IFTA guide

How to file IFTA: quarterly steps and 2026 due dates

You file one IFTA fuel tax return each quarter with your base jurisdiction. The return needs two sets of numbers for every state you drove in: miles and gallons of fuel. This guide gives the 2026 due dates, the steps, the records you must keep and a worked example, and shows what LaneTally prepares for you.

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Information only. LaneTally organizes your miles and gallons and builds a table you can download as a CSV file that opens in Excel. It does not file your IFTA return, does not know the tax rates and is not tax advice. Rules differ by base jurisdiction, so check with yours or with your accountant. Last checked: October 27, 2026.

Who has to file IFTA

IFTA, the International Fuel Tax Agreement, lets a trucking company pay fuel tax to many states and provinces with one return instead of one per state. You get one IFTA license from your base jurisdiction, which is usually where your trucks are registered, and file there. Under the IFTA Articles of Agreement (section R245), a qualified motor vehicle has two axles and a gross or registered weight over 26,000 pounds, or three or more axles, or is used in a combination over 26,000 pounds. IFTA covers qualified vehicles that travel in two or more member jurisdictions.

Anyone who holds an IFTA license has to file. Section R930 says a return is required each quarter even if no operations were conducted or no taxable fuel was used.

IFTA due dates for 2026

A return and its payment are due on the last day of the month after the quarter ends. If that day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the next business day is the due date (Articles of Agreement, section R960). That moves two of the 2026 dates:

The Georgia Department of Revenue publishes the same four dates. Your own base jurisdiction publishes its calendar and takes the final say, so use its date if it shows a different one. Late returns can bring penalties and interest.

How to file IFTA, step by step

1. Close the quarter. Make sure every trip and fuel receipt is in.
2. Add up miles by state. Miles driven in each state or province, plus your total, loaded and empty.
3. Add up gallons by state. Gallons bought in each state, plus your total.
4. Work out your miles per gallon. Total miles divided by total gallons.
5. Work out the gallons you used in each state. The miles in that state divided by your miles per gallon.
6. Compare used and bought. If you used more fuel in a state than you bought there, you owe tax on the difference. If you bought more than you used, you have a credit.
7. Enter the numbers in your base jurisdiction's return. The return applies each state's tax rate for that quarter. Most base jurisdictions have an online portal, and some accept a paper return (the IFTA-100). Pay any balance due.
8. Keep a copy and your records.

Worked example (example numbers only)

One truck, one quarter, two states. These numbers are made up to show the method.

Gallons used are miles divided by 6.25: 6,000 ÷ 6.25 = 960 and 14,000 ÷ 6.25 = 2,240. In State A the truck used 160 more gallons than it bought, so tax is owed on 160 gallons at State A's rate. In State B it bought 160 more than it used, so there is a credit for 160 gallons at State B's rate. Your base jurisdiction's return does the tax multiplication and nets the states together.

The records IFTA expects you to keep

The IFTA Procedures Manual (sections P510 to P550) says to keep records of your operations for four years after the return was due or filed, whichever is later. In an audit the burden of proof is on you. Two kinds of records matter:

• Distance records: trip dates, origin and destination, route, odometer readings, total distance, distance in each jurisdiction and the truck's unit number or VIN.
• Fuel records: for a tax-paid credit on retail fuel, a receipt, card receipt or transaction listing showing the date, the seller's name and address, the quantity and type of fuel, the price, the truck, and the buyer's name.

What LaneTally prepares for IFTA

• Miles by state for each quarter, from your delivered loads. LaneTally splits each load's route at the state borders and adjusts it to the load's real loaded plus empty miles, with empty miles counted in the pickup state.
• You can correct a load's miles by state.
• Gallons by state from the fuel receipts drivers send and you approve, plus fuel you add yourself from a fuel card statement. Receipts missing gallons or the state are listed for you to fix.
• The IFTA table: miles and gallons bought in each state, your average miles per gallon, the gallons used in each state and the difference. Download it as a CSV file that opens in Excel.

What it does not do: it does not file the return, it does not know the tax rates or work out the tax, it does not cover Canadian provinces yet (only the 48 states of the lower 48), and it does not use GPS miles today. Miles by state in LaneTally are estimates built from each load's route, not odometer readings from a tracking device. Ask your base jurisdiction whether your records are enough for an audit. GPS state miles from the phone app and reading the state and gallons from a receipt photo with AI are Coming at launch. See IFTA reporting software for the full list.

Common IFTA mistakes

• Missing fuel receipts. Gallons you cannot show do not get the tax-paid credit, so you may pay that tax twice.
• Skipping a quarter with no miles. The return is still due.
• Missing the weekend rule. The Q3 2026 return is due November 2, not October 31.
• Waiting for the last week. Check totals monthly and keep receipts as in trucking expense tracking.

Sources

• IFTA, Inc.: Articles of Agreement and Procedures Manual (sections R245, R930, R960, P510 to P550, R1010; editions effective August 26, 2026).
• Georgia Department of Revenue: IFTA due dates.