IFTA Fuel Tax Calculator (Quarterly Return by Jurisdiction)

About the IFTA Fuel Tax Calculator (Quarterly Return by Jurisdiction)

Carriers licensed under the International Fuel Tax Agreement file one return a quarter with their base jurisdiction, which shares the tax out among the 48 contiguous states and 10 Canadian provinces that are members. The return compares the fuel your qualified motor vehicles used in each jurisdiction — its share of your miles at the fleet average — with the tax-paid fuel you bought there, and charges or credits the difference at that jurisdiction’s rate.

Enter the miles (or kilometres) and tax-paid fuel by jurisdiction and the quarter’s rates from the IFTA tax rate matrix: the calculator works out the fleet average to two decimals, the taxable, tax-paid and net taxable fuel in whole units, the tax due or credit for each jurisdiction, surcharge rows, and for a late return the interest month by month and the penalty, as the Articles of Agreement and the Procedures Manual set them. Rows can be pasted from a spreadsheet or imported from CSV or Excel. Nothing you type leaves your browser. Without a pass the result is a free preview: the jurisdictions, rates, due date and checks, with every amount hidden until you unlock it with a Premium pass.

How the return is worked out

The fleet average is the total distance travelled in all jurisdictions (members or not) divided by all the fuel used, to two decimal places (Procedures Manual P720). For each jurisdiction, in whole gallons or litres:

• taxable fuel = taxable distance ÷ fleet average;
• net taxable fuel = taxable fuel − tax-paid fuel bought there;
• tax due = net taxable fuel × the jurisdiction’s rate — negative when you bought more fuel there than you used, a credit against the other jurisdictions.

A jurisdiction with a surcharge row in the rate matrix charges it on its taxable fuel; fuel bought there earns no credit against the surcharge.

Due dates, interest and penalty

A return is due on the last day of the month after the quarter: 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January, or the next business day when that day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday (Articles of Agreement R960). A late return pays interest on the tax due to each jurisdiction, at 1/12 of the annual rate a month, a full month for any part of a month (R1230), and the base jurisdiction may charge a penalty of $50 or 10% of the delinquent tax, whichever is greater (R1220). For U.S.-based fleets the annual rate is two points above the IRS underpayment rate; IFTA, Inc. publishes it for each year. For Canadian-based fleets it is the 1-year Canadian Treasury bill rate published in November of the year before, plus two points, rounded up to a whole percent (R1230.200): enter 1/12 of the rate your base jurisdiction gives.

Miles or kilometres

Your base jurisdiction decides the units: U.S. jurisdictions report in miles, gallons and US$ per gallon, Canadian ones in kilometres, litres and CAN$ per litre. The rate matrix lists both for every jurisdiction, converted with one litre = 0.2642 gallons and one mile = 1.6093 kilometres (Procedures Manual P1310). Choose the units of your return and copy the matching rate column.

Where the rates come from

Each member jurisdiction reports its rates to IFTA, Inc., which publishes them in the tax rate matrix of each quarter, by fuel type. Rates change from quarter to quarter and some jurisdictions change them during a quarter: enter the jurisdiction twice, once per rate, when the matrix splits it. The calculator does not carry a copy of the matrix.

Limitations

• One fuel type at a time: work each fuel type out separately, as the return does.
• Rates are what you enter; check them against the matrix of the quarter you report.
• Trip permits, the weight-distance taxes some states charge outside IFTA and audit adjustments are not worked out.
• Public holidays are not moved for: a due date that falls on a holiday moves to the next business day.
• MySmartCoPilot is not affiliated with IFTA, Inc. or any member jurisdiction. An estimate, not tax advice.

Privacy

On this device; its files download once

Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot. Loads the PDF and Excel engines and the document fonts from this site the first time you export. Your figures stay in this browser.