Fleet fuel and mileage taxes are a fact of life in trucking. To operate trucks in excess of 26,001 lbs interstate, trip by trip fuel permits must be purchased or operators must have an International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) account set up that allows the carrier to report and pay fuel taxes owed quarterly.
Setting up an IFTA account obligates the carrier to keep detailed records of travel and file quarterly fuel tax reports. In addition, a few states require a mileage tax account either in lieu of or in addition to the IFTA Fuel Tax account. Mileage taxes are based on distance traveled at a tax rate based upon the trucks weight.
At Glostone, fuel tax fleet compliance is truly a turn-key solution. From setting up the correct accounts to helping carriers make full use of their existing dispatch, GPS data and/or paper trip record keeping systems. We are the experts in both mileage & IFTA fuel tax reporting. Our reporting process is full service starting with monitoring your accounts and the input of your paper or e-mileage and fuel data. We produce your state’s IFTA Tax report along with any required mileage tax reports, and we can file the reports on your behalf. Our quality control process insures your data is reported timely and accurately. We offer trip reconstruction, tax analysis by unit, by fleet or by terminal, assist in any audit and we will maintain your records for 4 years.
We use our compliance expertise & experience, aided by the latest technology, to make sure your GPS data and/or paper trip reports are complete, accurate, understandable, storable, and reportable. You work with one dedicated compliance manager focused on your business who is supported by a team of specialized compliance experts. We deliver in a timely manner to make sure we accomplish our mission as your trusted advisor, making your compliance operations cheaper, more accurate, more efficient with a lot less worry.
There is no doubt that in-cab technology can greatly reduce the amount of paperwork required to capture the trip detail required for complying with the International Fuel Tax Agreement. The mandate to use Electronic Logging Devices (ELD’s) by the FMCSA for recording Hours of Service has lead many carriers to a false sense of IFTA compliance security. Many assume that the data produced by the ELD for Hours of Service record keeping is sufficient for meeting the record keeping requirements of IFTA. In fact, the record keeping requirements are very different. Some ELD’s record data in sufficient detail for IFTA. Some do not. Very few ELD’s provide the 5 year detailed record retention that IFTA requires.
At Glostone Trucking Solutions, we can work with most any ELD solution and help assure the data produced is accurate, meets IFTA reporting requirements, is reported properly and the data safely stored for a possible future audit.
Fuel and mileage taxes are a fact of life in trucking. To operate trucks in excess of 26,001 lbs interstate, trip by trip fuel permits must be purchased or operators must have an International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) account set up that allows the carrier to report and pay fuel taxes owed quarterly.
States are required to audit Fuel/Mileage Tax reports and records as well as verify that the correct equipment registration fees were calculated and paid. With the Electronic Logging Device (ELD Mandate) in full swing, IFTA/IRP auditors are noticing a big issue - carriers are trying to use their electronic ELD data to report their IFTA & IRP data but do not have the procedures in place to ensure it is done correctly! Worse yet, the records required for audit are not adequate or sufficient.
We can review a client’s in-house tax reporting procedures to assess the degree of compliance and potential risk in meeting the fuel and mileage tax reporting responsibilities. See our IFTA & State Mileage Audit Assistance page.