Cab business - how to charge passengers without a taximeter?

Question

I'm setting up a taxi-pedicab business, in the sense that the vehicle won't have taximeters.

Though I should be able to trust the drivers, how can i guarantee that they turn in ALL the money they charge passengers, and not siphon off a bit for themselves behind my naive back?

Any ideas?

Answer 1

If you/they don't issue receipts to every customer you'll be in pretty deep doo-doo with the tax people in about 6 months or less.

As soon as you get a business license they'll be watching (and if you can't show receipts they'll estimate your revenue for you (erring on the high side of course), then they'll tack on penalties, interest charges, threat of criminal prosecution etc. So you should run it like any other business with proper accounting. Which will make it difficult for an employee to keep anything except tips.

Btw, meters may be the lesser of evils anyway. You should check with an accountant to find out what proof of sales is required by the tax dept. Otherwise, you may find yourself in the very difficult position of trying to prove to them that you didn't make more money than you actually did.