Transportation Services

Job costing, vehicle expense tracking, and driver classification for transportation companies.

The Industry

Transportation businesses burn through cash on fuel, maintenance, and insurance before they see revenue from completed jobs. A moving company might spend $800 in fuel and labor on a job they won’t get paid for until two weeks later. Trucking operations deal with fuel tax credits, DOT compliance costs, and independent contractor drivers who may or may not be classified correctly. Vehicle expenses need tracking per truck or van to know which assets are profitable and which cost more to operate than they generate.

Revenue per mile or per job only tells you something useful if you’re tracking costs the same way. A delivery route that looks profitable at $2 per mile stops making sense when you account for the fuel, maintenance, insurance, and driver time allocated to that specific route. Most transportation businesses track revenue carefully but treat expenses as general overhead instead of allocating them to jobs or vehicles. That makes profitability analysis impossible.

Who This Covers

Trucking companies, moving companies, courier and delivery services, taxi and limousine operations. Any transportation business in Phoenix managing vehicles, drivers, and per-job or per-mile pricing.

What Makes It Different

Vehicle expense allocation by truck or route. Fuel costs that fluctuate daily. Driver classification between employees and contractors. DOT compliance and licensing costs. Insurance that varies by vehicle type and usage. Job costing by delivery or move. Fuel tax reporting and potential credits. These aren’t typical service business issues.

What We Handle

Vehicle expenses need tracking by truck, van, or car to identify which assets generate profit and which drain cash. Fuel costs allocated to specific jobs or routes. Maintenance scheduled and tracked per vehicle with costs assigned appropriately. Insurance, registration, and DOT compliance costs spread across your fleet. Job costing shows revenue versus expenses by delivery, move, or route so you know which work makes money and which barely covers costs.

Driver classification matters more in transportation than most industries. Independent contractors get 1099s and handle their own taxes. Employees need payroll with proper mileage reimbursement or company vehicle tracking. Tax preparation should capture vehicle depreciation using actual expense method or standard mileage, fuel tax credits where applicable, and DOT compliance costs. QuickBooks setup for transportation needs vehicle tracking, job costing, and expense allocation configured correctly from the start.

Vehicle and Job Cost Tracking

Every vehicle tracked separately for fuel, maintenance, insurance, and depreciation. Job costing by delivery, move, or route showing revenue against allocated vehicle and labor costs. QuickBooks configured for transportation with proper job and vehicle expense tracking. Historical data showing which routes or job types are consistently profitable.

Payroll and Tax Strategy

Driver payroll processing with mileage reimbursement calculations for employees using personal vehicles. Proper 1099 filing for independent contractors. Tax preparation capturing maximum vehicle depreciation, fuel costs, and transportation-specific deductions. Quarterly estimates preventing surprise tax bills when profitable routes generate more income than expected.

What Goes Wrong

Transportation companies that don’t allocate vehicle expenses to specific trucks or jobs can’t tell which assets are profitable. You know your total fuel cost for the month but not what each delivery route actually cost to run. A courier service might be losing money on residential deliveries while making good profit on commercial routes, but without job-level expense allocation, everything looks like one blended margin.

Driver misclassification creates expensive IRS problems. Treating employees as contractors to avoid payroll taxes seems appealing until the IRS determines the classification was wrong and demands back payroll taxes, penalties, and interest. Moving companies that don’t track job costs can’t price accurately. You bid based on distance and truck size without accounting for actual fuel costs, helper labor, or the extra hour spent dealing with a third-floor walkup.

No Vehicle-Level Visibility

Fuel and maintenance costs lumped together instead of tracked per vehicle. Can’t identify which trucks are expensive to operate or which routes drain profitability. Vehicle replacement decisions get made without data on actual operating costs per asset.

Misclassified Drivers and Missing Deductions

Independent contractors classified incorrectly creating IRS exposure. Employee mileage reimbursements not calculated properly. Vehicle depreciation not maximized. Fuel tax credits missed. DOT compliance costs not deducted. Tax bills higher than they should be because deductions specific to transportation get overlooked.

What Changes

Every vehicle shows its own profit and loss. Fuel, maintenance, insurance, and depreciation allocated per truck or van. Job costing reveals which routes, delivery types, or moves generate margin and which barely cover costs. Pricing decisions get based on actual vehicle and labor costs from similar past jobs instead of industry averages or hopeful estimates.

Drivers classified correctly from the start avoiding IRS scrutiny. Payroll handles mileage reimbursements for employees using personal vehicles. Tax returns capture maximum vehicle depreciation, fuel costs, and transportation-specific deductions. Your books show which parts of the business are profitable and which need pricing adjustments or should be dropped entirely.

Profitable Fleet Management

Know which vehicles cost more to operate than they generate. Replace or reassign assets based on actual operating data. Price jobs accurately using historical costs from similar routes or moves. Stop taking work that looks profitable but loses money once you account for all allocated costs.

Compliance and Maximum Deductions

Drivers classified properly eliminating IRS risk. Payroll processed correctly for employees. Tax returns prepared by someone familiar with transportation deductions capturing vehicle costs, fuel tax credits, and DOT compliance expenses. Quarterly estimates preventing April surprises when profitable months generate more tax liability than expected.

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