instructions on how to calculate miles per gallon on your IFTA returns during the fuel tax holidays for Maryland, Georgia, and Connecticut.
Individual Vehicle Distance Record (IVDR) and summaries
IFTA requires you to:
- Keep distance and fuel records for every vehicle and trip,
- Keep monthly distance and fuel summaries separately for each vehicle and separate each vehicle’s distance and fuel by jurisdiction, and
- Separate each jurisdiction’s distance into taxable and nontaxable distance.
Note: Each jurisdiction defines taxable and nontaxable distance differently.
IVDRs must include the following distance information:
- Beginning and ending dates of the trip
- Origin and destination of the trip
- Route of travel
- Beginning and ending odometer or hubometer readings for each trip
- Total trip distance
- Trip distance by jurisdiction
- Vehicle unit or identification number
IVDRs must include the following fuel information for over-the-road (OTR) purchases:
- Date of each fuel purchase
- Name and address of the person who sold or gave you the fuel
- Number of gallons received
- Type of fuel
- Price per gallon or total price of the fuel
- Vehicle unit or identification number that the fuel was placed in
See the IFTA Procedures Manual: P500, Record-keeping on the IFTA website
Distance record-keeping tips
When listing delivery locations outside of the city, use the name of the nearest city. Indicate road distance and direction from the city. For example, instead of Joe’s Warehouse, 10 road miles west of Boise ID, list “Boise ID plus 10 west.”
Use actual distance traveled, not just the distance between cities. If a trip starts from a business on the west side of Boise and you travel into the middle of the city to pick up freight, include this distance. You must document all distance, including nonrevenue (deadhead, bobtail, etc.) distance.
Don’t rely only on map or computer program distances, because they are often the shortest and most direct routes between locations and may not reflect the actual distance driven. This can make your miles per gallon (MPG) calculations inaccurate, and an accurate IFTA return depends on an accurate MPG.
Fuel records
Report these taxable fuels on your IFTA return: gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, biodiesel blends, propane, compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen, electricity, and kerosene. Include other less commonly used fuels and blending components.
For a complete list of fuels that can be reported on an IFTA return, visit the IFTA website.
Tax-paid fuel purchases
In Idaho, fuels tax is included in the price you pay when you buy gasoline or undyed diesel fuel at the pump or have it delivered into a bulk tank. You must keep copies of all delivery tickets and receipts, and you must document all bulk fuel withdrawals.
Fuel purchased untaxed
When you buy motor fuel from an Indian-owned retail outlet in Idaho, the purchase price might not include the Idaho motor fuels tax, and so wouldn’t qualify as an Idaho tax-paid purchase, unless authorized in an agreement between the state and a specific tribe. See Idaho Code section 63-2444 or Idaho Code section 67-4002
Over-the-road (OTR) purchases
You must support OTR purchases with a receipt or invoice, a credit card receipt, or an automated vendor-generated invoice or transaction listing. All records used for fuel tax credit must include the information listed above for IVDRs. Keep these receipts to document tax-paid gallons.
A valid fuel receipt must show evidence that tax is paid directly to the applicable jurisdiction (R1000) to receive tax-paid credit.
You must compile separate totals for each fuel type, and keep separate records for retail fuel purchases and bulk fuel purchases. Also, your company name must appear on all receipts or invoices for tax-paid fuel purchases that you report on your return.
Vendors in all IFTA jurisdictions are required to issue a correct invoice and show that the jurisdiction’s fuels tax was paid to support the credit taken for tax-paid gallons on the IFTA return.
Bulk fuel
Bulk fuel is kept in a tank from which fuel is distributed to vehicles and equipment. It can also be distributed from mobile tanks. Both large and small fleets maintain bulk fuel tanks. A bulk fuel tank must have a method for measuring the number of gallons dispensed and a method for identifying the vehicles or equipment into which the fuel is dispensed. For more information, see FT-2 Retail or Bulk Sales of Gasoline & Diesel Fuel.
Bulk fuel records
Keep detailed records of tax-paid fuel withdrawn from your bulk storage tanks. To get credit, the records must include:
- Receipts for all deliveries. These must show the purchase price includes the fuel tax or show the licensee has paid the tax.
- Quarterly inventory reconciliations for each tank
- The capacity of each tank
- Bulk withdrawal records from every bulk tank at each location, including:
- The date of the withdrawal
- The quantity of the fuel withdrawn
- The type of fuel withdrawn
- Vehicle unit or identification number that the fuel was placed in
- Records must distinguish fuel placed into IFTA-qualified vehicles from other uses.
Summaries
Monthly summary records must include the following information:
- Distance summaries for each vehicle showing the amount of travel in each jurisdiction.
- Fuel summaries for each vehicle showing the amount of fuel purchased in each jurisdiction.
Record retention
Keep any records supporting the information you report on your tax returns for four years from the due date of the return or the actual date the return is filed, whichever is later.