Trucking accountant in Regina

We work with owner-operators leased on to a carrier, small fleets running their own authority, and grain and oilfield haulers whose work follows the harvest and the drilling programs, across Regina, Moose Jaw, White City and Emerald Park.

Tractors and trailers are the balance sheet

A tractor is usually the largest asset an owner-operator will ever buy, and a fleet’s balance sheet is mostly iron. Tractors and trailers are recovered through capital cost allowance, and heavy tractors used to haul freight sit in a class of their own with a faster rate than ordinary vehicles. Trailers are classed separately again. Getting the class right on the day of purchase decides the deduction for the life of the unit.

Selling or trading a unit is where the surprises come. The trade-in value reduces the class, and if it leaves the class negative, the excess is recapture, added to income in that year. A fleet replacing several units at once needs the trades and purchases planned together. The first-year rules matter too: a tractor bought in the last week of the year has to be available for use before it can be claimed.

IFTA, IRP and the records behind them

A Saskatchewan-based carrier running into other provinces and states generally reports under the International Fuel Tax Agreement and registers its vehicles under the International Registration Plan. IFTA reconciles the fuel tax paid at the pump in each jurisdiction against the distance actually driven there, on quarterly returns. IRP apportions registration fees according to distance travelled in each jurisdiction.

Both depend on the same evidence: trip records by jurisdiction, odometer or ELD distance, and a fuel receipt for every fill. We reconcile the IFTA return to the fuel expense in the books each quarter, so the fuel in the general ledger, the fuel on the return and the kilometres behind both tell the same story if an auditor asks.

Grain haulers add a seasonal layer. Work peaks after harvest and again when elevators call grain in, and a quiet stretch can follow. That pattern affects cash for payments on the units as much as it affects tax.

Meals on the road

Long-haul truck drivers can deduct a larger share of meal costs than the general rule allows, where the trip meets the long-haul conditions: a truck of the qualifying weight, carrying goods, and away from the municipality for a minimum period. The rule applies to self-employed drivers and to employers who pay or reimburse the meals of their long-haul drivers.

Claims can be supported with receipts or with the CRA’s simplified per-meal method, which needs a record of the trips rather than the receipts. Either way, the logbook is the evidence. Employed drivers have their own route through a signed employer form. Trucking per-diem and meal claims sets out the rules.

Owner-operator or company

Most owner-operators start as sole proprietors and report on form T2125. Incorporating can make sense once income rises beyond what the owner needs to live on, because profit left in the corporation is taxed at the small business rate. It also changes how the truck is owned, how the owner is paid and what the year-end costs.

The lease-on arrangement matters as much as the structure. An owner-operator leased to one carrier, driving its loads on its schedule, needs a contract that reads like a business relationship. GST registration becomes compulsory once taxable revenue passes $30,000 in four consecutive calendar quarters, and most owner-operators pass it in their first months. Incorporation decision works through the decision.

Fleets face the same question from the other side. A carrier that pays its drivers as incorporated contractors, when those drivers work only for it, on its dispatch and in its trucks, is carrying a worker-classification risk that the CRA looks at closely in trucking. Reclassification brings CPP, EI and interest. We review how each driver is engaged and document the arrangement so it holds up. Worker classification sets out the tests.

Two sales taxes on the fleet

Saskatchewan charges PST alongside the GST, and a Regina carrier meets it on parts, tires, repairs and equipment. GST paid is recoverable through input tax credits; PST paid is a cost. A unit or trailer bought in Alberta without PST generally has to be self-assessed when it comes into use in Saskatchewan, and the province has particular rules for vehicles that operate across several jurisdictions. We set the treatment up once for the fleet rather than guessing invoice by invoice. Saskatchewan tax facts has the rates.

What EverStone handles for you

One CPA, one fixed fee agreed up front:

• T2 corporate return, or the owner-operator’s T1 with T2125
• Tractor and trailer CCA, with trades and disposals planned ahead
• IFTA returns reconciled to the fuel in the books
• Long-haul meal claims and the records behind them
• Driver payroll and WCB Saskatchewan
• GST and Saskatchewan PST registrations and returns

Remote accounting for trucking from Abbotsford

EverStone is a sole practitioner CPA firm at 32615 South Fraser Way in Abbotsford, serving Regina entirely online. There is no Regina office and no local staff. Meetings are held by video or phone, documents are exchanged through a secure upload link and e-signature, and no visit is required at any point. Fuel, trip and equipment records are handled from documents you already keep electronically.