When Your Accountant Can Really Earn His Keep (Hint: It's Not April)

Tax season? It’s right now, while you have time to weigh various tax-saving opportunities this year and decide how to act. You’’ll also get full value from your accountant, who will be able to devote full attention to your financial statements rather than just sorting through broker settlements and receipts days before a return is due.

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How to Go Out of Business

I’ve written columns to help you build your business and columns to help you plan for retirement. But with high fuel costs and a slowing economy, more owner-operators are deciding that neither success nor retirement is in the cards. They’re going out of business. Your accountant can guide you through the process but I’ll list some of the major points for you to consider.

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7 Factors That Determine Whether You're an Employee or Independent

The trucking industry has always been under pressure to save costs. For years, one way companies have attempted to do this is through the use of self-employed drivers or “driver services.” By contracting a driver, the fleet can add or subtract capacity without the obligations and costs of having an employee. There are good and bad sides for both the carrier and the driver in this type of arrangement. Let’s review.

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An Accountant's Guide to Cutting Fuel Costs

I don’t drive a truck for a living. But I do see good ideas and decisions reflected in the balance sheets of owner-operators and small fleet managers who are finding ways to reduce the impact of volatile fuel prices on their business. When you talk to your accountant about fuel-saving strategies off the road, here are four questions to ask.

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What Does Your Tax Preparer Know About Trucking?

We get a lot of calls from owner-operators looking for a second opinion on their taxes. They ask about everything from meals claims to spousal income splitting to CCA classes and deductions. What kind of errors do we find? We break it down into three categories.

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3 Great Places to Look for Tax Savings

So you’ve spent the last month searching for any shred of paper that might justify a tax deduction. Or maybe you’re diligent about keeping receipts and have a great filing system. Either way, you’re interested in lowering your tax obligation, and that’s good. Whether you’re incorporated or a sole proprietor, here are my three favorite places to look for tax savings.

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Happy Returns: 4 Tips for Filing Your 2007 Tax Return

Like some kind of financial equinox, March is the time when personal income tax planning shifts to personal income tax preparation. The guest bed in the back room becomes a landscape of paper piles: income statements, assessment notices, logbooks, receipts, and any other item that offers the hope of a tax deduction. As you work your “system” this month, here are four items not to overlook when you prepare your 2007 return.

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