Two words why you need to be keeping a close eye on your record-keeping:
IFTA audit.
It’s pretty easy to let numbers slide. Some people don’t fill out the monthly reports, don’t keep the old decals (did you know you need to keep those for 4 years?) and say “Close enough.” Then they’re shocked when the audit notice comes.
Maybe they don’t have their old records in order. Who doesn’t have the urge just to throw the old material in a box in the back of the closet when you’re done every quarter?
Who are you going to pay to help you get through an IFTA audit? I don’t know who I would call – maybe an attorney or an accountant. Paying them by the hour? I know you can search Google and find someone who’ll be willing to help you for a price. A hefty price.
Fail that audit and kiss your IFTA license good-bye. You’ll pay fines, interest, and penalties, and set a bond before you’ll be reinstated. We’re not talking a little bit of money here. The word “catastrophic” comes to mind.
Do you struggle with record-keeping?
When I talk to non-truckers, they don’t get it. “Just keep a notebook.” Or my favorite, “That’s not so hard,” from people who probably organize their magazine subscriptions on a spreadsheet. Most of us are not naturally organized. It takes a particular mindset and ability to see things in groups and structures. I’m glad there are people in the world who can pay close attention to the detail work – but it’s hard for those of us who don’t.
How many ways have you tried?
Seems to me that the more steps in the process, the more chances for the data to get screwed up. The driver writes a 7 in his logbook and the bookkeeper thinks it’s a 1 and boom! Suddenly we’ve got to try to find out what happened and how to fix it.
When it comes to the IFTA, things can get really hairy very fast. The IFTA penalties are too high to mess with. And if you don’t check carefully, the check you’re writing to the government could be too high – who wants to pay more tax than they have to?
How To Do IFTA Right
There are other ways to get your IFTA done that might seem painless – unless you look at their billing. The cheapest I saw only did the calculations – you still had input all your numbers and do the the actual filing. If you didn’t have your data perfect on the first day of the month to file, can you imagine what a delay might cost you if they can’t figure out your numbers?
Wouldn’t it be nice to get those numbers right when you create the dispatch and not have to figure out what you did wrong three months later?
That’s the specialty of TruckingOffice. When you enter the dispatch, right away, we use the PC*Miler program to automatically calculate all the miles from the pickup to the delivery. It keeps track of the miles when a truck is deadheading. So when it’s time to do the IFTA, you’re not doing any calculations. You’re looking at a complete report with accurate numbers. You can be confident that the taxes you pay are the taxes that are due.
We guarantee you’ll love this software. We’re so confident that we’ll give you the first month free. You can sign up – no credit card needed – and use the software to enter all of the last quarter’s loads and use the PC*Miler routing program to compute your miles and prepare your IFTA report. If you’re not convinced by the One Minute Dispatch Entry and the variety of reports to show you the real financial status of your business, then it’s no money out of your pocket. You’ll be free to leave, no charge. But I’m betting that you’ll find that a trucking management software that was designed with a team that included a trucker (that’s me) and uses our language (not the terms only an accountant knows) is worth it to you.
Time to decide: another quarterly report finished with with too much coffee and stress, or confidence that the numbers and the taxes are right. The choice is up to you.
Sign up today by clicking this link: 30 Day Free TruckingOffice Trial
Recent Comments