mercer transportation

Let's take Jacques, he runs out of AL. Let's assume he runs AL, LA, MS for a whole quarter. If AL tax is .20, LA .30, MS .40. If AL has the cheapest wholesale fuel he should get fuel there, because he's saving money. You have to pay the tax regardless, so get the cheapest wholesale price.

 

what difference does the pump price make if you are going to have to shell out an additional $1000 at the end of the quarter? easier to pay as you go and not get hit with that big payment. It comes out the same in the end so I can't see any benefit. Now, if you check your prices and separate base fuel cost and fuel tax, you see what the base price is and buy based on that price. Or, another way to look at it ... in any state the fuel tax is the same regardless of where you buy it, so yes you buy the cheapest ( not considering some places have crappy fuel) fuel that you can find IN THAT STATE. But comparing one state to another then cheapest price is where you get into trouble. Some states do not even charge the full fuel tax at the pump, only part of it, which makes their price look much more attractive, however you owe even more money then. You could travel exclusively in such a state all year, buy all your fuel in that state, and still you would owe a boatload of money every quarter. Got - to - do - the - math .... or just take your chances.

 

I was in Jersey I paid 440 in ifta one quarter. Why? I bought all my fuel on Jersey ,where fuel tax was $0.175. But I drove in NY, PA, ct, too. These states are more expensive like new york is $0.39. Every galoon of fuel I burned in NY state I would owe them $.215. Ect....

 

yes, that is a simplified view, and one that some of the mega's take to extremes when they "order" a driver to go 60 miles out of route and they buy only 13.6 Gl of fuel. I could never accept that. If you got 5mpg then for ever 5 miles you travel in a state you buy 1 Gl of fuel. Except as already mentioned for states that don't charge the full taxe at the pump, you would come out even on your IFTA by following that method. But who want's to have to stop in every state, and especially on every trip? The easiest I can say to do it is keeping a running total on a quarterly tax form and you would see where you stand at that time.

 

This. I always bought the cheapest before tax fuel. Did it mean i owed a few hundred at the end of the quarter? Yes. But i was paying that tax regardless...either at the pump or when i filed.

 

No problem here's some math: leave out the tax AKA whole sale. If you spent $0.10 more per gallon to avoid paying that $1000, you just increased your fuel costs.

 

Yes, exactly .... and NY is one of the highest, PA not far behind either.

 

Thank you!!!!!

 

okay, is that what you were referring to as wholesale price then? That's where our terminology got a little mixed up. Yeah, that's kind of what I was trying to explain in different words. Base price being pump minus taxes. Wholesale would normally be what the station paid for the fuel, which is where I was getting confused.

 

As long as the wholesale price was the cheapest in NJ then you saved money in the long run.