The Importance of Quarterly Fuel Tax Reporting
When your business employs the use of commercial motor vehicles, there are many regulations to pay attention to. This includes driver safety requirements and a seemingly endless list of standards to follow and paperwork to fill out. Among this paperwork are the quarterly fuel tax reports.
What is Fuel Tax Reporting?
Fuel tax reporting is completed quarterly. It includes the totals of all mileage travelled and the amount of fuel purchased in each state. This report is required for commercial motor vehicles that travel between states.
As fuel prices and taxes vary from state to state, the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) was created to simplify the way that businesses report their fuel usage. All of the lower 48 states of the United States, along with the provinces of Canada, are part of this agreement.
Before instituting the IFTA, each state would use its own fuel tax and businesses would require a tax permit for each state that they operated in. This included the use of Ports of Entry for issuing permits and enforcing fuel tax collection – which was time consuming and costly for states and the trucking industry.
To simplify the process of handling fuel taxes, the IFTA was created. Businesses simply need to keep track of their total mileage and fuel usage, as part of their driver trip reports, and then submit this information each quarter. This results in savings for businesses with interstate trucking operations and for the states collecting fuel taxes. IFTA then levels the fuel tax revenues vs miles traveled among the states.
Who Needs to File a Quarterly Fuel Tax Report?
The specific requirements for who needs to file a quarterly fuel tax report state:
Any vehicle used for the transportation of persons or property and meets any of the following requirements:
- Vehicles with two axles and exceeds 26,000 pounds
- Vehicles with three or more axles, regardless of weight
- The combination of the vehicle and transport exceeds 26,000 pounds
Basically, if you operate commercial motor vehicles that travel between states, you will need an IFTA license. Once this license is obtained, you will use the mileage and fuel statistics reported by your drivers to compile a quarterly fuel tax report.
Ensure Your Fuel Tax is Reported Accurately
Each quarter, you will fill out your vehicle mileage and fuel report and submit your fuel tax information to your base jurisdiction. As with any other taxes, there are penalties involved when reporting false or incorrect information, as well as penalties for filing your reports after the due date.
Institute a system for accurately tracking driver mileage and fuel usage. Use this information to fill out your fuel tax reports and ensure they are compiled and turned in on time.
Hire Affordable International Fuel Tax Reporting Services
Office Tenders provides an affordable way to ensure your fuel tax reports are always completed accurately and on time. Stop wasting time with complicated software – allow the professionals at Office Tenders to handle the paperwork for you.
