So you are a taxi driver, and just like any other working person you know you have to pay taxes. Unfortunately in your line of work your tax return may not be so simple as a regular office or laborer tax return would be perhaps.
Not every taxi driving position is the same so you can’t just assume that you should prepare and file your taxes like your buddy does who also drives taxi for a living. He could be an employee and you could be classed as self-employed. These require two different tax approaches. For this reason many drivers like those in Toronto now use Toronto accountants to assist them with both their personal tax returns and their HST responsibilities.
For those that have been driving cab for several years they have a fair idea as to how to file their general tax returns. They know what category they are in, but many of them have difficulty with the HST filings and this is where they run into problems. Now for those in their first year of driving, lots of these new drivers figure they will just wait till tax return time then seek out the professional help of an accountant. Both of these situations demand the attention of an accountant now.
For the HST matters it may mean that you need to file the return for this tax more frequently. When you apply through registration for the HST tax filing the CRA will determine how often you will need to do the return for this particular tax. It could be just once a year or more frequently like every four months, or in some cases even once a month.
For those entering into this industry as a taxi driver for the first year, you have got to prepare for your tax return throughout the year.
In both cases you need to know what your taxi driving business is doing. This means you need to keep a good set of records. There are going to be certain expenses that you should be able to claim against your income. For the HST you need to keep a running record of what you may by way of income so you know how much HST is payable on this. Plus, you need to know how much HST you have to pay in order to make this income so it can be claimed.
Keeping track of all the necessary information on an ongoing basis is critically important to your being able to meet the obligations of your taxes. Not knowing what you need to do can be a big issue for you. This is where a Toronto accountant can be most beneficial to you throughout your entire tax year, and not just for the week before you have to file your tax return.
