Since nearly all taxi drivers, but certainly not all, have little accounting or bookkeeping knowledge the lower the level of expertise required the more desirable such an accounts package will be. Data entry basically includes just 3 records, being an excel spreadsheet for taxi receipts; another for taxi expenses and also a further worksheet where assets for instance a vehicle can be recorded.
Taxi receipts are entered on some excel worksheets within the taxi income work book preset with every day of the financial year. Weekly and monthly totals are added and transferred through the linking system from the taxi bookkeeping sheets to the taxi financial accounts sheet.
Taxi expenses are listed on a series of twelve monthly spreadsheets which have preset columns with appropriate headings for taxi drivers to record office and rental costs, fuel bills, other vehicle costs and licence fees. The total of every expense is entered on each row and an individual letter used to then analyse the taxi expense to the column required. As with the taxi income sheet the columns are then automatically added with a check up on data entry accuracy before being transferred to the taxi driver accounts sheet.
Cash and bank spreadsheets are not provided as not required by taxi drivers as taxi drivers need not create a balance sheet.
In addition to entering purchases on the taxi expense sheet the only other entries required from the taxi driver to produce a group of taxi driver accounts is to also enter vehicle and any assets purchased on the fixed asset spreadsheet. The fixed asset spreadsheet having already been preset with both depreciation rates and the administrative centre allowances that taxi drivers can claim. The taxi accounts software is then complete.
The financial accounts file contains formulae to make a monthly profit and loss account that includes the taxi capital allowances from the fixed asset schedule.
A unique feature is that both mileages covered and vehicle running costs could be entered. The tax rules in the united kingdom declare that drivers cannot claim both mileage allowances and vehicle running costs. It has to be one or another and only by the end of the financial year when it becomes clear which is the most tax efficient.
This taxi accounts package compares both mileage cost and the automobile running cost and automatically selects the most expensive. This ensures the best costs are selected in to the calculation of the net taxable profits and highest cost equals lowest goverment tax bill.
Also in the taxi accounts file is an excel spreadsheet made with the same layout, colour codes and box numbers because the inland revenue self assessment tax return. The taxi self assessment tax return is completed automatically by the cabsmart taxi accounts software. No entries are needed leaving the taxi driver only to click print to produce the self assessment tax return.
Finally having calculated the web taxable profit for the year the accounting package also offers a tax calculator that calculates the number of tax and national insurance to be paid.
The taxi driver accounts package has been tested many times and the annual receipts and expenses for a complete year take approximately 2 to 3 3 hours to enter, and have been completed in under 2 hours. The end product is a full set of taxi driver accounts including the self assessment tax return.
Both couriers and van drivers have similar businesses to taxi drivers in that they move items in one place to another similarly in which taxi drivers move folks from one location to some other. And due to the similarity in business activity then this taxi accounting package will be equally ideal for couriers and van drivers.