IFTA Reporting: Who Files, When, and What Records to Keep

Who needs an IFTA license

The International Fuel Tax Agreement is how member states and Canadian provinces share fuel tax on trucks that run across their borders. You license with one base jurisdiction, generally the member jurisdiction where your trucks are registered, where your operational records are kept or can be made available, and where some of your miles are run. You file one quarterly return there. The base jurisdiction splits the tax among the others.

You need IFTA credentials if you operate a qualified motor vehicle in two or more member jurisdictions. Section R245 of the IFTA Articles of Agreement defines it as a vehicle used, designed, or maintained to transport people or property that:

• Has two axles and a gross vehicle weight or registered gross vehicle weight over 26,000 lbs (11,797 kg), or
• Has three or more axles, regardless of weight, or
• Is used in combination, when the combination weighs over 26,000 lbs gross vehicle or registered gross vehicle weight.

Recreational vehicles are excluded. Notice the threshold is different from the FMCSA one. A 20,000-lb two-axle box truck is a commercial motor vehicle for safety rules but is not a qualified motor vehicle for IFTA. A one-ton pickup pulling a gooseneck can cross 26,000 lbs combined and need IFTA. Our hotshot guide covers that setup. Carriers below the IFTA threshold may still need trip permits or state fuel filings, so check with your base jurisdiction.

Quarterly deadlines

Under R960, the return and full payment are due on the last day of the month after each quarter ends. If that day falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the next business day is the due date.

A return is required even for a quarter with no operations or no taxable fuel. Under R1220, the base jurisdiction can charge a late or underpayment penalty of $50 or 10 percent of delinquent taxes, whichever is greater, plus interest on delinquent tax under R1230. Your base jurisdiction can add its own penalties.

What the return asks for

Each quarter you report, for each jurisdiction, the miles your qualified vehicles traveled there and the gallons you bought there with tax paid. Total miles divided by total gallons gives your fleet average miles per gallon. That average sets how many gallons you are taxed for in each state. You pay where you burned more fuel than you bought and get credit where you bought more than you burned. Accurate miles by jurisdiction matter as much as receipts.

Records to keep, and for how long

Section P510 of the IFTA Procedures Manual requires you to keep records for four years from the date the return was due or filed, whichever is later. In an audit the burden of proof is on you.

Distance records. P540.100 lists what a manual trip record should show: trip start and end dates, origin and destination, route, beginning and ending odometer or ECM readings, total trip distance, distance in each jurisdiction, and the vehicle or unit number.

GPS distance records. P540.200 sets a separate standard for vehicle tracking systems. The system must record, at least every 10 minutes while the engine is on, the date and time, latitude and longitude to at least 4 decimal places, the ECM odometer reading, and the vehicle identification or unit number. The data must be available in a spreadsheet format such as XLS, XLSX, or CSV. A PDF or image is not acceptable as the underlying record.

Fuel records. Under P550, a receipt for tax-paid credit must show the purchase date, seller name and address, gallons, fuel type, price per gallon or total price, the vehicle fueled, and the purchaser's name. Altered or illegible receipts can be rejected.

If an auditor decides your records are inadequate, P570 lets the base jurisdiction cut your reported fleet MPG to 4.00 or reduce it by 20 percent. On a truck that really gets 6.5 MPG, that can turn a refund into a bill.

How ELD and GPS mileage helps

The hardest part of IFTA for small carriers is jurisdiction miles. Paper trip sheets depend on a driver writing down state line crossings, and they rarely survive a busy week intact.

The DocuDrive PT-40 has built-in GPS and its own LTE connection, and DocuDrive's IFTA report gives you mileage by jurisdiction. Because the device reports location even when the driver's phone is dead or off, a gap in the phone's battery does not become a gap in your miles. The report is included in the $20 per truck monthly plan. Compare the PT-30 and PT-40 if you are deciding on hardware.

Two things the mileage report does not do for you:

• Fuel receipts. Gallons purchased, and the receipts that prove tax was paid, still come from you or your fuel card statements.
• Filing. You or your accountant file the return with your base jurisdiction.

If your base jurisdiction audits you, ask what format it wants for GPS distance data, and keep the jurisdiction reports with your receipts for the full four years.

Related compliance

IFTA sits alongside your logs and inspections. See the ELD mandate, DVIR rules, and the new carrier checklist. Pricing details are on the pricing page.