IFTA Licenses Guide

Interstate motor carriers buy tax-paid fuel in each jurisdiction they travel through. This tax is used to pay for the carriers’ use of the highways in these jurisdictions.

International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA)

The International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) is an agreement among 58 jurisdictions – 48 U.S. states and 10 Canadian provinces. The agreement reduces paperwork and standardizes fuel use tax reporting.

For example:

  • All jurisdictions use the same definition for qualifying motor vehicles (R130.100.015).
  • A carrier selects one base jurisdiction to report all travel instead of filing a separate return for each jurisdiction the carrier travels in (R130.100.005).
  • A single fuel use tax license allows a carrier’s vehicles to travel in all IFTA jurisdictions (R150).
  • Only the base jurisdiction audits the carrier (R1310).

Throughout these pages, notes such as P1300 refer to portions of the IFTA Procedures Manual, and notes such as R1310 refer to the IFTA Articles of Agreement. Both the IFTA Procedures Manual and the IFTA Articles of Agreement can be found on the IFTA website.

Most U.S. states and Canadian provinces are members of IFTA. However:

  • In the U.S: Alaska, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia aren’t members.
  • In Canada: the Northwest, Yukon, and Nunavut territories aren’t members.