Hi,
Below is a very long post I wrote about IFTA...get a cup of coffee and read. Maybe this will answer some of your questions.
The International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) is an agreement among states and Canadian provinces to simplify the reporting of fuel used by interstate/interjurisdictional motor carriers. Fuel taxes are levied by the individual states for fuel purchases and consumption within their state. While fuel tax rates are set by each individual state, the government mandated that all states must join the International Fuel Tax Agreement.
"Qualified" vehicles that will be traveling across state lines are required to license under IFTA. These carriers may also choose to purchase trip permits for each state rather than license with IFTA but it becomes very expensive in the long run.
"Qualified" vehicles are :
vehicles having two axles and a gross vehicle weight or registered gross vehicle weight of more than 26,000 pounds; or vehicles having three or more axles regardless of weight; or
vehicles that are used in combination, when the combined weight is more than 26,000 pounds gross or registered gross vehicle weight at any time.
Some states charge for IFTA and some don't. The cost of decals if they do charge is minimal though like $10.00-$15.00 (per vehicle) You have to have a DOT number to apply for IFTA too.
Once an IFTA account is set up with your base state, or in our case the state our company operates out of, you will be required to file a quarterly fuel tax return. The single tax report contains reporting information for all IFTA states traveled. The carrier, therefore, submits only one check and this one completed report to the base state only. It is the base state’s responsibility to disperse the funds to each individual state according to the report filed.
Once you are licensed under the IFTA Program, you must file your quarterly reports by:
April 30
July 31
October 31
January 31
It is required that each carrier maintain a complete record of all miles traveled in each state and fuel purchased. The company we are leased with does this via the Qualcomm/GPS and our comdata card / fuel slips. The travel miles are compiled to provide the fuel purchase/miles traveled information for the quarterly IFTA tax return. The company we lease with computes our miles traveled in each state and pays our fuel tax quarterly. If you have your own authority this would be your responsibility but there is software available to help you. I have even heard that some people's accountants will do it for them. When we first started driving we were required to do milage sheets which listed route traveled and fuel purchases. If you were to operate under your own authority you would be required to do this.
Information required to compile the IFTA quarterly tax report is as follows:
1. Total miles (taxable and nontaxable) traveled by licensee's qualified motor vehicles in all jurisdictions. Include IFTA and non-IFTA miles as well as trip permit miles;
2. Total gallons of fuel used (placed into licensee's qualified motor vehicles) in all jurisdictions, IFTA and non-IFTA;
3. Total miles and taxable miles traveled in each member jurisdiction;
4. Taxable gallons consumed in each member jurisdiction (calculated on report); and
5. Tax-paid gallons purchased and placed into qualified motor vehicles in each member jurisdiction.
The company we lease with sends us a copy of our quarterly settlement sheets, which are what we use when registering our vehicle with IRP. IRP, also uses the miles traveled in each state to determine your registration fees. The company we lease with takes any additional charges out of our settlement, which I think at the highest was about $250. 00. As far as I know, many of the expediting companies out here that you can lease with pay your fuel taxes for you and many of them compute them with little or no paperwork from the drivers.
We try to fuel up in every state but now with fuel prices so out of whack, in the north east especially, we don't fill our tanks all the way up there...usually we purchase just enough to get us to a lower price per gallon state.
I almost forgot....A few states also have another tax structure in addition to the IFTA license. Kentucky, New Mexico, New York and Oregon require accounts be set up and tax is due for each mile traveled. This is why you have special permits for Kentucky, New Mexico and New York. I believe the Kentucky and New Mexico permits are just pieces of paper but New York has that HUT sticker that you have to place on the front bumper of your truck. I am not sure of the cost. New York can be a real stickler about their HUT stickers as well. If you travel much out west to New Mexico, it is the paperwork/permit they ask for at the port of entry. If you don't have a permit you are required to buy one at the port of entry. Oregon used to make you buy a license plate at the port of entry for $15.00 or so but I have heard that they might not do this anymore. You probably have seen some trucks with the Oregon orange plates on the front of their trucks. As far as Kentucky is concerned, I can't recall them ever asking for anything special, maybe they don't have an additional tax anymore. I think we used to have a special number on our truck for Kentucky....shoot, now I can't recall. Hopefully, someone else will know for sure.
Even if there are no miles traveled all reports must be filed by the appropriate due dates the states specify. All states impose late penalties for un-filed reports! There are no exceptions.
whew!!!!
