Category: small fleet owner

New EIN for Your New LLC

Posted on February 16, 2016 by - EIN change, Employer Identification Number, Form 2290, hvut credit, IRS, limited liability company, LLC, Owner Operators, small fleet owner

A few weeks ago the East Coast was blanketed in a thick layer of snow. In the middle of this snowmageddon, the IRS got behind on their e-filing. When you combine bad weather, hardware failure, and the subsequent maintenance, it’s no wonder the IRS clogged up on issuing Employer Identification Numbers!

Now we know this is just frustrating, but who ever thought the government could be behind on something? Not me, no way. Hmm, never heard of that! We know this is an inconvenience – I mean, maybe you had trouble getting your EIN and then had trouble e-filing your 2290s. Or maybe you went out of your way to turn your trucking business into a LLC, only to find out about the EIN delay.

New Business, New EIN

While nobody wants to face a lawsuit, the best thing you can do for your growing transportation business is prepare a plan for facing legal issues. Well, one potential path for owner-operators to take is becoming a Limited Liability Company (LLC). By becoming a LLC, your trucking business has the option to become a separate entity with its own Tax Identification Number and bank account, and it can’t be named in a personal lawsuit against you.

After you transition to a LLC, you may end up with a new EIN! After obtaining a new EIN, you’ll have to file a new 2290 with your new number, and use your old number to claim a HVUT credit.

Why Should You Become an LLC?

Do you have one truck? Two trucks? A red truck and a blue truck? Ah, you get what I mean. You can file to become an LLC regardless of how many trucks you have. Should you separate your business from your self, though? That’s honestly up to you, and you need to weigh the pros and cons. First up, you’ll protect your personal assets in case of a lawsuit. What’s the trade-off? How you file your taxes will change, and how you account for finances will have to change, too! Keep that in mind as you head down this road.

How Do You Know If You Need a New EIN?

Well, not every new LLC needs a new EIN. But a lot do! If you’re wondering how you know you’ll need a new number, the IRS says you will need a new EIN if any of the following statements are true:

  • You are a new LLC with more than one owner (Multi-member LLC) formed under state law.
  • You are a new LLC with one owner (Single Member LLC) formed under state law and choose to be taxed as a corporation or an S corporation.
  • You are a new LLC with one owner (Single Member LLC) formed under state law, and have an excise tax filing requirement for tax periods beginning on or after January 1, 2008, or an employment tax filing requirement for wages paid on or after January 1, 2009.

Like we said before, we can’t tell you to become an LLC. But many owner-operators take this path for the added business protections and benefits. After all, you want to protect your livelihood! Have you turned your trucking business into an LLC? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter!

After you’ve received the EIN for your new LLC, be sure to file your 2290s with ExpressTruckTax! If you have any questions, give us a call at 704.234.6005, reach us on live chat, or shoot us an email!

Managing Freight Logistics In A Small Trucking Company

Posted on November 20, 2010 by - ”small trucking company”, Express2290, freight logistics, independent trucker, managing freight logistics, outsourcing freight logistics, safety and compliance, small fleet owner

Featured Blogger
Benjamin Bellville
Today I am going to show you some simple ways for managing freight logistics for your small trucking company that will make your day to day operations easier. Meshing all of the different tasks together when you’ve never done so before can get a little tricky for the newcomer yet an ability to do so is important to your success as a small trucking company owner. Let’s look at the ways managing freight logistics can be made easier for the independent trucker or small fleet owner.

Outsourcing Freight Logistics
One of the biggest recurring themes for successful businesses is surrounding yourself with people providing services for you that lessen your work load and allow you to concentrate on the tasks that directly affect your revenue stream. These days there isn’t much that can’t be outsourced in any business, but to do so with all jobs would not be financially feasible with a small trucking operation. So which parts of managing freight logistics should be outsourced for a small trucking company and why?

Safety and compliance for your small trucking company can be outsourced to a service that will keep all of your safety records electronically which can be accessed on their website by you or an officer doing an audit of your files. The best advantage to this is it just looks more professional and you can guarantee that the files are being kept in a legal manner. It may seem a little expensive for just one to a few trucks, but when you consider that almost every little error could cost you a possible $10,000 fine then it doesn’t seem so steep. Think of it as D.O.T insurance and money well spent. One of the top companies that offer this service is Foley Services.

For mechanical upkeep it is something that in most small trucking companies will absolutely be outsourced. The best approach to doing this though is to build a relationship with a shop that is local to your company and get every bit of work needed done there. While many repair shops are out to gouge for every dime they can, you are more likely to get better deals by giving them steady business. Not to mention when one shop does the majority of your repairs they will have all of the records on hand to better evaluate current problems rather than just shooting in the dark and costing you more money. I had a great relationship with a shop local to me where they would often throw me small repairs for free since I always used them for my big repairs.

The last thing that should be outsourced is accounting. You need to make sure that in some way you and your drivers are keeping the best records possible so that when it is time to file your taxes it will cost less by taking less man hours for the accountant to calculate the data. In the future you can be sure to look for a new free program called “TruckLogix” that will help with not only financial record keeping but also mileage and fuel data. By using a program such as this all you need to do is input all of the data and hand over a copy to your accountant for filing.

By outsourcing these tasks you are going to be left with more time to concentrate on the bread and butter of trucking, freight! Finding loads, dispatching them and transporting them as well as working on customer relations. In my next post join me as I will be talking about the importance of including the driver in the freight logistics process to give your company a better chance of succeeding.

It’s never too soon to get set up for quick filing of your heavy tax needs here at Express2290, don’t procrastinate in order to have your filing needs ready for the click of a mouse with the best pricing in the trucking industry.