Bookkeeping for haulage and transport companies.

Why haulage bookkeeping needs extra care

A transport business spends heavily and often. Fuel is bought daily, sometimes on several cards across several drivers. Vehicles are usually on finance, so each truck brings a monthly payment with capital, interest and sometimes VAT mixed together. Trips abroad add ferry, tunnel and toll charges, often in other currencies.

If the bookkeeping only follows the bank, much of this is lost. A single fuel card debit can cover hundreds of fills. A finance payment posted as one expense hides the debt that is left. Our job is to break each of these down from the source paperwork, so the bank reconciles and the figures behind it are right.

Fuel cards

Many hauliers buy diesel on fuel cards. The card company sends a statement or invoice, then collects one payment for the whole period. We record that statement in your software, not just the bank debit, and match the payment against it.

Fuel card paperwork also matters for VAT. GOV.UK says that when employees buy road fuel for the business, you need to keep the invoices, unless they use a fuel card, credit card or debit card that you provide as the employer. We keep each statement attached to its entry so the VAT claimed on fuel has evidence behind it.

• Several cards. Each card or driver can be tracked separately if you want to see fuel by vehicle.
• AdBlue and extras. Items bought on the card that are not fuel, such as AdBlue, oil or washes, are posted to the right account.
• Rebates and credits. Any credits on the statement are recorded so the balance owed to the card company agrees.

If you also run cars or vans with private use, the VAT treatment of fuel changes. GOV.UK sets out two options for vehicles used both for business and privately: reclaim all the fuel VAT and pay the fuel scale charge, or reclaim only the VAT on business fuel and keep detailed mileage records. Your accountant chooses the method, and we keep the records that method needs.

Vehicle finance, hire purchase and leasing

Tractor units, rigids, trailers and vans are rarely bought outright. Each type of agreement needs different treatment in the books.

• Hire purchase. The vehicle is recorded as an asset of the business and the agreement as a liability. Each monthly payment is split between the capital repaid and the interest, using the finance company's schedule.
• Leasing and contract hire. Rentals are usually recorded as a running cost rather than as an asset. We post them from the lessor's invoices.
• Deposits, balloons and settlements. Deposits, final payments and early settlements are matched to the right agreement, so the balance owed agrees with the finance statement.

We set up one record for each agreement, so you can see what is still owed on every vehicle at any time. Your accountant then has what they need for capital allowances and depreciation at year end.

When a vehicle is sold, the sale is recorded against the original asset. VAT Notice 700/64 says that if you reclaimed VAT when you bought a car, you must account for output tax on the full selling price when you sell it. We flag every vehicle sale, car, van or truck, so your accountant can check the VAT treatment.

Tolls, ferries, tunnels and trip costs

Every journey can leave a trail of small charges. Road tolls, crossing charges, ferry and tunnel bookings, parking, and overnight costs for drivers all arrive separately and in different formats.

VAT on these costs is not the same across the board. Some show VAT and some do not, so we post each charge from its own receipt or invoice rather than assuming a rate. Charges in euros or other currencies are recorded at the rate your software applies, and any bank fees on foreign payments are shown separately.

Where you invoice customers for trip costs, such as a ferry crossing on a particular load, we can post the cost to that job so you can check it was recharged.

Subcontract drivers and owner-drivers

Many hauliers use self-employed drivers, owner-drivers with their own trucks, or agency drivers alongside their own staff. Each is recorded differently.

• Self-employed drivers. We record each invoice in full and match it to the payment, so you can see what you have spent with each driver.
• Owner-drivers and subcontract hauliers. Their invoices are posted as subcontract haulage, kept separate from your own fuel and vehicle costs.
• Agency drivers. Agency invoices are matched to the timesheets or weeks they cover.

Whether a driver is truly self-employed depends on how they work for you, not on what the invoice says. HMRC offers a Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool, which gives its view of a worker's status based on the information you provide. That decision sits with you and your accountant. We record the arrangement you have agreed, and flag anything that looks inconsistent, such as one driver paid both through payroll and on invoice.

Does CIS apply to haulage?

Usually not. GOV.UK's guide to the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS 340) lists delivery of materials and transport of spoil from site as operations excluded from the scheme. Delivery, repair or maintenance of construction plant or hire equipment without an operator is also excluded.

So a haulier delivering aggregates to a building site, or taking spoil away from one, is not normally doing construction work for CIS. No CIS deduction should be taken from those invoices. Transport of materials from site to site on the public highway is excluded too.

Some transport work is inside the scheme. CIS 340 lists transport of materials on site, and plant hire with an operator for use on site, as construction operations. If you supply a vehicle with a driver to work on a site, check the position with your accountant.

There is an important exception. CIS 340 says that if a contract includes some construction work and some work that is not, all payments under that contract come within the scheme, even if they are shown on separate invoices. If you also do groundworks, site clearance or other building work for the same customer, check the contract with your accountant. If deductions are being taken from your payments, we record the full invoice and the deduction separately, as described on our page on bookkeeping for construction and CIS.

Operator licences and financial standing

GOV.UK says a goods vehicle operator licence is usually needed for goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes gross plated weight used for hire or reward or in connection with a business. Standard licence holders must show financial standing. This is not a fee. It is money that must be available for the whole life of the licence.

GOV.UK gives the amounts for a standard national licence as £8,000 for the first vehicle and £4,500 for each additional vehicle. It says this can be shown in different ways, such as a bank or building society balance or an overdraft facility. Up-to-date, reconciled books make it far simpler to produce that evidence when it is asked for.

VAT for transport businesses

A business must register for VAT once its taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000, or is expected to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days. Once registered, fuel, repairs and running costs are a large share of what you reclaim, so each one needs the right invoice behind it. GOV.UK says you can usually reclaim VAT on business-related running and maintenance costs, such as repairs.

International work brings its own VAT questions. Your accountant decides how your sales are treated, and we post each invoice consistently once that is agreed. See our VAT bookkeeping service and our guide to reclaiming VAT.

What is included, and what is quoted separately

Every package covers the same daily work: bookkeeping every UK working day in your existing software, bank reconciliation and receipt matching, finance inbox monitoring, missing invoices and receipts followed up, and a monthly financial summary in plain English.

We work in Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent, Dext, VT Transaction+ and others. You keep your software and your subscription.

Some work sits outside the monthly packages. Catch-up work, tax returns, payroll, CIS returns, VAT return submission and statutory filings are quoted separately. If your books are behind, start with catch-up bookkeeping so every finance agreement and fuel card statement is in place.