Lowering the amount you owe on your IFTA return

This table shows the IFTA taxes: http://www.iftach.org/taxmatrix3/choose_tableq2.php

Any other taxes are not applicable for IFTA.


Your strategy should not be to maximize your ifta return or minimize the amount you owe at the end of the quarter, it should be to buy the lowest priced fuel ignoring IFTA taxes altogether.

You pay exactly the same IFTA total regardless of where you fuel. The difference is how much IFTA you prepay (at the pump).

 

With few exceptions no. A handful of states have what they call a surcharge tax. All that means is you pay the tax when you file your ifta instead of at the pump when you buy fuel. The ifta tax form will show current state taxes. Use it to figure out where to buy fuel.

 

Use an app that shows you the cost of fuel without IFTA, and purchase where you get the lowest price that way. You're going to pay local taxes at the pump no matter what. IFTA is on miles and only changes with your route. Since all that is included in a pre-IFTA price, who cares what it is. The goal is getting the lowest cost fuel. If I subtract IFTA and GA fuel is 5¢ less than FL, it doesn't matter how the local taxes are made up. In that (rare since FL is usually a better deal) example, I'll buy my fuel in GA and save $5 on 100 gals. That's not entirely a true case though. What I would really do is buy enough fuel to get me to my home terminal NE of Atlanta plus a margin to reload and get to AL or SC. Then buy more fuel there and save even more.

Playing games with the balance due on an IFTA return is pointless and will usually end up costing you more money at the end of the quarter trying to outsmart the system. It usually doesn't take long to figure out what your averages are and budget for it.

 

Fuelbook. There are others, but that's what I've used the most.

 

Promiles is another online IFTA provider.

 

I live in Illinois, and we have the cheapest fuel price. Indiana has a cheaper pump price, but when you subtract it, Illinois is a better deal.

 

All of the above advice is spot on. Who cares if you have to cut a quarterly check for $500 if you only bought the lowest priced pretax fuel. Whether you pay that $500 at the pump or with your return, you still owe the same amount of taxes. When out west and coming east, I fill up in Oregon which charges no tax at all because that is the cheapest place for me. I am liable for 100% of the taxes in ID, UT, and WY on the quarterly that way, but I get the cheapest fuel. If I only ran Portland to Salt Lake, I would end up paying all of my IFTA on my quarterly and none at the pump, but I'd be buying the cheapest fuel possible.

 

This may be hardest thing to get new guys to understand... too many old timers insist on the buy as you burn, a carryover from the days when permit books where and inch thick with individual state permits.

You guys rock for putting it clearly and succinctly!