Do You Need to File Form 941 Online for Your Trucking Business?

If you own a small trucking business, it can be tough to know which taxes you’re required to file.

IRS tax Form 941 is a quarterly tax, and the 3rd quarter 941 deadline is November 2, 2020.

Check out this article for information on the 941 federal tax form to determine whether or not you need to file before the November 2nd 941 deadline.

IRS Tax Form 941

What is the Form 941 Tax Return?

IRS Tax Form 941 is the employer’s quarterly tax return.

It is used to report employment taxes. All employers are responsible for withholding federal income tax, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax from each employee’s salary.

The IRS Tax Form 941 is also used to calculate the employer’s portion of Social Security and Medicare tax. 

Do You Need to File 941 Form 2020 for Your Trucking Business?

The first question to ask yourself is, “Do I have employees?”

If you own and operate a business with employees, you’ll need to file Form 941 online.

Note: Independent contractors are not considered employees.

If you have independent contractors, you are not responsible for withholding taxes, you are simply responsible for paying the gross wage agreed upon in the contract.

Therefore, if you only have independent contractors working for you, you do not need to file 941 Form 2020.

The second question is, “Is my trucking business an S-corporation?”

S-corporations, or S-corps, are taxed on a pass-through basis, like sole proprietorships or partnerships.

Due to this, the S-corp does not pay tax on its profits. Instead, those profits pass on to shareholders who are taxed on it as part of their personal income.

Even though an S-corp may have no employees in the traditional sense (people working for the business without ownership stake), for tax purposes, any shareholder who performs duties on behalf of the business may be treated as a shareholder-employee.

Therefore, the money each shareholder receives in dividends may be treated as income, meaning you’ll need to file Form 941 online.

How to File Form 941 Online

If, after these two questions, you’ve determined that you need to file Form 941 for 2020, check out TaxBandits.

In just a few minutes, you could be done filing your Form 941 tax return. Don’t wait until the 941 deadline - knock it out now!

Here’s how it works:

1.  Create a free TaxBandits account
2.  Choose Form 941 for 2020
3.  Enter your employer details
4.  Follow the interview-style process
5.  Pay & transmit your Form 941 tax return

Still unsure if you need to file a 941 federal tax form?

Give the TaxBandits support team a call at 704-684-4751 and speak with a live, US-based agent who can help you determine whether you need to file a Form 941 for 2020. 

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How To Set Up Your Trucking Business For Success

Starting a trucking company is a great step into the ever-growing trucking industry.

Truck drivers account for about 6% of full-time jobs in the US, which will only grow as consumer demand for products does.

Owning a truck might be nice, but owning a successful trucking business is where you really want to focus.

Here are 3 tips for success as an owner-operator, leased operator, or fleet manager in the trucking industry.

Tips for Owning a Trucking Business

Understanding the Industry

Keep up with the latest news regarding the trucking industry. Stay on top of trends.

Plus, it’s important to have an understanding of what your future customers want and know how to take care of them better than your competitors.

Consider how you find customers who will give you repeat business, and determine what you need to do to keep them.

Understanding Business

Business is all about maximizing profit and minimizing expenses.

The trucking business is the same.

For starters, be sure you’re finding the best-paying loads. You can do this by knowing the current lane rates, researching which freight markets are hot, and always looking ahead to your next load.

Focus on cutting costs where you can, but more importantly, know where to step ahead and grab profit.

Stop throwing money away on unnecessary things. For instance, did you file your Form 2290 yet this year? If not, you’ve missed the 2290 due date and will face severe IRS penalties that only get worse with time. 

File now over the phone with TSNAmerica at 803.386.0320 to keep your money in your pocket.

Managing Time and Paperwork

Most importantly, your trucking business’s success depends on your ability to juggle all things at once.

Luckily, we know of the perfect tool to help you.

TruckLogics is a trucking company software program designed to take the paperwork out of trucking business for owner-operators, leased operators, and fleet managers.

With tons of unique features, you won’t believe how easy it makes your day-to-day tasks.

Owner-operators can use TruckLogics to manage their entire business. 

From managing dispatches and tracking income & expenses, to scheduling maintenance and sending invoices, it’s the one-stop-shop for your trucking business to make it happen.

Plus, leased operators can use TruckLogics to streamline record-keeping. Track income, run profit & loss reports and keep compliance records for your maintenance and trip details.

TruckLogics even has tools for fleet managers, including access to TruckZone, which keeps fleet details organized and accessible. You can even set automatic reminders for vehicle maintenance.

It truly is an all-inclusive trucking company software program.

Owning a trucking business can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be! Sign up for a free 15-day trial and give TruckLogics a test drive today.

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What to Do in the Event of an IFTA Audit

Even though the 3rd quarter IFTA deadline is still over a month away, don’t think you can put IFTA out of your mind entirely. Even though you filed your 2nd quarter return, paid the necessary fees, and even registered for your new license and stickers, unfortunately, there’s still the chance of an audit!

Now we know you’re a responsible trucker; you tracked your mileage properly and kept all of your fuel receipts nice, neat, and organized. But what you may not know, is that even if you do everything right, there’s still a chance you're going to get audited. Each base jurisdiction is required to audit three percent of its filers, just to make sure that truckers across our nation are keeping their logs and receipts properly.

So what can you do if you’re one of the unfortunate truckers that gets audited?

Get Your IFTA Information Ready

The first step (and only step, really) in a routine audit is for the auditor to go through and verify all of the information on your return. So you’ll need to have the following information ready to go:

Basic Information About Your Vehicle: 

• Driver’s Name and Signature
• VIN (vehicle identification number) 
• Trailer Number
• Registrant’s Name 
• Make, Model, and Gross Weight of the Vehicle 

Trip Log Information:

• Beginning and End Dates of the Trip 
• The Route(s) of travel 
• The Origin Point and Destination Point of each Trip 
• Odometer Readings Before and After Each Trip 
• Total Trip Miles
• Miles Traveled in Each IFTA Jurisdiction 

Fuel Record Information: 

• Receipts for Each Purchase (Please note that copied or scanned receipts are not acceptable.)
• Date of Each Purchase (If it’s not listed on the receipt) 
• Seller’s Name and Address 
• Price Per Gallon/Liter 
• Fuel Type

So just make sure you have all of the following pieces of information together, and you'll have nothing to worry about in the event of an audit.

And if you think maybe you got audited because you threw your return together yourself at the last minute, then next time, try using ExpressIFTA to generate your report. All you have to do is enter your fuel and mileage information and they'll calculate everything for you!

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