Transport accountants for London operators. Trucks, vans, cabs, fleets.
Single-vehicle owner-driver chasing CIS-style refunds? 5-truck haulage operator juggling fuel cards and HGV operator licensing? Multi-vehicle removals or courier company with a mix of employed and self-employed drivers? We work across every transport type — and we know the rules HMRC actually checks for vehicle deductions, IR35 driver classifications and international VAT.
From single owner-driver to multi-vehicle fleet, we get the workflow.
Each transport type has its own quirks — HGV operator licensing, fuel card reconciliation, IR35 for self-employed drivers, international VAT zero-rating, fleet leasing analysis. We've worked with all of them.
Transport tax has its own playbook. Generalist firms miss the saves.
HGV operator licensing financial standing. Vehicle capital allowances (HGVs vs cars — totally different treatment). Fuel card reconciliation. IR35 for self-employed drivers. Per-vehicle profitability. Four problems below show up on every onboarding.
"My old accountant put my £40K truck on slow depreciation."
HGVs (over 3.5 tonnes) and most commercial vehicles qualify for the Annual Investment Allowance — up to £1 million per year of immediate 100% deduction against trading profits. A £40K truck correctly claimed under AIA saves up to £10K of corporation tax in year one. Generalist firms often default to writing-down allowances which spread the relief over many years and cost you the time-value. Cars (and most vans used as cars) DO NOT qualify for AIA — getting the classification right matters.
"My fuel cards generate massive PDFs every week and I'm losing VAT recovery."
Fuel cards (Allstar, BP, Shell, Tesco Fuel Card, UK Fuels) generate weekly statements with VAT-recoverable purchases per vehicle. Manual entry from PDFs is slow, error-prone and routinely loses 5-10% of potential VAT recovery. We integrate fuel-card data directly into Xero or QuickBooks with per-vehicle allocation, automatic VAT capture and private-use disallowance calculation. Included in standard transport bookkeeping.
"I engage drivers as self-employed and HMRC just opened an IR35 enquiry."
Many transport businesses engage drivers as self-employed contractors. HMRC has been increasingly active here — if the driver works exclusively for one operator, drives a vehicle the operator supplies, follows operator rotas and can't substitute, HMRC may reclassify the relationship as employment with backdated PAYE and NIC. Across a fleet the exposure runs into six figures. We review each driver relationship against CEST, redraft contracts and document working practices for £395 per significant relationship.
"I don't actually know which trucks in my fleet are making money."
Without per-vehicle P&L you can't see which vehicles are profitable. Each vehicle has its own revenue, fuel, maintenance, insurance, finance and depreciation. We set up tracking categories per vehicle in Xero or QuickBooks, allocate fuel cards by vehicle, and produce monthly per-vehicle P&L. Fleet operators routinely discover 1-2 vehicles in a fleet of 8-10 are loss-making and being subsidised by the rest — once visible, the operator can renegotiate routes, replace the vehicle, or redeploy.
Annual Investment Allowance on commercial vehicles. Get it right.
Buying a new HGV, van or commercial vehicle? AIA gives you 100% of the cost as an immediate deduction against trading profits — but only on qualifying vehicles, only if claimed correctly. Here's the playbook.
HGVs and commercial vehicles get 100% immediate tax relief — but cars don't.
The Annual Investment Allowance lets businesses deduct 100% of qualifying capital expenditure (up to £1 million per year) against trading profits in the year of purchase. For a £40,000 HGV correctly classified, that's a £40,000 tax deduction in year one — saving up to £10,000 of corporation tax at 25%.
What qualifies: HGVs (over 3.5 tonnes), commercial vans (panel vans, Luton bodies, refrigerated), specialist vehicles (curtainsiders, tippers, tankers), and most "plant and machinery" used in the trade. What does NOT qualify: cars (and vans used as cars — HMRC scrutinises private use), motorbikes for personal use, leased vehicles (operating leases get monthly deductions instead).
Cars get writing-down allowances at 18% (main pool, low CO2) or 6% (special rate, high CO2 cars). For a £30K car at 18% that's £5,400 of relief in year one — versus £30,000 for a qualifying van of the same value.
Everything a transport business needs. Specialist, not generalist.
Click any service to read the dedicated page. All services delivered in-house by chartered accountants who specialise in fleet and transport.
Limited Co Accounts
Tier 1-2 accounts with vehicle capital allowances, fuel card reconciliation, AIA elections. £1,200-£2,200/year.
View service →Transport Bookkeeping
Fuel-card integration, per-vehicle P&L, maintenance and insurance allocation. From £125-£195/month.
View service →Driver Payroll
Weekly RTI for shift drivers, holiday and SSP tracking. From £8-£12/employee/week.
View service →Transport VAT
UK quarterly VAT plus international zero-rating review. From £195/quarter.
View service →Owner-Driver Self Assessment
Single-vehicle self-employed drivers. Tier 2 SA with vehicle expense optimisation. £695/year.
View service →Tax Planning Workshop
Bespoke £1,200 strategy — fleet acquisition timing, AIA optimisation, IR35 driver review.
View service →Find your transport service mix and fee. Five questions, one minute.
Answer five quick questions about your transport setup. We'll show you the right service mix, an estimated fee, and flag any AIA, IR35 or international VAT opportunities relevant to your operation.
Your transport position
Based on your answers, here's the right setup.
The fees a transport business actually pays. Standard, transparent.
Below is the typical service mix and standard fee. Quotes are issued in writing within 24 hours of the call — request one to see what discounts and seasonal offers are available in the current period.
Transport service fees
All prices exclude VAT. From the master service-fee schedule.
| Service | Description | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Owner-Driver Self Assessment Single-vehicle self-employed drivers below £50K MTD threshold |
Vehicle expense optimisation, mileage, fuel allocation | from £695/year |
| MTD for Income Tax — Quarterly Service Sole-trader drivers above £50K turnover (April 2026 onwards) |
4 quarterly digital submissions + year-end finalisation | £150/quarter (£600/yr) |
| Limited Company Accounts — Tier 1 Solo-vehicle Ltd Co with AIA on commercial vehicle |
Annual accounts, CT600, AIA on qualifying vehicles, fuel-card recovery | from £1,200/year |
| Transport Bookkeeping Per-vehicle P&L, fuel-card integration, maintenance allocation |
Allstar / BP / Shell / Tesco fuel-card sync, monthly per-vehicle reporting | from £195/month |
| Weekly Driver Payroll Shift-pattern drivers |
52 RTI submissions, weekly payslips, holiday + SSP, pension auto-enrol | from £12/employee/week |
| Driver IR35 Review For self-employed driver relationships |
CEST review, contract redrafting, working practices documentation | from £395per relationship |
| HGV Operator Licence Accounts Certified accounts for Traffic Commissioner financial standing |
Certified on chartered headed paper, 48hr turnaround | £195one-off |
| Tax Planning Workshop (Transport) Fleet acquisition timing, AIA optimisation, IR35 strategy |
Bespoke strategy via secure portal, 2-week amendment window | £1,200fixed |
What our transport clients actually got back. Real numbers.
Three recent examples from a single-truck owner-driver, a 6-vehicle haulage operator and a courier company with self-employed drivers. Names changed, numbers real.
£10,400 of year-one tax saved by AIA-electing on a £42K truck
An owner-driver running a single 7.5T HGV under his Ltd Co bought a £42K replacement truck mid-year. His previous accountant had put it on 18% writing-down allowances by default. We re-elected for the Annual Investment Allowance, claiming the full £42K immediately against trading profits. At the company's 25% corporation tax rate the year-one tax saving was £10,500 — versus only £1,890 under the previous depreciation approach. We also re-integrated his Allstar fuel card directly into Xero, recovering an additional £1,800 of input VAT he'd been missing.
Per-vehicle P&L revealed 2 of 6 trucks were loss-making
A 6-truck haulage operator running general freight came to us with rolled-up monthly accounts showing roughly 12% group margin. We rebuilt to per-vehicle P&L (included in transport bookkeeping at £195/mo), with fuel cards allocated correctly and maintenance/insurance distributed by vehicle. Two trucks were running at -4% net margin — masked by the other four. The operator restructured: sold one, redeployed the other onto more profitable routes, renegotiated rates on the underperforming routes. Group margin lifted to 18% within four months — a £24K/year uplift on the same fleet.
£35K of driver IR35 reclassification risk neutralised
A courier company engaged 8 drivers as self-employed contractors but the working practices looked employment-like — exclusivity, fixed routes, operator-supplied vans, rota-based shifts. HMRC's CEST tests would have failed, with backdated PAYE and NIC exposure across the 8 relationships approaching £35K over 4 years. We restructured: rewrote the contracts to give genuine substitution rights, removed exclusivity, allowed the drivers to take their own customer work alongside, and documented working practices accordingly. Two of the 8 didn't accept the new terms and were converted to employed PAYE — eliminating the residual risk on those.
Transport-specific quote, in writing within 24 hours.
Tell us your transport type, fleet size, driver structure and turnover. We'll send a written fixed-fee quote covering exactly the services you need — and any current discounts or offers in the period.
Frequently asked questions.
If your question isn't here, message us on WhatsApp or book a free 15-minute call.
Transport accountants in King's Cross, London.
Our office sits at 39-41 North Road, London N7 9DP — five minutes from Caledonian Road tube. We work with transport operators across Greater London, the M25 corridor, the South-East and our secondary presence in Wickford / Basildon, Essex — particularly relevant for haulage and logistics businesses operating from Essex industrial estates.
Most engagements are delivered remotely via video call, secure portal and our client area. For owner-operators who prefer to meet, the King's Cross office is open Monday to Saturday 10am to 7pm.
London N7 9DP
10am to 7pm
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