Trucking accountant in Saskatoon

Tractors and trailers are the balance sheet

For most carriers the fleet is the largest asset and the depreciation on it the largest deduction. Highway tractors and trailers fall into different CCA classes at different rates, so they are tracked separately from the day each unit is bought. A unit has to be available for use before it can be claimed, and the first-year claim is generally limited unless an accelerated incentive applies.

Trade-ins are where the numbers move. The value given for an old tractor reduces the class, and a generous trade can produce recapture that lands as income in a year the owner thought was covered by the new purchase. CCA classes sets out the categories.

The opposite happens when the last unit in a class is sold for less than its remaining balance: the shortfall becomes a terminal loss, deductible in that year. Financing does not change the claim. A tractor on a loan is depreciated like one paid in cash, with the interest deducted separately, while a true operating lease is simply an expense. The half-year rule explains the first-year limit.

IFTA and IRP: records by jurisdiction

Carriers running qualified vehicles outside Saskatchewan report fuel tax under the International Fuel Tax Agreement, on quarterly returns that reconcile fuel bought and distance travelled in each province and state. Apportioned registration under the International Registration Plan divides licensing fees by distance in each jurisdiction. Both depend on trip records that match the fuel receipts and the logs.

Those records are audited, and the audit asks for source documents, not summaries. A carrier whose ELD data, fuel cards and trip sheets agree has a short conversation. One reconstructing kilometres from memory does not. The same records support the corporate return, so they are kept once and used twice.

Fuel bought for reefer units and other equipment that does not propel the truck is treated differently again, and a fuel card that mixes the two needs splitting before the quarterly return is prepared.

Meals on the road

Business meals are normally only partly deductible. Long-haul truck drivers, those driving a heavy truck and away from home for at least a day’s trip beyond the local area, can deduct a larger share of meal costs than the usual limit. They can also use a simplified per-meal method in place of receipts. The rules apply to employed drivers claiming on their own return and to self-employed owner-operators.

The claim needs a record of the trips: dates, departure and return times, and destinations. A logbook export is usually enough. Trucking meal claims explains both methods.

Owner-operators leased to a carrier

Many Saskatoon drivers own their own tractor and run under a larger carrier’s authority. The settlement statement is the core record: gross revenue, fuel advances, chargebacks for insurance, plates and escrow, and the GST charged on the whole. Reconciled monthly, it tells the owner-operator what the truck is actually earning. Left in a folder, it becomes a year-end reconstruction.

The question of incorporating usually comes up once the truck is paid down and income is steady. A corporation can leave profit in the company at the small business rate, but it adds a T2, payroll or dividends, and more records. The answer depends on how much the owner needs to live on.

An owner-operator with a spouse doing the dispatch and the books can pay that spouse a reasonable wage for real work, from the truck’s income or the corporation’s. The sole proprietor or corporation page lays out the comparison, and nothing changes until the numbers say it should.

Two sales taxes on a fleet

GST paid on trucks, parts, fuel and repairs comes back as input tax credits. PST does not. Saskatchewan PST applies to many repairs and to vehicles and parts bought or brought into the province for use here, and a used tractor bought in Alberta without PST on the invoice usually has to be self-assessed. Saskatchewan also has specific PST arrangements for carriers operating across provincial borders, which are worth confirming for your fleet rather than assuming. Rates are on the Saskatchewan tax facts page.

Drivers: employees or contractors

A carrier with drivers on payroll withholds income tax, CPP and EI, remits on its CRA schedule and reports to WCB Saskatchewan. A carrier paying drivers as contractors does none of that, which is why the classification is examined closely. A driver in your truck, on your dispatch, with your fuel card, looks like an employee whatever the agreement says. If the CRA agrees with that reading, the carrier owes the CPP and EI that should have been withheld, with interest, for every driver treated the same way.

Mixed fleets, some company drivers and some leased owner-operators, are common and entirely workable, as long as the two groups are genuinely different in how they work. Payroll services in Saskatoon covers the employee side.

What EverStone handles for you

One CPA, one fixed fee agreed up front:

• T2 corporate return or owner-operator T1 with business schedules
• Tractor and trailer CCA, trades and disposals
• IFTA and IRP records reconciled to the books
• Long-haul meal claims documented
• GST and Saskatchewan PST on equipment and repairs
• Driver payroll and WCB Saskatchewan reporting

A self-employed return with schedules commonly runs $250 to $450; monthly bookkeeping starts from $300 a month. See what it costs.

Carriers hauling for the mines should also read mining services accounting in Saskatoon, and farm families with a truck for hire farm accounting in Saskatoon.

Remote accounting for trucking from Abbotsford

EverStone is a one-CPA firm at 32615 South Fraser Way in Abbotsford, working with Saskatoon carriers entirely online. There is no Saskatoon office and no local staff. Settlement statements, fuel card reports and logbook exports arrive through a secure upload link, and meetings are by video or phone, which works around a dispatch schedule better than an appointment.