Roadrunner transport

I would start by filing for an EIN. This is pretty easily done threw IRS and has to be done prior to leasing with any company. After you have a company name and EIN established I would file for an LLC. Most states you can do this on your own. I filed for my LLC for $150 and it took about three weeks for it to come threw. If you dont feel comfortable doing this there are all kinds of web services that will help to get you LLC. This creates a company paper trail. a solo proprietor LLC as mentioned earlier is a pass threw company meaning that all monies are the owners income and need to be filed that way. The LLC is documented correctly with the company being leased to as well as the insurance carrier the company puts you with will minimize you legal exposure in the event that something major were to happen. I.E. they can't take your house because of an accident. As mentioned I would have all of this in place before looking at trucks.

Taxes and all the headaches that go along with them suck! Bruenger has a agreement set up with ATBS. They are a major tax service whose primary business is owner operators and drivers in general. I use the word major because unlike most local tax prep people you might know ATBS handles thousands of truckers and has done this for about 20+ years. They know trucking. The agreement that Bruenger has gets you a special pricing and direct settlement payment. They cost about 19 dollars a week and will get most of you operating costs directly from Bruenger's settlement sheets that get sent to them. Most of what you will have to send them will be your maintenance expenses, cell phone bill, wifi bills, etc. Items that will not be related to you settlement sheet. When I signed up they even offered to help me set up my LLC. When the time comes I might use them to help set up my S corp. http://www.atbsshow.com/

Tried to find the link to a PDF that one of the users on here has posted to a book he has written but am striking out. The users handle is RAWZE. He was an engineer and when things went bad back in 2008 he started driving a truck. Read his stuff and you see the engineer coming out. He is a wealth of information. I have the PDF downloaded to my IPhone and still read over it from time to time when making a decision. The odds are against the average guy jumping into a lease truck and being successful. Do the research and CYA and stack your self with people that know what they are doing before jumping with both feet and the odds will sway your way more.

 

Kersey, Thanks, really great information you put out. I was just looking at some of the information on the OOIDA website. I want to set my company up so it will not be pass through money to the owner. That seem like the best avenue to take. I live here in Illinois, so it seems after reading the information, it shouldn't be to hard to start a LLC. I have hard of ATBS before and will use them until I educate myself to do it unless the 19 bucks a week is tax deductible. I'm going to save as much expense as I can when I get into the business. In the coming week or two at most, I will be in the process of getting all this started so I can move forward. I'm also about to registered with OOIDA this week as well. After reading earlier post about S-Corp/C-Corp and LLC.

If I read your post correctly, your company (LLC) is not a pass through company to owner. Is that correct? If so, thats the route I want to go.

 

Mine is a sole proprietor LLC. This type of company makes me accountable for all taxes as an individual. As bigdad7 mentioned I will change to an S corp when the time comes but that won't be until I have more equipment to worry about. One truck one owner a LLC will be all you need.

Once you have an EIN you can go into a bank and apply for a bissiness checking account. I highly recommend this to establish the identy of your company. I have all settlements come to this account and once a week I call my wife and tell her the miles I ran and she cuts a bissiness check for "payroll" to our personal account. I have been drive for some time and most places I could get around .40 com so that what I pay myself as the driver. All other monies go to either a maintence account or stay in the bissiness account for taxes and future equipment investments. Where most go wrong is thinking that the money coming in is all fair game and when taxes or a breakdown come find their selves screwed. Dave Ramsey says to allocate your money or you find out you never have enough of it.

Run it like your the manager trying to keep your job and you'll be successful. Get caught dipping into the cookie jar and you will fail.

 

I found that ATBS brought 0 value to the table ... I used them for 3 months and then decided to save few dollars and let them go.

 

Got it. This was really helpful. Drivers like you and bigdad7 have provided me with personal experience versus what I read on some of these companies website. This will be the route I'll take. I will get started on the process this week. My wife will be doing the same when it comes to cutting a business check for me from payroll. The rest of the money will stay in the business account. Our life style will not change since we been crossing out t's and doting our i's. The one thing we really concern is what the tax will be like. We have been going over all different scenarios when it comes to it, but like you said, "don't get caught dipping your hand in the cookie jar" which I know we will not do.

 

don't ever forget that rrts can let you go for any reason at their discretion. you could have been paying on your arrow truck for 2 years and 8 months with 4 months left and they terminate your contract! what can you do? absolutely nothing unless the leasing company allows you to pay the last 4 on the spot. but why would they? they can have their truck back and you just paid 85-90percent of it and now they put another driver in it and start the cycle all over. cr englnd does this to drivers daily! they have trucks that have been paid many many many times by this game. buy or lease on your own to have piece of mind and not have the possibility of being R A P E D! there are reasons the contracts on the leases and your rrts contract are so long, its to give any and all advantages to the companies not you. ultimately the outcome is up to them(RRTS) as they see fit when youre tied in with the lease company and your working company lease plans.

 

Dude really the bruenger sales /lease contract is 3 pages on the fleet trucks the lease contract is fairly standard now the arrow contract is with arrow and rrts has no dog in this. Fight.......just my 0.02

 

as for ATBS.....$1000(minimum) for your taxes is a joke. buy a multi pocket accordion folder, a couple plastic rubbermaid shoeboxes, and scanner and you are better than ATBS and save $800. you need to find an accountant you visit face to face and not mail your stuff in or off your settlements. to save $20 a week takes about 3 minutes all the while you are controlling screw ups. what if ATBS or the mailman loses your receipts or whatever and you didnt make duplicates? from drivers I know that have used them they never did a competent job. ATBS is for lazy people that dont value their money much and enjoy headaches. this is the census from friends that used them.

 

if this is the case over there, great. the yearly contracts I signed at roadrunner outlined lease drivers as well and all this info was clear. I also saw leasee contracts from the other drivers. roadrunners contract is over like 35-40 pages and I have seen the lease ones over 25ish with my statements plan as day. so like you said if bruengers contract is different(not sure why it would be) thats great. not trying to dump on anyones parade but just stating the facts from my 3 years at rrts up until recently.

 

Well I haven't done a lease purchase but to add my 0.02, a person who does a lease should not wait until the last month to complete the contract. If you lease for lets say 35 or 40 months, you should have saved enough money to outright purchase the truck before the end of the lease unless some unforeseen events happen that prevented you from this. No one ever said this was going to be a perfect world, its business. Look at what happen to the sub-par-mortgage that had taken place or Enron etc. This is the world we live in. We all know how it goes when it comes to leasing, just be smart and prepare and educate yourself as much as possible, rather its financially or business wise.

As far as ATBS, a person who's in any type of business should know to have a copies. The ones who used the posted service and lost the information through mail, learn a valuable lesson. Learn from your mistake. This industry is always changing and we as Drivers must adapt as well so it can benefit us.

I'm learning myself but I have help from people around me that I know and from user's on this post.