Since the majority of taxi drivers, but certainly not all, have little accounting or bookkeeping knowledge the lower the level of expertise required the more suitable this accounts package will undoubtedly be. Data entry basically consists of just 3 records, being an excel spreadsheet for taxi receipts; another for taxi expenses plus a further worksheet where assets like a vehicle could 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 some 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 each expense is entered on each row and a single letter used to then analyse the taxi expense to the column required. Much like 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 aren’t provided as not necessary by taxi drivers as taxi drivers do not need to produce a balance sheet.
As well as entering purchases on the taxi expense sheet the only other entries required from the taxi driver to produce a group of taxi driver accounts would be to also enter vehicle and any other assets purchased on the fixed asset spreadsheet. The fixed asset spreadsheet having recently been preset with both depreciation rates and the capital allowances that taxi drivers can claim. The taxi accounts software is then complete.
The financial accounts file contains formulae to produce a monthly profit and loss account which 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 UK declare that drivers cannot claim both mileage allowances and vehicle running costs. It has to be one or the other and only at the end of the financial year when it becomes clear that is the most tax efficient.
This taxi accounts package compares both the mileage cost and the vehicle running cost and automatically selects the most expensive. This ensures the best costs are selected in to the calculation of the web taxable profits and highest cost equals lowest goverment tax bill.
Also in the taxi accounts file can be an excel spreadsheet made with the same layout, colour codes and box numbers because the inland revenue self assessment tax return. Brighton to Heathrow taxi is completed automatically by the cabsmart taxi accounts software. No entries are required leaving the taxi driver only to click print to create the self assessment tax return.
Finally having calculated the net taxable profit for the year the accounting package also has a tax calculator that calculates the number of income tax and national insurance to be paid.
The taxi driver accounts package has been tested often and the annual receipts and expenses for a full year take approximately 2-3 3 hours to enter, and also have been completed in less than 2 hours. The end product is really a full group of taxi driver accounts like 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 running a business activity then this taxi accounting package would be equally suitable for couriers and van drivers.