Trucking accounting that handles IFTA, per-diem, and the cost of every mile.

Trucking accounting involves complications no other industry shares. IFTA (International Fuel Tax Agreement) requires quarterly fuel-tax reporting across every U.S. state and Canadian province where a truck operates, with total miles tracked by jurisdiction and fuel purchases tracked by jurisdiction — under-reporting creates audit exposure that can compound across years. Per-diem treatment for DOT-regulated drivers allows the 80% deduction rate rather than the standard 50% meal deduction, but only when properly categorized. Owner-operator vs company driver classification has been the subject of major IRS and DOL enforcement, with lease-purchase arrangements particularly scrutinized. Equipment depreciation involves Section 179, bonus depreciation, trade-in considerations, and the operating-vs-finance-lease question under ASC 842. Fuel-card reconciliation across Comdata, EFS Wex, TCH, and others has its own patterns. Freight factoring with advance percentages and reserve accounts needs correct accounting. Generic bookkeeping handles none of this — trucking-specialist accounting handles all of it.

Yes. IFTA reporting requires tracking total miles driven in each jurisdiction (state or Canadian province) and fuel purchases made in each jurisdiction for the quarter, then calculating fuel-tax owed or refunded to each jurisdiction based on the difference between fuel consumed (based on miles and your truck’s MPG) and fuel purchased. The mechanics: pull mileage data from your ELD or trip sheets, pull fuel-purchase data from your fuel card statements (Comdata, EFS Wex, TCH, Pilot Flying J, Love’s, or direct fuel stops), calculate jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction fuel tax, file the IFTA return in your base state by the quarterly deadline (April 30, July 31, October 31, January 31). Done right, this is a routine quarterly process. Done wrong (incomplete mileage data, missing fuel receipts, approximated jurisdictional splits), audit exposure builds quarter by quarter. We integrate with major ELD platforms and fuel cards, maintain the trip data, and produce IFTA-ready quarterly reports for your filing.

Drivers who are subject to DOT hours-of-service rules and travel away from their tax home (overnight stays away from home) qualify for the special transportation-industry per-diem meal allowance. The IRS sets the rate annually — recent years have been around $69 per full day domestic and $74 per full day international — and transportation workers can deduct 80% of the per-diem (versus 50% for most meal expenses). Per-diem can be paid by the employer as non-taxable reimbursement (reducing both employee taxable income and employer payroll tax) or claimed by the driver as an unreimbursed business expense (for owner-operators on Schedule C, or under accountable plan rules for employees). The mechanics matter: improperly paid per-diem becomes taxable wages; properly paid per-diem reduces tax burden meaningfully. We configure per-diem tracking, ensure documentation supports the away-from-home test, and coordinate with your CPA on the tax-return treatment. Per-diem rates change annually — verify current rates before reporting.

Yes — operationally, in coordination with your attorney or CPA on the legal characterization. Owner-operators are 1099 independent contractors operating their own equipment under their own authority or leased to a motor carrier; company drivers are W-2 employees driving company-owned equipment. The classification has major tax and legal implications: payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, IRS misclassification penalties, and state-specific tests (California’s AB5 has been particularly aggressive). Lease-purchase arrangements (where the driver operates a company truck under a lease-to-own contract) have been heavily scrutinized as potentially disguised employment. We configure the bookkeeping to support whichever classification is correct for your operation — 1099 onboarding with W-9 collection and 1099-NEC year-end filing for true owner-operators, or W-2 employment with full payroll for company drivers — but the legal determination of which classification applies belongs to your attorney or CPA familiar with the federal and state tests.

Class 8 tractors and trailers are major capital assets ($150K–$250K+ for a new sleeper tractor) with several available tax-treatment options. Section 179 expensing allows immediate deduction up to an annual limit (current limit changes annually; verify with your CPA). Bonus depreciation allows additional first-year deduction at a percentage that has been phasing down — recent years have been 80%, then 60%, with continued phase-down scheduled. Used equipment qualifies for bonus depreciation under TCJA changes. The actual depreciation strategy combines these methods plus regular MACRS depreciation, optimized for the specific tax situation. The operating-lease vs finance-lease question under ASC 842 (effective for private companies in 2022) requires analysis of each tractor or trailer lease to determine balance-sheet treatment — most truck leases are finance leases under ASC 842’s criteria. We maintain the equipment register, calculate depreciation under whatever method your CPA elects, and produce the fixed-asset schedules tax filing needs. Depreciation strategy decisions stay with your CPA.

Yes. Freight factoring — selling receivables to a factoring company (Apex Capital, RTS Financial, eCapital, OTR Solutions, Triumph Business Capital) for immediate cash — is extremely common in trucking because shipper payment terms (typically 30–60 days) are too slow for fuel and operating cash flow. The mechanics: carrier delivers freight and submits invoice to factoring company, factoring company advances 90–97% of invoice value within 24 hours (typically), shipper pays factoring company directly on terms, factoring company releases remaining reserve to carrier net of factoring fee (typically 1–5% of invoice value). Accounting requires recording: full invoice value as receivable, advance as cash, reserve as a receivable from factoring company, factoring fee as expense, and matching the eventual reserve release to the original invoice. Generic bookkeeping typically gets this wrong by recording only the cash advance as revenue, understating both revenue and expenses. We configure the factoring workflow correctly, reconcile factoring statements monthly, and surface the true cost of factoring as a percentage of revenue.

Cost-per-mile (CPM) and revenue-per-mile (RPM) are the fundamental trucking economic metrics — the difference between a profitable operation and one that’s slowly going broke. Revenue per mile is total freight revenue divided by total miles driven (loaded and empty). Cost per mile breaks into fixed costs (truck payment, insurance, permits, IFTA, administrative) and variable costs (fuel, maintenance, tires, driver pay, per-diem). A common range for over-the-road operation: revenue per mile $2.00–$3.00+, fuel cost per mile $0.45–$0.65 (varies hugely with diesel prices), maintenance $0.15–$0.25, total cost per mile $1.50–$2.50 depending on operation type. The margin between RPM and CPM is where the operation lives or dies. Most owner-operators and small fleets don’t track these monthly — we configure the bookkeeping to surface RPM and CPM as the headline numbers, broken down by load type, lane, or even individual truck for fleets.