If you drive as a sole trader, you are legally required to register with HMRC and file annual tax returns through self assessment. Self-employed drivers must submit a self assessment tax return every year covering income from the previous tax year, and the online filing deadline is 31 January.

Our accountants prepare your self assessment tax returns from start to finish. That means going through your income, working out your true profit after expenses, and making sure every claimable expense is accounted for before we submit anything to HMRC for you. Getting your driver tax right the first time also means fewer questions from HMRC later, and a lot less stress when the deadline gets close.

What Counts As An Allowable Expense When You Drive For A Living

An allowable expense is any cost you genuinely incur to earn your income as an HGV driver. For HGV and lorry drivers, this usually includes:

• Fuel used for work-related journeys, plus tolls and parking
• Overnight stays, hotel costs and sleeper cab expenses
• Vehicle insurance, breakdown cover, repairs and tyres
• Driver CPC and professional competence training costs
• LGV licence renewal fees and medical checks

HMRC's published haulage industry scale rates allow £26.20 a night for overnight subsistence where a sleeper cab is used, and £34.90 where one is not, subject to the usual conditions.

Getting this rate applied correctly across a full year of nights away can genuinely change your final tax bill, and it is one of the most commonly missed claims we see when an HGV driver moves to us from a general accountant.

You can also claim a flat rate for uniform costs, worth up to £60 a year, without needing to keep every single receipt for that particular item. It is a small deduction on its own, but combined with fuel, subsistence and vehicle costs, these deductions add up across a full tax year, and we make sure none of them get missed when we prepare your driver tax return. We keep a running note of claimable expenses specific to haulage throughout the year, so nothing gets left off your claim at the last minute.

Mileage And The Information We Help You Keep

Mileage tracking matters whether you use your own vehicle for work journeys or you are claiming fuel costs directly through the business. We set you up with simple tools so you can log journeys from the cab without it becoming another job on top of your actual job. Good digital bookkeeping means you are never scrambling to remember a trip from eight months ago when your tax return is due, and it means your claim stands up if HMRC ever wants to see the evidence behind it.

HGV drivers can also claim tax rebates for up to four tax years, so if you have missed expenses on a previous return, it is often not too late to put that right. We review your last four years of figures where possible to check whether you are owed anything back, and we handle that claim on your behalf from start to finish. We also make sure you claim mileage correctly, whether you use simplified rates or actual costs, and every claim we submit is checked twice before it goes anywhere near HMRC.

Whether you are purchasing your first truck or replacing an ageing one, the way you fund it changes how it affects your taxes. Capital allowances let you offset a large part of the purchase or finance cost against your profit, which can make a real difference to what you owe HMRC in the year you buy. We look at hire purchase, leasing and outright purchase before HGV drivers commit, so the decision fits cash flow as well as taxes.

Vehicle running costs are part of the same picture. Repairs, servicing, tyres, breakdown cover and vehicle washing all count as legitimate business expenses, and we help HGV drivers track them so cost per mile is something you actually know, rather than something you guess at when a big repair bill lands.

Once your turnover crosses £90,000, VAT registration becomes compulsory, and haulage brings its own quirks around specialised VAT treatment that a general accountant may not fully understand. We register you for VAT when the time comes, prepare and submit your VAT returns, and keep clear records ready in case HMRC ever comes asking. The whole registration process is one we manage on your behalf from start to finish.

Roughly 5% of goods lifted in 2024 were declared dangerous goods, around 77 million tonnes, and ADR haulage carries its own compliance needs on top of standard transport accounting. We support HGV drivers across general haulage, groupage and specialist loads alike, and we review historic returns to see whether there is a claim to be made for VAT you may have missed.

Around 63% of goods lifted by GB-registered HGVs in 2024 were carried by articulated vehicles, and roughly 24% moved as groupage, close to 386 million tonnes. Whatever end of that spread your business sits at, the accounting principles stay the same: clean bookkeeping, correct VAT treatment, and tax returns submitted on time.

If HMRC does open an enquiry into your taxes, we manage that process for you too and support you throughout. Audit-ready books and clear records, kept properly throughout the year, are the best protection against a stressful investigation, and it protects your time as much as your money when your figures have been in order the whole way through. Whether it is your personal taxes or your company's taxes, we take the same careful approach.

We built our accounting services and our accountancy expertise around the transport industry because generic accountants often miss the expenses and deductions that are specific to driving for a living. As an accountancy firm specialising in the transport industry, we understand the specific financial needs of HGV drivers. Lorry drivers across the country choose us because we speak plainly and never hide behind jargon.

Our accountants understand fuel duty, sleeper cab subsistence, capital allowances on trucks, and the difference between an HGV lorry driver who is employed, self-employed, or running through a limited company. That expertise is what keeps HGV drivers with us year after year, rather than moving between accountants every time something in their taxes goes wrong.

Our services cover everything from a first tax return to full limited company support.

We also know that HGV drivers do not have time to sit in an office. Send your receipts and paperwork over from the cab, by phone, by app or by post, whatever suits you, and our team will handle the rest.

We use straightforward digital tools that make it easy to keep your figures tidy without adding to your workload, and we guarantee that every deadline is managed on your behalf. There is no jargon, just plain answers about your taxes, and a named accountant who actually answers the phone.

Deadlines are managed for you, so penalties are never a risk you carry alone.

You focus on the job. We focus on your finances, your compliance, and your taxes, so you spend your evenings at home rather than doing paperwork.