Glostone Newsletter July 2015
posted in Blog, Newsletter, Uncategorized by Brian Gray
IRS Heavy Vehicle Use Tax Deadline Approaches
Someone once said that the only things certain in life were death and taxes. One of life’s certainties is quickly approaching in the form of the IRS required Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT). Based on the findings of the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) road test, damage caused by heavy trucks was 160,000 times more damaging to a road surface than a 0.5 ton car. The heavy vehicle use tax is a fee assessed annually on heavy vehicles operating on public highways at registered gross weights equal to or exceeding 55,000 pounds. The funds collected through the Heavy Vehicle Use Tax are invested back into our nation’s transportation infrastructure to help repair the damage.
Each HVUT tax year runs from July 1st through June 30th of the following year. The deadline to file and pay the tax to the IRS without penalty is August 31. The form used for filing the HVUT tax is Form 2290, taking care to use the correct form year 2015-2016. 2290 forms are generally made available each July by the IRS.
The IRS is responsible for HVUT collections and taxpayer audits. States are required to obtain proof of HVUT payments when registering heavy trucks subject to the tax. Some states will not renew truck registrations without proof of HVUT payment at the time of registration and other states will allow a short grace period, after registration, in which to fax in a copy of your HVUT payment to your state’s licensing authority. If you fail to send in proof of HUVT payment to your relevant licensing authority before the end of their grace period, license plates can be suspended.
For more information you can go to the IRS website at www.irs.gov and search for Form 2290. If you have questions or would like help filing your 2290, give Glostone Trucking Solutions a call at 503-607-1088.
Oregon Law Will Raise Some Car-Truck Speeds Around the State
On Monday, July 20th, Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill into law that increases the speed limit for personal and commercial vehicles on rural sections of highway in Central and Eastern Oregon. This new law will still maintain a speed differential between cars and trucks but motorists will soon be able to drive 65 mph on selected stretches of interstate highways. Large trucks will be restricted to 55 mph. Oregon will now join its neighboring states and other states whose local statues limit cars to 60 mph and trucks to 55 on interstate highways, unless the posted speed is allows higher speeds. The specific stretches of roadway that will be affected by this legislation include:
Interstate 84 East of The Dalles – the speed limit for motorists will increase to 70 mph; truck speed will be raised to 65 mph.
U.S. 95 between the Idaho and California lines – the speed limit for motorists will increase to 70 mph and 65 mph for trucks.
Along U.S. 20 between Bend and Ontario and on state Highway 26 between John Day and Vale – speeds will increase to 65 mph for motorists and 60 mph for trucks.
On U.S. 97 and state Highway 197 between The Dalles and Klamath Falls – speed limits will be raised to 65 mph for motorists and 60 mph for trucks.
The speed limits on state Highway 78 between Burns Junction and Burns, and on state Highway 395 between Burns and John Day, as well as state Highway 205 between Burns and French Glen will be increased to 65 mph for cars and 60 mph for trucks.
The speed changes were authorized by HB3402 and will become effective on March 1st, 2016.
Washington Increases Fuel Tax Rate
At the beginning of July, the Washington State legislature approved and sent to Governor Inslee a transportation package that includes an increase of 11.9 cents a gallon in the state’s fuel tax rate. The governor is expected to sign the legislation into law (Subst. S.B. 5987) and the tax increase will be implemented in two steps – 7 cents a gallon will be added this August 1st to the current tax and the remaining 4.9 cents will be added next July 1. These increases will bring Washington’s fuel tax rate for gasoline and diesel fuel to 49.4 cents. Washington is the seventh state this year to raise the rate of its fuel tax by legislation. The others who raised their fuel taxes are Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, South Dakota, and Utah. Two other states, Kentucky and North Carolina, enacted changes to their fuel tax indexing statutes to stop the decline in their tax rates due to the fall in fuel prices.
Note that the August 1st increase in Washington will require split reporting on carriers’ third-quarter 2015 International Fuel Tax Agreement reports with part of the third quarter’s miles reported at the old rate and part at the new rate. Should you need help filing your 3rd quarter IFTA tax return, call Glostone Trucking Solutions at 503-607-1088!
Bookkeeping/Payroll Services Available
Glostone Trucking Solutions has teamed with Makin and Associates Accounting Solutions to provide accurate and professional bookkeeping and payroll services. Makin and Associates have over 10 years of experience providing top notch service to trucking industry clients. Services include:
Payroll Calculations
Accounts Receivables
Accounts Payables
Data Entry
Income Statements
Balance Sheets
Profit & Loss Statements
Certified Payroll
W-2’s; 1099’s and more!
Makin and Associates are conveniently located within our Glostone offices at 9111 SE St Helens Street, Clackamas, OR 97015. They can be reached by calling 503-908-7282. Walk-ins are welcome!
Log Book Mastery Course
Hours of service rules have been the irritant of driver and manager alike for as long as anyone can remember. Logbook violations are among the easiest violations for an auditor to find during a safety review. If you fail in this area, the best safety rating you will get is a Conditional. Glostone Trucking Solutions 8 hour Log Book Mastery Class will help you more effectively to understand, follow, and implement the hours-of-service rules. We cover the follow topics in our class:
Hours of Service rules: 11-14, 60/7, & 70/8 rules
Split-sleeper & combined off-duty options
• How to check for falsified logs
• Effective discipline programs
• 34 Hour Restart
• 30 minute Rest Break
Our next class will be held August 20th, 2015 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm at the Glostone Clackamas Learning Center. Tuition is $99.00 and includes all workshop materials and lunch! Register for the class by going to the Glostone website at www.glostone.com or call 503-607-1088.
