IFTA per quarter question for owner operator/carrier with few trucks

I average 7-7.5 mpg and haven't been audited yet. The most I've ever paid for a quarter was around $60. I run 1 truck on IFTA but also only have it weighted at 54,999 so my tax rate is different from those at 80,000#.

 

How did you pay for your fuel? If you know the amounts you may be able to reverse calculate the gallons using other transactions in the same timeframe/area. Your fuel card/bank may be able to provide transaction detail, as well as the supplier you bought from.

The amount you pay (or not) depends on what states you buy fuel in and which ones you burn it in. If you fuel often in low tax states (southeast for example) and burn it in the Great Lakes or New England, you will pay. Buy in a low tax area and burn it in a lower tax area and you get a credit. In Q2 we ran a lot more runs north and paid about $60 on IFTA. Q3 we stayed in the south and ended with a $5 credit.

Worst case, your mpg ought to track with the prior quarters unless you made a big change on your routing or where you bought your fuel.

 

I show between 5.8 and 6.2 mpg every quarter. Sometimes i get a credit sometimes i have to pay. Last year i had a credit of over $400 and got it back. I try to buy my fuel in the states i run the most and where the fuel tax is the most so i get a credit. You can have any mpg you want as long as your fuel reciepts and milage match up. Just because you get over 5 mpg does not mean you will get audited the person at the ifta office has no clue, but if you have lost fuel reciepts it is probably best just to be safe to just use the 5mpg because for some reason that seems to be the magic number to some. I do my own and have bin for 22 years. I got audited last year and it was no big deal. He just looked at my milage records and fule reciepts to make sure it all matched up.

 

I run 3 trucks all at 80,000 gross and that don't matter if your over 26,000 you pay the same ifta tax in five years I have not paid in one time I have a credit of $68 now. You need to do better records I have a spread sheet I keep in the trucks it has date,city,state,truck stop,price per gal,and number of gal you get. I get this sheet from the driver be4 they get paid no sheet no check
I use pro miles software you just enter your info and it almost does it for you or you can also pay them to do it

 

The most I've paid on my two trucks for IFTA is $65 in a quarter. If you're paying over $200 either you haven't paid any fuel tax at the pump or you're calculating something wrong. As far as fuel mileage goes, I do a spreadsheet as mentioned above and it comes out to 5.5 to 6 mpg.

 

You can an will get audited if your MPG shifts dramatically, or you're just unlucky like me. No trip sheet, no pay should be your policy. A fuel card would eliminate all of your problems as well.