IFTA / IRP daily driver

Discussion in 'Expediter and Hot Shot Trucking Forum' started by Bdog, Aug 25, 2016.

  1. flatbedcarrier

    flatbedcarrier Medium Load Member

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    I do a trip envelope on every load I pull. Makes it easy to keep track of reportable miles. When it's time to do my quarterly report I just use the miles and gallons purchased for each state on the envelopes. Very simple.

    I went through an IFTA audit right after I switch from a semi truck to a 1 ton. Going from 5 mpg loaded to 12 mpg loaded it sent up a red flag. All I had to do is send them copies of my bol's , logs, and fuel receipts. After they received them they called me and asked why my fuel mileage increased and I explained that I sold off my Peterbilt and bought a Dodge dually. They sent everything back. It was a painless process. This was approx 12 years ago.
     
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  3. Bdog

    Bdog Road Train Member

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    While I am not disagreeing with you how would this work? I mean if you filled up and drove half for hire and half personal how could you track gallons used for hire? You may be right you don't have to pay taxes on the personal miles but I would assume you have to keep up with the personal mileage so you can accurately report the for hire mileage/fuel usage.
     
  4. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    Look no matter what others say, Ifta and fuel taxes are tied to the truck no matter what is logged. If you got a sticker on the trucks they can audit your records and can ask for the beginning and ending mileage for the year, not what your logs indicate. If you try to apply a skewed (their words) record keeping system in an attempt to show what mileage is what, they will simply just charge you based in the states you ran in by divide up the mileage accordingly.

    The simple way around this is not to run the truck for personal reasons but use it as a tool.
     
  5. Bdog

    Bdog Road Train Member

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    I agree with your view of the way it works. While your simple solution to not use it for personal reasons would work well if i buy a 70k truck to haul with 1 week a month I don't want it just parked when not in use. It will have to serve as my primary vehicle as well as for hauling.
     
  6. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    Well if you spend 70k on it and it isn't hauling every week, then it makes no sense to me.

    But looking at my fleet, I have two trucks at any given time off the road for different reasons, mainly the driver is Takng a break so spending 70k for a pickup means to me, that it needs to be making money.

    The real problem is you can't get around the issue, unless you want to do this illegally. Fuel going into the tank gets taxed, the amount you eventually pay is determined not when it goes into the tank but after it is used. It is a road tax, but you know that.
     
  7. Bdog

    Bdog Road Train Member

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    My primary business isn't hauling freight. I am a contractor and need to haul my own equipment to job sites. I go to 3 or 4 job sites a month and work around 5 days at each. I will use the truck to get my stuff there. I totally agree it would not make sense to spend that much on a truck if hauling freight was your business and you only did it a week a month. My pickup I drive now was nearly 60k and if I get the bigger truck I will be trading mine in on it. The incremental cost increase isn't that bad.

    I understand the rules and I was not suggesting I wanted to avoid it. I was just asking for easier ways to track it. When I do haul loads for hire which is rare or I haul my equipment on my semi I do a trip envelope type thing. I was wondering if these GPS things that say they can keep track of IFTA would work instead of writing down everything. It isn't so much the miles but the routes taken. When hauling a load it isn't hard but I don't want to have to be doing all that paperwork every time I drive the truck around for personal use I was wondering if one of these gadgets could track it for me.
     
  8. flatbedcarrier

    flatbedcarrier Medium Load Member

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    Top off the tank before you start your for hire run, include that receipt in your trip envelope, and report it on your IFTA quarterly.

    What you have going on is different than how most people in this business operate, not that different from how I operate my truck though. I'm working in my office most of the time and I only jump in my truck to help a customers cover loads if we don't have a owner operator in the area to cover it. Or I may run out and repower a load if a owner operator breaks down. I run for hire maybe 5 times a year these days.

    If I was going to operate the way you've described I'd report all fuel and miles from the time I left home to the time I returned. All miles while you're on the job. It's really not very complicated to do that.

    Like I said earlier though, call IFTA and tell them what you're doing and see what they recommend. IFTA has ways been willing to offer info.
     
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