There are numerous ways to bill for your travel time. Here are some strategies other business professionals are using:

-          “Don’t charge for airfare, lodging, rental cars or meals UNLESS it’s an unusual engagement where you will be on-site for days or weeks at a time.” –Greg Brooks of West Third Group

-          “Submit an expense report to [your client] for mileage per trip. It is one of the conditions of the rate per consultation.” –Kevin Johnson of KEVIECO LLC

-          “Work [out] the details during the pre contract negotiations…adding costs after they are closed can become an embarrassing issue.” –Andy Hamer of New Mindset Business Consultants

-          “Do not charge for local – commuting travel, build it into your rates. Do not charge for commuting mileage either, but keep track for tax purposes. However, for out of town travel (travel in excess of two hours) you must negotiate that up front.” – Kathleen Schneibel (Entrepreneurial Accountant)

There are other ways to bill your travel time; however, the answers above are only a few suggestions by business professionals.

If you would like to see the discussion which sparked this blog post click here

If you have another strategy that I didn’t add above leave a comment and tell everyone how you bill for travel time… lets help each other out.

-Ashton Byrne, Marketing Coordinator at Quino Solutions Inc.

There has been a lot of publicity concentrated on the HST; one event through the Vancouver Board of Trade featured Colin Hansen, MLA. He said that “[the HST] lays the foundation for economic recovery” and “we (the government) believe in BC, we believe in the private sector, we believe in small business…”

Yet, what does the HST mean for you and your vehicle expenses. It won’t effect your mileage deduction, the 52cents that you deduct per km is a flat rate; therefore, the HST shouldn’t have an effect on your mileage logging. But, there will still be an addition HST charge when servicing or fuelling your vehicle.   

Fortunately, companies will be eligible to claim back 12% of tax spent. Unfortunately, consumers will have to “eat up” the additional 7% (12% HST – 5% GST).

What do you think about the HST? Leave your opinion below. Post a comment and tell the rest of Quino’s readers how you feel… 

- Ashton Byrne, Marketing Coordinator for Quino Solutions Inc.

*Note: the information above was gathered from the BC government and the Vancouver Board of Trade. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the HST, please contact the BC government for answers.

Another blog post carried over from Quino Solutions’ old website. Enjoy.

I am constantly looking for ways to minimize the hassle that come with necessary administrative tasks. I have been a sales person for a long time and when I got hired to do business development for Quino Solutions we decided to combine our GPS tracking service with software that enables you to keep track of your mileage and create reports for mileage reimbursement.

It is designed to be a “plug-in and forget about it” tool that records where you travel. The only thing you need to do is set the filter to accommodate your specific working hours and download the data in report form (Excel or web based).

This method saves time and eliminates mistakes. I really think it is a great tool for everybody who  would benefits from precise mileage logging be it for mileage reimbursement, tax deductions or billing purposes.

You can save about 2-3 hours and you don’t have to worry about writing down where you went anymore. Everybody can do it! It is really simple!

- Philipp Fuhrmann, Business Development Manager