If your truck has three or more axles, or weighs more than 26,000 pounds by itself or in combination, and it runs in more than one state or province, you need two credentials from your home state: an IFTA fuel tax license and IRP apportioned registration. Both run on one set of records, the miles you drove in each jurisdiction, and in an IFTA audit the burden of proving those miles is on you.
Your base jurisdiction applies these rules, so its IFTA and IRP office has the final word on your account. Other state-by-state truck rules are on the regulations hub.
Who has to register
IFTA calls the truck a qualified motor vehicle. Under Section R245 of the IFTA Articles of Agreement, that is a motor vehicle used, designed, or maintained to carry persons or property that has two axles and a gross or registered gross weight over 26,000 pounds (11,797 kg), or has three or more axles regardless of weight, or runs in a combination that weighs more than 26,000 pounds. Recreational vehicles are excluded.
IRP uses the same weight and axle tests for an apportionable vehicle, with two differences in the IRP Plan's Article II definitions. It covers power units that haul property, or that carry passengers for hire, in two or more member jurisdictions. A power unit of 26,000 pounds or less may still be apportioned if you choose.
The member lists differ by one. IFTA members are the 48 contiguous states and the 10 Canadian provinces. IRP has 59 members: the same 58 plus the District of Columbia. Alaska, Hawaii, and the three Canadian territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut) belong to neither.
You register in your base jurisdiction. For IFTA, Section R212 defines it as the member jurisdiction where your trucks are based for registration, where your operational records are kept or can be made available, and where the fleet runs at least some miles. One IFTA license covers every member jurisdiction for fuel tax, and one apportioned plate and cab card cover registration.
If you almost never leave your home state, you have two lighter options. IFTA, Inc. tells carriers that occasional trips outside the base jurisdiction can be covered with trip permits instead of a license. And under Section R930.200, a licensee whose travel outside the base jurisdiction totals less than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) in 12 consecutive months can ask the base jurisdiction for approval to file one IFTA return a year instead of four.
IRP: how apportioned registration fees work
IRP splits your registration fees among the jurisdictions where your fleet ran, by distance. The IRP Plan's apportionment percentage is your fleet's distance in one jurisdiction divided by its distance in all member jurisdictions during the reporting period. The base jurisdiction applies that percentage to each jurisdiction's full-year fee for the weight you register, collects the total, and passes each jurisdiction its share.
The reporting period is the 12 months from July 1 to June 30 before the registration year begins. If your registration year starts in January 2027, your fees are based on distance run from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. Total distance means every mile the fleet ran, loaded, empty, deadhead, and bobtail, and the Texas DMV packet adds personal miles to the list.
Since January 1, 2015, IRP has run under full reciprocity. Your cab card lists every member jurisdiction, so you can run anywhere in IRP territory during the year, and at renewal you pay only for the jurisdictions where you actually ran during the reporting period. Michigan's IRP manual also notes that the apportioned plate and cab card let you run intrastate in every member jurisdiction.
A new account with no miles in the reporting period is billed on average per vehicle distance (APVD), which the base jurisdiction builds from the distance its other IRP carriers report in each jurisdiction. Fees under APVD are spread across all member jurisdictions. Michigan's manual warns that, depending on when the account opens, APVD can apply for two consecutive years.
Real fees depend on your base state, the weight you declare in each jurisdiction, and where you ran, so get a quote from your base jurisdiction's IRP office before you budget. Two things to have ready when you apply or renew:
- A USDOT number for the carrier responsible for safety on each truck.
- A stamped Schedule 1 from IRS Form 2290 for any truck with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more. The IRS instructions say states generally require proof the tax is paid before they register the vehicle.
Filing an IRP application does not make the truck legal to run. Michigan's manual says plainly that until the plate and cab card arrive, you need a trip permit or a temporary authorization.
IRP records and audits
IRP retention is shorter than IFTA's. The rule, as quoted in Ohio's IRP and IFTA recordkeeping guide, is that a registrant keeps the records behind each apportioned application for three years after the close of the registration year it covers. Texas describes the same thing as three reporting periods plus the current one.
Base jurisdictions audit IRP accounts too. The Texas DMV says IRP requires it to audit 3 percent of the fleets that renew under the Plan each year. If an auditor finds your records inadequate, Ohio's guide lists the assessment: 20 percent of the apportionable fees you paid for the fleet in the audited year, 50 percent on a second offense, and 100 percent on a third.
IFTA: the quarterly return
You file one IFTA return with your base jurisdiction each quarter. Filing and paying there discharges your obligation to every other member jurisdiction (Section R920). The return is due on the last day of the month after the quarter ends (Section R960):
- First quarter (January to March): April 30
- Second quarter (April to June): July 31
- Third quarter (July to September): October 31
- Fourth quarter (October to December): January 31
When the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the next business day is the due date. October 31, 2026 is a Saturday, so the third-quarter 2026 return is due Monday, November 2, 2026. January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, which moves the fourth-quarter return to Monday, February 1, 2027.
You must file even in a quarter when the truck never moved (Section R930.100). A late zero return can still draw the minimum penalty.
The math on the return works like this, and the Procedures Manual (Section P720) lists the same fields every jurisdiction's form must carry:
- Add up total miles in all jurisdictions and total gallons for the quarter. Total miles include miles run on trip permits.
- Divide miles by gallons for your average MPG, carried to two decimal places.
- For each jurisdiction, divide taxable miles there by your MPG to get taxable gallons.
- Multiply taxable gallons by that jurisdiction's rate for the quarter. That is the tax you owe it.
- Subtract the tax-paid gallons you bought there, backed by receipts. The difference is what you owe or the credit you earned in that jurisdiction.
A credit in one jurisdiction offsets tax owed to another on the same return. Under Section R1120, an unused credit carries forward until it is used up or eight calendar quarters pass, whichever comes first, or you can ask for a refund under Section R1110.
Penalties and interest
Section R1220 lets the base jurisdiction charge a penalty of $50 or 10 percent of the delinquent tax, whichever is greater, for not filing, filing late, or underpaying. Interest is separate. For a fleet based in the United States, Section R1230 sets the annual rate at two percentage points above the IRS underpayment rate under Internal Revenue Code Section 6621(a)(2), reset every January 1 and charged monthly at one-twelfth of the annual rate. Canadian-based fleets pay the 1-year Canadian federal treasury bill rate plus two percent, rounded up to the next whole point.
The base jurisdiction can waive the penalty for reasonable cause (Section R1260). Interest is harder to get waived. The Agreement allows it when the return was late because the base jurisdiction gave you wrong information and its law permits a waiver, and interest owed to another jurisdiction needs that jurisdiction's written approval. If a delinquency is not paid, or appealed in writing, within 30 days of the delinquency notice, Section R1270 has the base jurisdiction send a notice revoking the license.
Tax rates
IFTA, Inc. publishes a rate matrix for every quarter at iftach.org, and your return uses the rates for the quarter you are reporting. Rates can change in any quarter. In 2026, US diesel rates moved at the start of the first, second, and third quarters.
In the third-quarter 2026 matrix, the highest US diesel rates were California at 97.9 cents a gallon, Pennsylvania at 74.1, Illinois at 73.8, Indiana at 63.0, and Washington at 59.5. The lowest were Oklahoma at 19 cents, Texas and Louisiana at 20, and New Mexico at 21. Kentucky and Virginia list a separate diesel surcharge on top of the base rate (10.5 and 14.3 cents in that quarter).
Oregon shows no diesel rate in the matrix. Oregon DOT says its IFTA licensees still file a separate mileage tax report for Oregon's weight-mile tax, in addition to the quarterly fuel tax return. A few other states also charge their own weight-distance taxes outside IFTA; the weight-distance tax page covers them state by state.
IFTA, Inc. also posts notices about emergency executive orders and tax rate memos on its Important Notices page. Check it before you file a quarter in which a state announced a fuel tax change.
Decals and the license in the cab
Your base jurisdiction issues one IFTA license and two decals per qualified vehicle (Sections R605 and R625). The decals go on the outside of both sides of the cab. Each truck must carry a copy of the license, and Section R620 requires every member jurisdiction to accept a paper original, a paper copy, or an electronic image.
The license runs for the calendar year and expires December 31. Section R630 lets you display renewal decals and the new license up to two months before the effective date, and Section R655 gives a grace period in January and February, during which you can run on the valid prior-year credentials or a single-trip permit from the jurisdiction you are in. A temporary decal permit from your base jurisdiction covers a truck for 30 days while you wait to apply decals (Section R263).
Missing decals or a missing license copy can mean buying a trip permit at the roadside, a citation, or both (Section R660).
Records IFTA expects you to keep
Keep IFTA records for four years from the date the return was due or filed, whichever is later, plus any period covered by a waiver or jeopardy assessment (Procedures Manual Section P510). In an IFTA audit, the burden of proof is on you (P520).
For trip sheets or other records not produced by a tracking system, Section P540.100 lists what an adequate distance record contains:
- Beginning and ending dates of the trip
- Origin and destination
- Route of travel
- Beginning and ending odometer, hubodometer, or ECM reading
- Total trip distance
- Distance in each jurisdiction
- VIN or unit number
If you rely on GPS instead, Section P540.200 requires a position record at least every 10 minutes while the engine is on, with date and time, latitude and longitude to four decimal places, the ECM odometer reading, and the VIN or unit number. The data must be available as a spreadsheet or delimited file (XLS, XLSX, CSV). A PDF or image export of the same data does not qualify. Ohio's recordkeeping guide puts the IRP interval at 15 minutes, so a 10-minute record covers both programs.
Check what your ELD actually stores. The federal ELD rule (49 CFR Part 395, Appendix A to Subpart B, Section 4.5.1.2) only requires an intermediate location record once an hour while the truck moves, which is far coarser than IFTA's 10-minute standard. If you file from your ELD provider's fuel tax report, confirm the system keeps 10-minute points and exports them in one of the formats above.
For fuel bought at retail, Section P550.300 says a receipt counts for tax-paid credit only if it shows the date, the seller's name and address, the quantity and type of fuel, the price per unit or the total price, the truck the fuel went into, and the purchaser's name. Altered or illegible receipts are rejected unless you can prove they are valid. Fuel card statements and electronic copies of receipts are acceptable records under Section P550.220.
If you run your own bulk tank, Sections P550.400 and P550.600 add delivery receipts, a quarterly inventory reconciliation for each tank, each tank's capacity, and a withdrawal record showing the date, quantity, fuel type, and the vehicle fueled. Bulk fuel earns tax-paid credit only if tax was paid to the jurisdiction where the tank sits (P550.500).
What an IFTA audit looks like
Each base jurisdiction must audit an average of 3 percent of its IFTA accounts per year (Audit Manual Section A250). At least 15 percent of those audits must involve low-distance accounts and at least 25 percent high-distance accounts, so small fleets get picked as well as large ones (A260). An audit that counts toward that requirement covers all returns for a license year, or at least four consecutive quarters.
Most audits work on samples (A330). The auditor picks sample periods meant to represent your operation, checks them against your source records, and projects the findings. A gap in GPS data or fuel receipts inside a sample period can be projected across the whole audit period.
When records fail the adequacy test, Section P570 tells the base jurisdiction what to assess. As revised by IFTA Ballot 3-2025, effective January 1, 2026, it either reduces your reported fleet MPG to 4.00 or reduces your reported fuel consumption factor by 20 percent. For jurisdictions that tax fuel through a distance rate, it raises your miles in that jurisdiction by 20 percent instead. Undocumented fuel purchases can also lose their tax-paid credit. At 4.00 MPG, a truck that really gets 6.5 MPG is billed for over 60 percent more taxable gallons than it burned.
You can appeal an assessment through your base jurisdiction under Sections R1390 and R1400.
Heavy vehicle use tax (Form 2290)
The HVUT is a federal tax, paid to the IRS, and it is separate from IFTA and IRP. It applies to highway vehicles with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more. On the July 2026 revision of Form 2290, the annual tax runs from $100 at 55,000 pounds, plus $22 for each additional 1,000 pounds, up to $550 for anything over 75,000 pounds.
The current tax period runs July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. The return is due by the last day of the month after the month the truck is first used in the period, which is August 31 for a truck on the road in July. You can claim suspension for a truck expected to run 5,000 miles or less in the period (7,500 for agricultural vehicles). The stamped Schedule 1 is the proof your IRP office will ask for.
What changed in 2026
IFTA Ballot 5-2024 took effect January 1, 2026. It added definitions for the kilowatt hour (R229) and for "volume" as the measure of motor fuel placed in or used by a truck (R267). Electricity is already on the Agreement's list of motor fuels (R239), and the kilowatt hour is its unit.
The revised inadequate-records assessment from Ballot 3-2025, described above, also took effect January 1, 2026.
First-quarter 2026 diesel rate increases in the IFTA matrix: New Jersey rose 4.2 cents (51.9 to 56.1), Michigan 1.7 cents (50.7 to 52.4), Minnesota 0.8 cents, and North Carolina 0.7 cents. Illinois, New York, and Utah went down slightly.
IFTA, Inc. published new editions of the Articles of Agreement, Procedures Manual, and Audit Manual effective August 26, 2026.
The third-quarter 2026 IFTA return is due Monday, November 2. Before you file it, pull the 3Q2026 rate matrix from iftach.org and compare each jurisdiction's miles on the return against your GPS or trip sheet totals for the quarter.