Accountant for taxi drivers

A taxi accountant masters three rules that many generalist firms overlook: the ADS licence is recorded as an intangible fixed asset (account 205) without amortisation, fuel qualifies for a partial excise refund (former TICPE), and VAT on the vehicle is deductible by exception. Properly kept, your accounting secures both your result and the value of your licence.

A taxi is not a business like any other. You run a regulated activity whose value rests as much on your fare book as on an administrative right: the parking authorisation, or ADS. This licence sometimes weighs heavily in your professional assets, especially for drivers established before 2014. Add to this a heavily used vehicle, a decisive fuel item and VAT rules that mix a reduced rate on fares with favourable deduction conditions.

In our taxi files, the most frequent friction always comes from the same points: a licence wrongly recorded on the balance sheet, an excise refund forgotten or miscalculated, and VAT on the vehicle lost for want of knowing the applicable exception. These three subjects alone justify working with a firm that knows the sector.

Our reading#

For a taxi, the most costly mistake is almost never a mis-entered expense: it is a mishandled asset. The ADS licence and the vehicle make up most of your professional capital. Their accounting treatment determines your taxable result, your recoverable VAT and, in time, the value you will be able to transmit. We therefore focus attention on these items above all else.

The parking authorisation is governed by the Transport Code, deeply amended by the Thevenoud law of 1 October 2014.

For an ADS issued before that law, the holder keeps the right to present a successor for valuable consideration: the licence therefore remains transferable, subject to effective and continuous operation for fifteen years from issue, or five years from the first transfer. For an ADS issued after the law, the text is clear: it is non-transferable, free of charge, operated personally by the holder and valid for five renewable years.

In accounting terms, a purchased ADS (pre-2014) is an intangible fixed asset recorded in account 205, at its acquisition cost. The principle is that it is not amortisable: the right of presentation has no limited useful life, like goodwill or a right to present a client base.

Take care not to confuse amortisation and impairment. Amortisation records a spread, certain loss of value: it does not apply here. Impairment, by contrast, remains possible if the market value of the licence falls durably, for instance under the effect of VTC competition. For a specific file, the tax treatment of an asset whose beneficial effects would be limited in time must be examined case by case under the FTC (art. 39, 1, 2°): we set out the principle with confidence, never promising an unfounded amortisation.

The underestimated risk#

Many drivers amortise their licence by reflex, like equipment. This is a recurring mistake. An unjustified amortisation on a non-amortisable ADS exposes you to a reassessment in case of audit, with tax recall and penalties. Conversely, overlooking a legitimate impairment when market value collapses forfeits a deductible charge. The right reflex is neither one nor the other by default: it is a documented analysis of the market value.

Taxis benefit from a partial refund of fuel excise, formerly TICPE. The historical basis was in article 265 sexies of the Customs Code; it is now recodified in the Code of taxes on goods and services, at article L312-52.

Several important changes must be factored in for 2026:

• Jurisdiction has moved from Customs (DGDDI) to the DGFiP for consumption from 2025.
• The claim is now filed via an annex to the VAT return, form no. 3310-TIC.
• The weighted flat-rate tariff disappears on 1 January 2026: tariffs are updated per fuel (E5, E10, diesel) and per region.
• The claim is annual, with a claim period of three years.

In practice#

The excise refund is won through documentary rigour. We ask you to keep all your named fuel invoices and a reliable record of your business mileage. The shift to the DGFiP via the VAT return changes the administrative mechanics: a poorly prepared file means a refund delayed by a full year. We schedule this calculation within the VAT cycle so it is never forgotten.

Passenger transport falls under the reduced 10% VAT rate (FTC, art. 279, b quater). You therefore charge 10% VAT on your fares once you are a taxable person liable for VAT.

The counterpart is advantageous. VAT on the vehicle is in principle excluded from the right of deduction for passenger cars. But the taxi benefits from an exception: the official guidance (BOI-TVA-DED-30-30-20) names taxis specifically among the particular public passenger transports for which the VAT on the vehicle is deductible, subject to exclusive assignment and the status of taxable person liable for VAT.

This asymmetry deserves a note: you, the taxi, recover VAT on your vehicle; but a corporate client does not recover VAT on its taxi fare expenses. Knowing this dual regime avoids many billing misunderstandings.

We are often asked whether a taxi's accounting resembles a VTC's. The answer is no, and the distinction is structural. A taxi holds an ADS, may pick up clients on the street (maraude), uses a taximeter, parks at dedicated ranks and benefits from the excise refund. A VTC works exclusively on prior booking, with no street pickup or meter, and is not entitled to the excise refund. If you run or are considering the booking-driver activity, see our dedicated page on the accounting for VTC drivers, whose tax rules differ appreciably.

Take a self-employed Paris taxi driver holding an ADS purchased in 2010, recorded as an asset at its acquisition cost. When he came to us, his licence was being amortised every year, the excise refund was claimed only irregularly, and the VAT on his vehicle renewal had not been recovered.

Our work consisted of reclassifying the licence as a non-amortisable intangible fixed asset in account 205, documenting its market value to assess the case for an impairment in the face of VTC pressure, structuring the annual excise refund claim via form 3310-TIC, and validating the eligibility of VAT on the vehicle. This example is illustrative and does not prejudge the treatment of a particular situation: each file is validated on its own supporting documents.

• Amortising the ADS licence like equipment, when it is in principle non-amortisable.
• Forgetting or undervaluing the excise refund, for want of tracking fuel invoices and mileage.
• Losing the VAT on the vehicle by ignoring the exception reserved for particular public passenger transport.
• Applying the wrong VAT rate on fares, when the rate is 10%.
• Confusing amortisation and impairment of the licence, which distorts the result and weakens an audit position.
• Neglecting cost-per-kilometre tracking, which masks the real erosion of profitability.

Points of vigilance 2026#

The year 2026 concentrates several changes. The shift of the excise refund to the DGFiP, the disappearance of the weighted flat-rate tariff on 1 January 2026 and the move through the VAT return require revising your administrative routine from the first affected financial year. We recommend checking, before the first deadline, that your fuel supporting documents are complete and usable, on pain of delaying the refund.

A chartered accounting firm based at 58 rue de Monceau, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, we support self-employed operators in passenger transport. We know the particularities of the taxi business: the asset value of the licence, the mechanics of the excise refund and the VAT exception on the vehicle. Our approach is concrete: a secure accounting treatment of your assets, VAT kept without rate errors, and a dashboard that sheds light on your real profitability.

Depending on your situation, we direct you to our business taxation support to arbitrate your regime, to our social and payroll team if you employ a driver, or to our company formation offer if you are structuring your activity. To estimate your trade-off between remuneration and dividends, you can prepare the meeting with our director's remuneration simulator or assess your break-even point with the break-even simulator.

This article provides information on the principles applicable to taxis; a decision specific to your file requires examining your situation, your documents and the law in force. Let us discuss it during a first conversation.

Up to date as of 19 June 2026. Content written by Samuel Hayot, Chartered Accountant and Statutory Auditor, registered with the Order of Chartered Accountants of Ile-de-France and the CNCC.