

477
00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:00.400
didn't incur this expense, what would be my cost mile.

478
00:30:00.839 --> 00:30:03.200
A lot of people don't even look at this, and

479
00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:06.839
they're taking loads that they're running negative, so their income

480
00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:10.400
per mile actually is below what they need to pay

481
00:30:10.440 --> 00:30:13.759
themselves a living wage as people would say, or pay

482
00:30:13.799 --> 00:30:17.319
themselves a reasonable salary. If you're taking a load that

483
00:30:17.480 --> 00:30:20.680
you are not going to generate income, what are you doing.

484
00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:24.960
You're hurting yourself, You're hurting the industry. This industry sometimes

485
00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:29.240
gets hurt because people take loads that are not going

486
00:30:29.319 --> 00:30:33.279
to be profitable for anybody in a truck. So when

487
00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:35.519
you're looking at these things, you want to be able

488
00:30:35.559 --> 00:30:40.680
to set yourself up to make money and make profit

489
00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:44.720
so that you are making enough money to pay what

490
00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:49.680
you desire as a wage in the business or income

491
00:30:49.720 --> 00:30:53.359
from the business to support you and your family. Now,

492
00:30:53.799 --> 00:30:57.480
when we look at these these kind of things, we're

493
00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:01.079
always looking at round trip profits. You might take a

494
00:31:01.119 --> 00:31:06.319
look at this calculation based on a particular trip, and

495
00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:08.440
that's a little bit harder because you've got to be

496
00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:12.359
looking at your income and expenses based on that trip.

497
00:31:12.759 --> 00:31:15.039
Sometimes you're going to look at these things based on

498
00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:19.240
your month and how you ran for that month, and

499
00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:20.799
then you've got to kind of look at how the

500
00:31:20.839 --> 00:31:24.480
income's recorded as well, because you may have a delay

501
00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:29.039
in income because you didn't collect for thirty sixty ninety

502
00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:33.119
days on invoices, So you would actually look at your

503
00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:37.519
costs for that month divided by the income generated, and

504
00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:40.599
you would look more on acrol basis, so you would

505
00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:42.680
look at the invoices that you sent out for the

506
00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:46.599
month to get down to your cost per mile based

507
00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:50.920
on that revenue, not the actual revenue received. So you

508
00:31:51.079 --> 00:31:53.400
kind of got to look at how you're going to

509
00:31:53.480 --> 00:31:58.400
do this and how you're going to address looking at

510
00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:03.920
this to have an actual good barometer for your financial

511
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:07.240
health in the trucking industry. Here, we've got a lot

512
00:32:07.240 --> 00:32:13.119
of questions coming in Frank Jean Kevin. We're going to

513
00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:18.920
address these questions and everything in the next segment here

514
00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:22.039
right after the break, and we'll talk a little bit

515
00:32:22.039 --> 00:32:25.359
more about your cost per mile and how knowing this

516
00:32:25.400 --> 00:32:28.640
stuff benefits you and your business, kind of like knowing

517
00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:32.160
what your break even level is for a small business

518
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:35.119
or a major business out there that you're running.

519
00:32:35.160 --> 00:32:36.759
And we'll do that right after this break.

520
00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:41.960
We have only scratched the surface of today's show. Please

521
00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:45.240
stand by as Barry Chief Bowler will be right back

522
00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:51.160
with tax talk for you. As an owner operator. You

523
00:32:51.400 --> 00:32:54.839
already spend too much time away from your family. Stop

524
00:32:54.920 --> 00:32:58.480
spending time doing paperwork. Go to truck or tax tools

525
00:32:58.480 --> 00:33:02.920
dot com, a solution and built specifically for truckers. Trucker

526
00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:09.359
tax tools dot Com makes your life run smoothly. Let's

527
00:33:09.400 --> 00:33:12.359
get back to tax stock for you with more tax

528
00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:19.160
stock once again, here's your host, Barry G. Fallum.

529
00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:20.000
Hey, welcome back.

530
00:33:20.440 --> 00:33:22.480
Like I said, I'm gonna address questions man. The first

531
00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:25.079
question we got in today was from Frank. When you

532
00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:27.960
first get started, is it normal to not meet the

533
00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:31.319
minimal needed to run the business? Hey, Frank, if you

534
00:33:31.799 --> 00:33:34.960
can operate a business for a couple of years and

535
00:33:35.400 --> 00:33:37.880
not meet the minimum to run a business, it means

536
00:33:37.960 --> 00:33:41.359
you're running on somebody else's money, or you're spending a

537
00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:44.200
lot of your own money to make that money to

538
00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:47.880
make the business run and operate. You need to have

539
00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:50.799
a strategic plan and a business plan to start making

540
00:33:50.920 --> 00:33:54.400
money right away. And you may have depreciation that's going

541
00:33:54.440 --> 00:33:57.400
to bring the deductions down or put you in a negative,

542
00:33:57.400 --> 00:34:01.559
but cash flow is going to be to make your

543
00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:07.200
business operate and operate in a positive. Now, you may

544
00:34:07.200 --> 00:34:09.719
have some setup fees in the first couple of months

545
00:34:09.880 --> 00:34:12.679
and everything else, but after that, if you're running like

546
00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:15.360
in a trucking business, and you're not making money in

547
00:34:15.360 --> 00:34:19.880
those first couple months, cash flow isn't coming in. Means, hey,

548
00:34:20.280 --> 00:34:24.320
you're taking loads that aren't profitable to you, be you're

549
00:34:24.440 --> 00:34:27.280
leased on with somebody who's not paying you enough, and

550
00:34:27.400 --> 00:34:30.719
maybe you're lease on your truck or trailer or both

551
00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:35.800
too much. You've got to look at your expenses to

552
00:34:35.800 --> 00:34:39.440
determine that. Small businesses, yes, there's a lot of them,

553
00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:42.599
fail within the first five years because you're not running

554
00:34:42.599 --> 00:34:45.760
the business properly, you weren't set up in the business properly,

555
00:34:46.280 --> 00:34:49.079
or maybe you're just in the wrong business and you're

556
00:34:49.159 --> 00:34:52.320
just not running and gunning out there enough. There's a

557
00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:56.199
lot of reasons small businesses fail and planning is one

558
00:34:56.239 --> 00:34:58.519
of them. So you've got to plan for a profit,

559
00:34:58.920 --> 00:35:02.440
plan strategic league to make money and make it in

560
00:35:02.599 --> 00:35:07.039
business out there. Gene also asks, with most businesses, don't

561
00:35:07.079 --> 00:35:09.000
you have a negative the first two years before you

562
00:35:09.039 --> 00:35:09.679
see a profit?

563
00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:13.079
I say no. I say that you do.

564
00:35:13.239 --> 00:35:17.280
The planning ahead of time and plan how you're going

565
00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:21.360
to break even or make money. You need cash flow.

566
00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:24.719
Cash flow to support the business, pay the loans back

567
00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:30.320
if you have loans, operating capital, pay yourself. All these

568
00:35:30.360 --> 00:35:35.800
things become very very important in business. Next question we

569
00:35:35.880 --> 00:35:39.199
got from Kevin. If a load has to go out

570
00:35:39.360 --> 00:35:41.840
and the company will have more that will be profitable,

571
00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:45.159
shouldn't you take the run showing you're a team player. Well,

572
00:35:45.159 --> 00:35:50.480
first off, you're maybe a team player, but you're taking

573
00:35:50.519 --> 00:35:53.320
the loss for that company. You should be able to

574
00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:56.400
set Hey, this is what the load has to be

575
00:35:57.000 --> 00:36:00.159
in order for me to at least break even and

576
00:36:00.360 --> 00:36:03.440
make money for me in my business. You're not there

577
00:36:03.480 --> 00:36:06.440
to make money for them. You're there in business to

578
00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:09.760
make money for you and your family.

579
00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:10.719
Correct.

580
00:36:11.039 --> 00:36:14.480
You have to determine this is my cost per load,

581
00:36:14.559 --> 00:36:16.920
This is what I need to make to go out

582
00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:21.440
there and make money, so I'm not losing money. So

583
00:36:21.480 --> 00:36:23.760
if you lose a dollar per mile or fifty cents

584
00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:25.199
or ten cents per mile.

585
00:36:25.440 --> 00:36:28.239
You've got a lot to make up, just because.

586
00:36:27.960 --> 00:36:31.079
You wanted to be a team player for somebody that's

587
00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:33.880
going to make a profit off of you. Because I'm

588
00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:35.440
going to tell you they're not going to take a

589
00:36:35.480 --> 00:36:37.519
load and do a load if they're not making money

590
00:36:37.599 --> 00:36:40.480
off look, because hey, they're giving it to you at

591
00:36:40.519 --> 00:36:43.719
a certain price because they had to do something supposedly

592
00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:45.719
for somebody else. But they're going to take their cut.

593
00:36:46.039 --> 00:36:48.760
Why can't they lower what their cut is to at

594
00:36:48.840 --> 00:36:52.920
least keep you whole and to make money. So these

595
00:36:52.960 --> 00:36:56.000
are things you've got to think about because, hey, you

596
00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:57.800
know if you went out there to ran a thousand

597
00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:01.920
miles and you know you lost one thousand dollars, well

598
00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:04.119
they're going to have to figure out a way that

599
00:37:04.159 --> 00:37:06.679
you're going to make that up. Well, if they're willing

600
00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:10.639
to cut you back and you lose money, do you

601
00:37:10.679 --> 00:37:13.159
think the next time are they going to make it

602
00:37:13.239 --> 00:37:15.159
up and give you more money. No, they're going to

603
00:37:15.199 --> 00:37:18.880
still take their cut, whatever that may be. When they

604
00:37:18.920 --> 00:37:21.920
give you the load that goes out. So we've seen

605
00:37:21.960 --> 00:37:24.840
that happen, you know where, Hey, we're going to give

606
00:37:24.880 --> 00:37:27.159
you this load. I promise you, we're going to make

607
00:37:27.199 --> 00:37:29.920
it better, and we're going to do this. It's kind

608
00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:33.639
of like some of these companies we hear about who say, hey,

609
00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:36.239
this is the greatest deal on earth. Sign here. You're

610
00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:38.559
going to be at least on driver. You're going to

611
00:37:38.679 --> 00:37:41.559
lease one of our trucks and trailers, and you've got

612
00:37:41.559 --> 00:37:44.239
a three or four year lease, and three years into it,

613
00:37:44.679 --> 00:37:46.360
you've got a year left, and all of a sudden,

614
00:37:46.360 --> 00:37:49.039
the loads start going down, so they can repossess the

615
00:37:49.079 --> 00:37:51.840
truck that you can't afford to pay, and now they

616
00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:53.800
can turn around and take that truck from you and

617
00:37:53.840 --> 00:37:56.119
start all over and give it to somebody else. So

618
00:37:56.159 --> 00:37:59.679
it doesn't make sense to run a load that you're

619
00:37:59.719 --> 00:38:02.440
going to lose money on. Let's break even, let's do better,

620
00:38:02.519 --> 00:38:05.480
Let's make yourself some money. That's what it's about. See

621
00:38:05.480 --> 00:38:08.440
people do this, and it has affected this industry many

622
00:38:08.519 --> 00:38:12.440
times over. Somebody's always willing to take a load at.

623
00:38:12.280 --> 00:38:12.920
A cut rate.

624
00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:15.840
And if everybody takes loads and cut rates, what's it do?

625
00:38:16.039 --> 00:38:21.599
It brings the rates down and now you have a

626
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:24.559
lot of trucking companies that aren't profitable out there, and

627
00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:28.039
it just really hurts everybody in the industry. Keep the

628
00:38:28.039 --> 00:38:31.800
load rate up and everybody in the industry can profit

629
00:38:31.880 --> 00:38:35.760
and grow together. Another question from Kelly. Can a business

630
00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:38.440
restructure to be able to get things in order that

631
00:38:38.519 --> 00:38:41.480
hopes to gain a profit. Yes, I mean you can

632
00:38:41.480 --> 00:38:43.519
talk to an attorney about this. You can look at

633
00:38:43.559 --> 00:38:49.039
business restructuring, you can look at bankruptcy restructuring. A lot

634
00:38:49.079 --> 00:38:53.119
of those things can set yourself up in business. If

635
00:38:53.119 --> 00:38:55.800
you've had a downturn in business, it may be a

636
00:38:55.800 --> 00:38:58.400
good strategy for you. But that's where I would tell

637
00:38:58.440 --> 00:39:03.280
you sit down and talk with the bankruptcy attorney and determine, Hey,

638
00:39:03.559 --> 00:39:06.360
is this the right way to go. And the one

639
00:39:06.400 --> 00:39:10.320
thing to remember is that taxes very seldom come off

640
00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:13.639
in bankruptcy. So if you're debt with taxes, sometimes you

641
00:39:13.719 --> 00:39:17.480
need tax resolution and you need to structure a plan

642
00:39:17.639 --> 00:39:20.519
to pay them back, especially if it's something like payroll

643
00:39:20.599 --> 00:39:22.400
taxes that are out.

644
00:39:22.239 --> 00:39:22.840
There that.

645
00:39:24.519 --> 00:39:28.320
You owe and the company owes, and you need to

646
00:39:28.360 --> 00:39:32.280
put a strategic plan in place for the business. And

647
00:39:32.920 --> 00:39:37.159
those taxes don't necessarily go away, but it may be

648
00:39:37.320 --> 00:39:41.800
something you include in bankruptcy and start planning as far

649
00:39:41.840 --> 00:39:48.440
as that goes, Yancy, do I negotiate Holland contracts? And

650
00:39:49.960 --> 00:39:51.960
I sound like I know what I'm doing. You know,

651
00:39:52.039 --> 00:39:54.559
I've been to a lot of these old idea seminars

652
00:39:54.599 --> 00:39:59.000
and I listen to o ideas experts there. In trucking,

653
00:39:59.480 --> 00:40:02.519
I know axes, I know bookkeeping. I know trucking taxes

654
00:40:02.559 --> 00:40:05.320
and bookkeeping inside and out. And that's why we have

655
00:40:05.440 --> 00:40:08.159
truck or tax tools and were offering that great special

656
00:40:08.199 --> 00:40:14.639
for the truck drivers. No, I do not negotiate hauling contracts.

657
00:40:16.119 --> 00:40:19.840
You know my negotiation skills. I love to negotiate. I

658
00:40:19.960 --> 00:40:21.480
love to work with people.

659
00:40:23.000 --> 00:40:23.199
You know.

660
00:40:23.239 --> 00:40:25.800
If I'm buying a new truck or a new car

661
00:40:25.960 --> 00:40:28.519
or some of my I'm the first one to negotiate.

662
00:40:28.519 --> 00:40:30.360
But I'm also the first one to walk away from

663
00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:31.800
the table and not take a deal.

664
00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:36.159
You know. And my mom was buying a new.

665
00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:39.559
Car, and as I told her, hey, the deals and

666
00:40:39.639 --> 00:40:42.800
no go just walk away, we ended up getting almost

667
00:40:42.840 --> 00:40:45.239
exactly what we wanted. By walking away from the deal.

668
00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:48.679
The dealership actually came back to us and did it.

669
00:40:48.760 --> 00:40:52.679
I've done that multiple times in buying buying vehicles and

670
00:40:52.760 --> 00:40:57.039
trucks and stuff. Is you got to be strategic. You

671
00:40:57.119 --> 00:40:59.639
got to know what it's actually worth, and then is

672
00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:02.119
it what's it worth to you? And if it doesn't

673
00:41:02.159 --> 00:41:04.679
meet what you want, you walk away from the table.

674
00:41:05.039 --> 00:41:11.119
It's the same thing in negotiating contracts and stuff like that.

675
00:41:12.559 --> 00:41:15.760
You've got to be willing to walk away. You got

676
00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:18.559
to know, hey, as the song goes, you got to

677
00:41:18.599 --> 00:41:20.559
know when to hold them and know when to fold them.

678
00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:23.920
And sometimes just walking away from a deal that doesn't

679
00:41:24.280 --> 00:41:27.000
look right, doesn't smell right. And if it walks like

680
00:41:27.039 --> 00:41:28.960
a duck, waks like a duck, gets a duck, get

681
00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:32.079
out of there and don't take it. A lot of

682
00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:34.480
times they come back to you and offer you a

683
00:41:34.480 --> 00:41:38.880
better deal in the industry out there, So you've.

684
00:41:38.519 --> 00:41:40.719
Got to be willing to walk away.

685
00:41:41.840 --> 00:41:44.880
Even as President Trump said, you know, it's the art

686
00:41:44.920 --> 00:41:48.519
of the deal. You sometimes you hold the hard line,

687
00:41:48.719 --> 00:41:50.079
and you got to do it. If you've got a

688
00:41:50.079 --> 00:41:53.079
good deal, you take it. But you've got to be

689
00:41:53.119 --> 00:41:56.280
willing to negotiate and be willing to walk away if

690
00:41:56.320 --> 00:42:00.039
it doesn't meet what you kelly. If you're structured, you

691
00:42:00.119 --> 00:42:04.079
have to restructure anything with the IRS. Paperwork depends on

692
00:42:04.199 --> 00:42:07.159
what you're restructuring. Is if it's because you're in dead,

693
00:42:07.480 --> 00:42:11.440
you know, there's nothing restructuring as far as IRS paperwork.

694
00:42:11.559 --> 00:42:16.480
If you restructure, such as moving from a single member

695
00:42:16.760 --> 00:42:21.559
LLC schedule CE to a partnership, it changes the tax return,

696
00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:25.079
nothing really to report to the IRS. You'll report it

697
00:42:25.119 --> 00:42:28.320
on the ten sixty five that is partnership. If you're

698
00:42:28.360 --> 00:42:31.119
moving to es Corp, you file the twenty five point

699
00:42:31.119 --> 00:42:35.400
fifty three with the IRS and they will send to

700
00:42:35.559 --> 00:42:39.920
you that you've been accepted, have the designation as an escort.

701
00:42:40.440 --> 00:42:43.360
Now you'll have to do payroll, file your nine forty

702
00:42:43.400 --> 00:42:47.760
one nineties W two's W three, all these fun things

703
00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:52.360
in the state unemployment returns or state withholding returns, all

704
00:42:52.440 --> 00:42:57.079
that stuff you have to do and you would have

705
00:42:57.159 --> 00:43:01.239
to do with the state and then and you know

706
00:43:01.559 --> 00:43:05.000
go from there. So all those things would happen if

707
00:43:05.039 --> 00:43:07.920
you were to restructure that type of business, you know,

708
00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:11.400
from being a schedule to see you know, one of

709
00:43:11.400 --> 00:43:13.679
the things that we were talking about, and this cost

710
00:43:13.719 --> 00:43:16.760
per mile just to get back to that real quick, uh,

711
00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:22.280
you know, knowing your your daily or weekly cost of operations, Uh,

712
00:43:22.639 --> 00:43:27.360
is important. So if you're looking at it a monthly report,

713
00:43:27.400 --> 00:43:30.000
you know, you can break it down to kind of

714
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:31.920
a daily fixed cost that you have.

715
00:43:33.840 --> 00:43:34.000
You know.

716
00:43:34.639 --> 00:43:37.920
Trick in this is putting numbers that you can actually

717
00:43:38.119 --> 00:43:41.880
relate to and which you can recognize, you know, problems

718
00:43:41.880 --> 00:43:45.480
and stuff with. So it's kind of modifying, you know,

719
00:43:45.840 --> 00:43:48.719
your cost per mile to determine. Hey, when I'm running

720
00:43:48.760 --> 00:43:51.440
the truck and everything else, you know, what does it

721
00:43:51.440 --> 00:43:52.599
cost to me standing still?

722
00:43:53.199 --> 00:43:54.159
That's your fixed cost?

723
00:43:54.239 --> 00:43:58.079
What's it costing me just to operate this truck and

724
00:43:58.199 --> 00:44:00.719
keep it going from there? If you're not incurring a

725
00:44:00.760 --> 00:44:05.159
lot of repairs and maintenance costs, you know, I suggest

726
00:44:05.159 --> 00:44:07.360
you set up a maintenance fun and you use that

727
00:44:07.480 --> 00:44:10.519
number in there for your maintenance costs and repair costs,

728
00:44:10.800 --> 00:44:14.519
so that you know that you're pulling something out every

729
00:44:14.639 --> 00:44:19.880
single load, every single mile to cover those costs. Stuff

730
00:44:20.159 --> 00:44:22.719
with you, Hey, you know, time flies when we're having

731
00:44:22.760 --> 00:44:27.159
fun and talking taxes and bookkeeping and truckers and small

732
00:44:27.199 --> 00:44:30.320
businesses and everything else out there. Hey, don't forget we

733
00:44:30.440 --> 00:44:35.000
got that special this month for truckers. Celebrating truckers. Give

734
00:44:35.079 --> 00:44:37.760
us a call at eight seven seven nine sixty six, two, four,

735
00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:42.559
seven seven. Again, first eight months of catchup of tax

736
00:44:42.559 --> 00:44:44.719
work is going to be absolutely free when you sign

737
00:44:44.840 --> 00:44:48.239
up for our bookkeeping here through twenty twenty five twenty

738
00:44:48.280 --> 00:44:52.400
twenty six. Give us a call hey, as always, have

739
00:44:52.480 --> 00:44:57.719
a great, God bless glorious week out there. Enjoy what

740
00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:02.920
you do, live for your family, love for God. Just

741
00:45:03.400 --> 00:45:06.840
do what you need to do to keep your business

742
00:45:06.920 --> 00:45:09.559
and run your business the right way. Tell you to

743
00:45:09.599 --> 00:45:11.920
have a great week. Join us right back here on

744
00:45:12.119 --> 00:45:15.440
W four CY Radio. Make sure you connect with us

745
00:45:15.480 --> 00:45:18.400
at tax Talk for You and that's the number four

746
00:45:18.519 --> 00:45:23.800
the letter you dot com. Tax Talk for You dot Com.

747
00:45:24.039 --> 00:45:27.559
Be here every Monday, ten am Eastern time again on

748
00:45:27.719 --> 00:45:28.840
W four CY Radio.

749
00:45:28.920 --> 00:45:29.360
And if you.

750
00:45:29.480 --> 00:45:32.880
Connect with us over on Facebook or at tax talkfor

751
00:45:32.960 --> 00:45:36.719
You dot com, you'll never miss an episode. And if

752
00:45:36.719 --> 00:45:39.079
you do, go to our podcast We're on all the

753
00:45:39.119 --> 00:45:44.840
major podcast sites. I hired, Spotify, you name it, we're there,

754
00:45:45.320 --> 00:45:48.599
Go find us, go listen to our podcasts. But be

755
00:45:48.719 --> 00:45:51.159
here every Monday ten am right here at W four

756
00:45:51.199 --> 00:45:54.000
c y rate. Thank you, and again, have a God blessed,

757
00:45:54.039 --> 00:45:54.880
glorious week.

758
00:45:55.960 --> 00:45:59.159
Are you an individual or business that wants to understand

759
00:45:59.239 --> 00:46:02.599
taxes and how they affect you. Are you looking for

760
00:46:02.679 --> 00:46:08.079
specific tax advice for self employed business owners and truckers.

761
00:46:08.639 --> 00:46:12.719
Are you behind on taxes and your bookkeeping? Are you

762
00:46:12.800 --> 00:46:15.800
dealing with the irs and ready to have some relief,

763
00:46:16.599 --> 00:46:20.440
Then you need Tax Talk for You, hosted by tax

764
00:46:20.519 --> 00:46:25.000
and trucker expert Barry G. Fower EA. Tune in ten

765
00:46:25.079 --> 00:46:29.119
am Eastern Time every Monday right here on W FOURCY

766
00:46:29.320 --> 00:46:32.639
Radio and Talk for TV. Don't forget to check this

767
00:46:32.880 --> 00:46:37.400
and past episodes at tax TALKFORU dot com. See you

768
00:46:37.480 --> 00:46:42.400
next week at W fourcy dot com