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Tax and Taxis
Aug. 29th, 2006 10:29 pmSecond day of my taxi driver training course. I mentioned to Kerri that the first session was on taxation and taxi drivers, and we had a guest speaker from the Australian Taxation Office coming along to set us straight.
"Why don't you say to him that you hear that tax is optional for taxidrivers and see how he reacts?" was her suggestion. I wasn't averse to this notion, but as it happened, I couldn't find an easy way to work it into the conversation.
The speaker was a nice bloke, actually. A bit on the defensive side, but that's understandable.
Personally, I thought he was great. He took us through the steps we needed to navigate the minefields of Goods and Services Tax and how it related to Income Tax, something which was pretty much a closed and locked book to me.
Taxidrivers are treated by the taxman as self-employed. We are "baillees", apparently, which means that we rent the vehicle from the owner, rather than act as his employees. The rent we pay is 50% of total takings. The owner pays for all the expenses, such as gas (and I'm not talking petrol here, I'm talking LPG), insurance, maintenance and so on.
We were talked through the various forms we need to fill out, and given information booklets. All straightforward, once the essential concepts had been grasped. The big message rammed home was that if we kept our records up to date and paid our tax on time, everything worked out sweet.
Fall behind on records or payments, and things got sticky.
I've taken this to heart, and I'll be making sure, right from my very first shift, that I'm on track.
Morning tea, while we digested the tax issue and munched on Arnotts Cream Assorted, and then we had a session on driver ethics, behaviour, occuational health and safety, "incindent reporting" and so on. Spelling and syntax, judging by the driver's handbook, is optional for taxidrivers.
"It's as good as it needs to be," said Kerri when I reported back on this, and I couldn't fault her logic.
Service is the name of the game, and nobody expects taxidrivers to spell good. Or to turn up on time. "So if you arrive on the booking time, you're ahead of the game, aren't you?", Brian the instructor said. "You've exceeded the customer's expectations."
I don't think I'm going to have too much trouble providing a service. I reckon I can be professional, helpful, considerate, courteous, patient and so on. I like to see people happy. And as we kept on being told, if the customers are happy, they'll keep on coming back, and they'll tell their friends.
Gettng a good reputation and regular customers seems to be the way to make money in this game. Some of the owner-drivers are legendary in the amount of money they can make in a shift, and it all comes from having someone in the passenger seat as much of the time as possible. Don't hang around a rank when there's no work, we get told. Go off to where the fares are waiting.
Easier said than done for a novice, but I'll pick it up, I reckon. We're certainly getting any number of tips from the instructors, both of whom have decades of experience behind them.
The afternoon was devoted to the theory and practice of transporting customers with disabilities. Not surprisingly, a large amount of the work is for people who cannot drive And tourists, who may have their own problems in communication.
It comes down to common sense, really, and the successful taxidriver is one who treats his customers with respect and understanding.
The practical test consisted of moving a passenger in a wheelchair into a cab and strapping him or her down. This involves six different straps: one for each corner of the wheelchair, and two to make up the seatbelt. The details tripped up a few of us - I was third cab off the rank, and I managed to get one of the straps twisted.
But we all passed, and sat down with glows of satisfaction to hear a pep talk from the fleet manager before being dismissed for the day.
Tomorrow is a test on cab rank locations and the shortest routes between two given points. I really should be studying for this instead of blogging, I guess. Like my understanding of tax, I only have the haziest notion of the difference between Waramanga and Weetangera. Wish me luck!
"Why don't you say to him that you hear that tax is optional for taxidrivers and see how he reacts?" was her suggestion. I wasn't averse to this notion, but as it happened, I couldn't find an easy way to work it into the conversation.
The speaker was a nice bloke, actually. A bit on the defensive side, but that's understandable.
Personally, I thought he was great. He took us through the steps we needed to navigate the minefields of Goods and Services Tax and how it related to Income Tax, something which was pretty much a closed and locked book to me.
Taxidrivers are treated by the taxman as self-employed. We are "baillees", apparently, which means that we rent the vehicle from the owner, rather than act as his employees. The rent we pay is 50% of total takings. The owner pays for all the expenses, such as gas (and I'm not talking petrol here, I'm talking LPG), insurance, maintenance and so on.
We were talked through the various forms we need to fill out, and given information booklets. All straightforward, once the essential concepts had been grasped. The big message rammed home was that if we kept our records up to date and paid our tax on time, everything worked out sweet.
Fall behind on records or payments, and things got sticky.
I've taken this to heart, and I'll be making sure, right from my very first shift, that I'm on track.
Morning tea, while we digested the tax issue and munched on Arnotts Cream Assorted, and then we had a session on driver ethics, behaviour, occuational health and safety, "incindent reporting" and so on. Spelling and syntax, judging by the driver's handbook, is optional for taxidrivers.
"It's as good as it needs to be," said Kerri when I reported back on this, and I couldn't fault her logic.
Service is the name of the game, and nobody expects taxidrivers to spell good. Or to turn up on time. "So if you arrive on the booking time, you're ahead of the game, aren't you?", Brian the instructor said. "You've exceeded the customer's expectations."
I don't think I'm going to have too much trouble providing a service. I reckon I can be professional, helpful, considerate, courteous, patient and so on. I like to see people happy. And as we kept on being told, if the customers are happy, they'll keep on coming back, and they'll tell their friends.
Gettng a good reputation and regular customers seems to be the way to make money in this game. Some of the owner-drivers are legendary in the amount of money they can make in a shift, and it all comes from having someone in the passenger seat as much of the time as possible. Don't hang around a rank when there's no work, we get told. Go off to where the fares are waiting.
Easier said than done for a novice, but I'll pick it up, I reckon. We're certainly getting any number of tips from the instructors, both of whom have decades of experience behind them.
The afternoon was devoted to the theory and practice of transporting customers with disabilities. Not surprisingly, a large amount of the work is for people who cannot drive And tourists, who may have their own problems in communication.
It comes down to common sense, really, and the successful taxidriver is one who treats his customers with respect and understanding.
The practical test consisted of moving a passenger in a wheelchair into a cab and strapping him or her down. This involves six different straps: one for each corner of the wheelchair, and two to make up the seatbelt. The details tripped up a few of us - I was third cab off the rank, and I managed to get one of the straps twisted.
But we all passed, and sat down with glows of satisfaction to hear a pep talk from the fleet manager before being dismissed for the day.
Tomorrow is a test on cab rank locations and the shortest routes between two given points. I really should be studying for this instead of blogging, I guess. Like my understanding of tax, I only have the haziest notion of the difference between Waramanga and Weetangera. Wish me luck!
