Since most taxi drivers, but certainly not all, have little knowledge of accounting or bookkeeping, the lower the level of experience required, the more suitable such an accounting package will be. The data entry basically consists of only 3 records, being an Excel spreadsheet for taxi receipts; another for taxi expenses plus an additional worksheet in which assets such as a vehicle can be recorded.

Taxi receipts are entered into a series of Excel spreadsheets within the preset taxi receipts workbook with each day of the fiscal year. Weekly and monthly totals are aggregated and transferred through the taxi accounting sheets linkage system to the taxi financial accounts sheet.

Taxi expenses are listed in a series of twelve monthly spreadsheets that have preset columns with appropriate headings for taxi drivers to record office and rental costs, fuel bills, other vehicle costs, and license fees. The total of each expense is entered in each row and a single letter is used to then analyze the taxi expense in the required column. As with the taxi receipts sheet, the columns are added automatically, which includes a check of the accuracy of the data entry before being transferred to the taxi driver’s account sheet.

Bank and cash spreadsheets are not provided because they are not required by taxi drivers as taxi drivers do not need to produce a balance sheet.

Apart from entering the purchases on the taxi expense sheet, the only other inputs required from the taxi driver to produce a set of taxi accounts is also entering the vehicle and any other purchased assets on the fixed asset spreadsheet. The fixed asset spreadsheet has already been pre-set with both depreciation rates and capital allowances that taxi drivers can claim. Taxi account software is complete.

The financial accounts file contains formulas to produce a monthly profit and loss statement that includes the capital allowances for taxis from the fixed asset schedule.

A unique feature is that both miles driven and vehicle running costs can be entered. Tax rules in the UK state that drivers cannot claim both mileage allowances and the costs of running the vehicle. It has to be one or the other and only at the end of the year when it is clear which is the most fiscally efficient.

This taxi billing package compares both the cost of mileage and the cost of running the vehicle and automatically selects the most expensive one. This ensures that the highest costs are selected in the calculation of net taxable earnings and that the highest cost is equal to the lowest tax bill.

Also in the taxi account file there is an Excel spreadsheet designed with the same design, color codes and box numbers as the self-assessment tax return from the Treasury. cabsmart taxi account software automatically completes the taxi self-assessment tax return. No inputs are required, leaving the driver to just click print to produce the self-assessment tax return.

Finally, after having calculated the net taxable profit for the year, the accounting package also has a tax calculator that calculates the amount of income tax and national insurance to be paid.

The taxi driver accounts package has been tested many times and a full year’s annual receipts and expenses take approximately 2-3 hours to enter and have been completed in less than 2 hours. The end product is a complete set of taxi driver accounts, including the self-assessment tax return.

Both couriers and van drivers have similar businesses to taxi drivers, moving items from one place to another in a similar way as taxi drivers move people from one place to another. And because of the similarity in business, this taxi accounting package would be equally suitable for couriers and van drivers.