Driver’s Tax App: New app released to help taxi drivers prepare for new digital accounting era
A new web-based App ‘designed with taxi drivers for taxi drivers’ has been launched to help make life easier for the UK’s fleet of self-employed professional drivers.
The Driver’s Tax App was created after discussions with taxi trade representatives and delivery drivers, in preparation for HMRC’s new Tax Checks and Making Tax Digital.
The platform provides simple bookkeeping, accountancy, and tax filing capabilities which at the touch of a button, submits the tax return to HMRC.
Mark Greenhalgh, himself a former cab driver and trade representative with over 30 years experience pulled together a team of chartered accountants, developers and designers to create the Web-App in close consultation with the industry and HMRC.
The app has been created specifically for self employed taxi, private hire, courier, delivery drivers, chauffeurs and driving instructors.
Greenhalgh said: “The industry has never faced so many challenges in terms of restrictions on trade in light of the pandemic and the shortfall in demand from fewer journeys and the impact on the tourism and hospitality sector has been keenly felt.
“What may have slipped under the radar a little in the middle of all this is the harsh reality of the forthcoming HMRC tax checks, which will be conducted between their licensing authority and HMRC when drivers apply to renew their licence. If they are not registered as self employed, their licence will not be renewed.
“To help get professional drivers ready for this we put our heads together with the main stakeholders in HMRC and the drivers themselves to develop a simple Web-App that really will make things a whole lot easier for everyone.
“We were especially delighted when HMRC had finished checking the accuracy of our software to have it become “HMRC Recognised” and listed with the other commercial software providers on their website."
The Driver’s Tax App features a dashboard to show stats, current progress and tax liability to date and a simple input facility for income and expenses. Drivers can also uncover more detailed reports if they wish to monitor and compare the performance of their business over a period of time.
Greenhalgh added: “Additional new Making Tax Digital rules will soon require drivers to submit four tax returns a year plus a crystallisation statement at the year-end. Now, given that accountant fees average £350 for one return, we can anticipate they will be significantly higher for four!
“Right now, the last thing the industry and professional drivers need is more fees. The Web-App has been designed to be an affordable and efficient solution that calculates and completes drivers’ tax returns for them.
“They now only need to enter their income and expenses then hit the submit button to file their returns with HMRC, which is going to save drivers a huge amount of time and money. Hopefully this will allow them to focus on their driving work, not their paperwork!“
