How to produce taxi driver accounts plus tax returns in less than 2 hours

Since most, but certainly not all, taxi drivers have little knowledge of accounting or bookkeeping, the lower the level of experience required, the more suitable such an accounting package will be. The data entry basically consists of only 3 records, being an excel spreadsheet for taxi receipts; another for taxi expenses plus an additional worksheet in which assets such as a vehicle can be recorded.

Taxi receipts are entered into a series of Excel spreadsheets within the preset Taxi Revenue Workbook with each day of the fiscal year. The weekly and monthly totals are aggregated and transferred through the linkage system from the Taxi Account Sheets to the Taxi Financial Account Sheet.

Taxi expenses are listed in a series of twelve monthly spreadsheets that have pre-arranged columns with appropriate headings for taxi drivers to record office and rental costs, fuel bills, other vehicle costs, and license fees. The total of each expense is entered in each row and a single letter is used to then analyze the taxi expense in the required column. As with the Taxi Revenue Sheet, the columns are added automatically, including a check for the accuracy of the data entry before it is transferred to the Taxi Driver Account Sheet.

Cash and bank spreadsheets are not provided because taxi drivers do not require them, as taxi drivers do not need to produce a balance sheet.

Other than entering the purchases on the taxi expense sheet, the only other input required from the taxi driver to produce a set of taxi driver accounts is also entering the vehicle and any other purchased assets on the fixed assets worksheet. The Fixed Assets spreadsheet has already been preset with both depreciation rates and capital allowances that taxi drivers can claim. Taxi accounts software is complete.

The financial accounts file contains formulas to produce a monthly profit and loss account that includes the fixed asset schedule taxi capital allocations.

A unique feature is that both the miles driven and the costs of running the vehicle can be entered. Tax rules in the UK state that drivers cannot claim both mileage allowances and the costs of running the vehicle. It has to be one or the other and only at the end of the year when it is clear which is the most fiscally efficient.

This taxi account package compares both the cost of mileage and the cost of running the vehicle and automatically selects the most expensive. This ensures that the highest costs are selected in the net taxable profit calculation and that the highest cost is equal to the lowest tax bill.

Also in the taxi accounts file is an Excel spreadsheet designed with the same layout, color coding, and box numbers as the IRS self-assessed tax return. cabsmart taxi accounting software automatically completes the taxi self-assessment tax return. No inputs are required, leaving the taxi driver to just click print to produce the self-assessment tax return.

Finally, after you have calculated the net taxable profit for the year, the accounting package also has a tax calculator that calculates the amount of income tax and national insurance to be paid.

The taxi driver account package has been tested many times over and a full year’s annual receipts and expenses take approximately 2-3 hours to enter and have been completed in less than 2 hours. The final product is a complete set of taxi driver accounts, including the self-assessment tax return.

Both couriers and van drivers have businesses similar to taxi drivers in that they move items from one place to another similar to how taxi drivers move people from one place to another. And due to the similarity in business activity, this taxi accounting package would be equally suitable for couriers and van drivers.