Freight, trucking & delivery
Books and taxes for owner-operator truckers.
Load payouts through the broker, the factoring cut, fuel card charges, and the IFTA balance you owe next quarter. Your own bookkeeper sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
October came in at $7,400. Two loads paid through TBS Factoring, so I booked the full invoice as income and kept their cut as its own fee, not a smaller sale.
- TBS Factoring depositFactored loads
- Direct broker paymentLoad pay
- Pilot Flying J fuelFuel
- TA truck serviceMaintenance
- DAT load boardLoad board fees
Why your books are different
One truck's books go wrong in the same handful of spots.
A generalist sees deposits and a truck payment. Your business is one rig, one factoring company, and a fuel bill that moves every week. When the books do not separate those, you cannot tell what a load actually paid after everything it cost to run it.
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1
The factoring deposit looks like the whole sale
A load billed at $2,400 shows up as a $2,280 deposit once the factoring company takes its cut. Booked as the sale price, your revenue and your costs both come out wrong for the year.
What we doBooks the full $2,400 as income and the factoring fee as its own cost, so your real rate per load stays visible. -
2
IFTA gets lost inside the fuel line
The tax you owe or get back for running through several states is not the same thing as what you paid at the pump. Mixed together, a heavy fuel tax quarter looks like an expensive fuel month instead of what it is.
What we doKeeps the IFTA payment or refund in its own line, separate from every fuel stop, so fuel cost per mile stays honest. -
3
A factoring reserve holdback vanishes from view
Some factoring agreements hold back a slice of every invoice until the load is confirmed delivered. Left untracked on a bank statement, that money looks gone instead of owed back to you.
What we doTracks the reserve as money still coming, so it shows up when it is finally released instead of disappearing from the numbers. -
4
A new truck buried in one bank line
A used sleeper tractor bought outright shows as one huge withdrawal that can make a strong year look like a loss if it is filed as a plain expense.
What we doFlags the truck purchase the day it posts, logs it as equipment, and gets the accountant's call on how it gets written off. -
5
Per diem meals never make it onto the return
Nights spent away from home in the sleeper add up to a real deduction, but without a running count of days on the road, most owners guess low or skip it.
What we doKeeps a running count of nights away from home from the load and fuel data, so the accountant has a real number, not a guess.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for one truck.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Load payDirect broker and shipper payments, tied to the rate confirmation.
- Factored loadsThe full invoiced amount, with the factoring cut booked as a fee.
- Detention and lumper payReimbursements for wait time and unloading, kept apart from load rate.
- Fuel surchargeThe per-mile surcharge billed on top of the base rate.
Money out
- FuelPump purchases on your fuel card, kept separate from IFTA.
- IFTAThe fuel tax owed or refunded across the states you ran in.
- Truck payment and repairsLoan or lease payment, tires, brakes, and shop work.
- Factoring feesWhat the factoring company keeps to pay you before the broker pays them.
- Load board and dispatchDAT, Truckstop.com, or a dispatch service's cut.
- InsuranceCargo, liability, and physical damage coverage on the truck.
- Tolls and scale feesRoad tolls and weigh station charges.
What we watch for you
- Cost per mile
Fuel, repairs, and fees against miles run. It tells you if a lane is worth taking again.
- Factoring cost
What factoring keeps off every load. Worth knowing before you factor out of habit.
- Deadhead share
Empty miles against loaded miles. A rising share quietly eats into what the truck earns.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so filing season is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things owner-operator truckers ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
No. That $120 is their factoring fee. I booked the full $2,400 as your income and the fee as a cost, so your real numbers show what the load paid.
Usually a big chunk of it can. I logged it as equipment and flagged it, and the accountant makes the call with your whole year in view.
That is above my pay grade to certify, but I keep a running count from your loads, and the accountant uses it for the per diem deduction.
The tax side
The tax side of running one truck.
Most of what trips up an owner-operator is timing and labels. The factoring fee, the truck write-off, and the set-aside that should have started in January instead of April.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Writing off the truckA tractor bought for the business can often be written off in full the year you buy it, since the lower $32,000 cap on heavy SUVs does not apply to a truck used to haul freight. Bonus depreciation is 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Self-employment taxRunning as your own business means 15.3 percent self-employment tax on net profit, up to the Social Security wage base of $184,500. Gus tracks a set-aside for it every month.
- Per diem for nights awayNights spent away from home in the sleeper usually count toward a per diem meal deduction at standard transportation industry rates, on top of tracking your actual costs.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when the books track the real numbers all year.
Deductions owner-operator truckers miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Fuel card purchases
- Factoring fees
- Load board subscriptions
- Truck loan interest
- Tires and brake work
- Per diem meals on the road
- Truck washes
- Scale and weigh fees
- CDL renewal and physicals
- ELD subscription
- Cargo and liability insurance
- Sleeper cab supplies
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A trucking year, kept every month.
Freight moves every week of the year, and so does the tax bill. Your team stays on both, not just at filing time. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, and you get a monthly set-aside built from your real loads and costs, so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been building since January.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether spring fuel prices and freight rates changed the number.
- October
Before the freight surge
Retail freight picks up before the holidays. Gus looks at whether a truck purchase makes sense before December and what still needs doing.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for owner-operator truckers. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions owner-operator truckers ask first.
I run through six states some weeks. Can Gus handle that?
Yes. He keeps mileage and revenue detail clean from your loads, so the IFTA filing and any state apportionment questions have real numbers behind them, not guesses.
Does factoring every load complicate my books?
No. Gus books the full invoice as income and the factoring cut as its own fee, whether you factor one load a month or every load you haul.
My truck payment, insurance, and fuel card are all on one account. Is that a problem?
No. Send the bank and card statements you have. Gus sorts each charge into its real category, no separate account needed.
Do I owe my own taxes as I go, or just at filing time?
As you go. Owner-operators typically pay quarterly estimated taxes, due April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15. Gus tracks a monthly set-aside so those payments are not a surprise.
What if I lease on to a carrier instead of running under my own authority?
The books still work the same way. Gus sorts your settlement statement into load pay, deductions, and fees so you can see what you actually kept.
I am behind on my books by about eight months. Can this still work?
Yes. Send the statements you have. Gus sorts them, the accountant checks them, and most owners know exactly where they stand within a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever