Not tax advice. This is general information for truckers, not tax or legal advice. Rules, rates and deadlines change, so verify the details with your base jurisdiction or a qualified tax professional before you file.

IFTA Quarter-End Checklist: What to Check Before the Report Is Due

An IFTA quarterly report is due on the last day of the month after the quarter ends. That works out to 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January, or the next business day when that date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. The checklist below runs in this order: pull the miles, pull the fuel, check the MPG, work out taxable gallons, use that quarter's rates, net out credits, send it in, keep the papers.

Below is that list, one item at a time, with the rule behind each one and a link to where the rule is written.

For the full walk-through of filling in the report line by line, see our step-by-step guide to preparing an IFTA report. This post is a shorter list to run down at the truck stop; it is not a complete list of what a report needs.

When is the IFTA quarterly report due?

The IFTA Articles of Agreement set the reporting periods as the calendar quarters. The report and full payment are due on the last day of the month following the close of the quarter.

The months below are the Articles' calendar quarters; the due dates are as the Nebraska DMV lists them:

Quarter	Months covered	Due date
First	1 January – 31 March	30 April
Second	1 April – 30 June	31 July
Third	1 July – 30 September	31 October
Fourth	1 October – 31 December	31 January

Under the Articles, if the last day of the month falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the next business day is the due date. For a given quarter's exact date, your base jurisdiction's own page has the final word.

Penalties and deadlines in California and Texas are in our post on IFTA filing deadlines and penalties in California and Texas.

The quarter-end checklist

1. Was there any running at all?

A quiet quarter still counts. The Articles say reports are required even if no operations were conducted or no taxable fuel was used during the quarter. Truck in the shop for three months? The report is still due.

2. Does every trip have a full record?

For trip records that do not come from a vehicle-tracking system, the IFTA Procedures Manual lists the elements that make them adequate:

• Start and end dates of the trip
• Where it started and where it ended
• The route
• Beginning and ending odometer, hubodometer or ECM reading
• Total distance of the trip
• Distance in each jurisdiction
• The VIN or unit number

Records from a tracking system have their own list in the manual, in section P540.200.

Not sure which miles go in? See which miles count for IFTA.

3. Are all the miles in the total, taxable or not?

The Procedures Manual says the report includes total distance traveled by the fleet's qualified motor vehicles, whether those miles are taxable or nontaxable by a jurisdiction. So the total counts the non-taxable miles too, not just the taxable ones.

4. Does every fuel receipt carry what the manual asks for?

For tax-paid credit, the Procedures Manual says a retail receipt, invoice or transaction listing must show:

• Date of the purchase
• Seller's name and address (a vendor code, properly identified, is accepted)
• How much fuel
• What type of fuel

The manual's list goes on past these four, in section P550.300. Our post on fuel receipt best practices goes through the rest.

The receipts stay with you. The Articles say licensees are not required to submit proof of tax-paid purchases with their reports.

5. Is the MPG worked out to two decimals?

The Procedures Manual requires the report to show the average fuel consumption factor to two decimal places for the quarter.

West Virginia's instructions spell out the math: total miles divided by the total gallons put into the supply tanks during the period gives the average fleet MPG.

For how to round to two places, look to your base jurisdiction's own instructions.

6. Are taxable gallons worked out from taxable miles?

West Virginia's instructions get taxable gallons by dividing taxable miles by the average MPG for that fuel type. Our post on why taxable gallons don't match fuel purchased explains the gap between the two numbers.

7. Are the rates the ones for that quarter?

New York's instructions say to enter the rate for the fuel type from its rate table for the quarter you are preparing.

The Texas Comptroller says tax rates for current and prior periods can be found at IFTA Inc. IFTA, Inc. is at iftach.org, the same site that publishes the Articles and the Procedures Manual linked in this post. What moves from quarter to quarter is in our post on IFTA rate changes by quarter.

8. Have overpayments and old credits been netted out?

Under the Articles, an overpayment in one jurisdiction can be applied against tax owed to another on the same report, and the net tax is paid to the base jurisdiction.

Under the same section of the Articles, a credit that is not refunded carries over to later quarters until it is used up or eight calendar quarters have passed from the end of the quarter it arose in, whichever comes first. How a credit shows on the form is a question for your base jurisdiction.

9. Who gets the report and the money?

The licensee files with its base jurisdiction and pays the tax owed to every member jurisdiction to the base jurisdiction, by the due date.

10. How is it being sent?

• By mail: the Articles treat a report as received and filed on the date of the national postal service's cancellation mark. The same section requires the envelope to be properly addressed with enough postage.
• Online: under the Articles, a report sent electronically counts as received and filed on the date the base jurisdiction's own laws set. Your base jurisdiction can tell you what that date is.

11. Is there a copy, and are the records put away?

New York's quarterly form says to make a copy of this return for your records. That is one state's form.

The Procedures Manual says a licensee keeps the records behind each report for four years from the date it was due or filed, whichever is later, plus any period covered by waivers or jeopardy assessments.

What goes in the box, and how to store it, is in IFTA records: what to keep and for how long. If an auditor ever calls, what happens in an IFTA audit covers the visit.

The short version

• Report due last day of the month after the quarter, next business day if that is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday
• Report goes in even with no miles
• Every trip has its full record
• Total miles include non-taxable miles
• Every receipt claimed for tax-paid credit shows date, seller, quantity, fuel type, and the rest of the manual's list in P550.300
• MPG to two decimals
• Taxable gallons worked out as your base jurisdiction's instructions say
• Rates for that quarter
• Credits netted, old credits tracked
• Sent to the base jurisdiction, with payment
• Records kept four years from the due or filed date, whichever is later, plus any period covered by waivers or jeopardy assessments

When something here does not match what your base jurisdiction says, their word wins.

WheelsAndAxle turns logged miles and fuel into a worksheet, a preparation aid for review before filing.

Sources

• IFTA, Inc. — IFTA Articles of Agreement (2026 edition, effective 26 August 2026) — checked 2026-10-13
• IFTA, Inc. — IFTA Procedures Manual (2026 edition, effective 26 August 2026) — checked 2026-10-13
• Nebraska DMV — IFTA quarterly due dates — checked 2026-10-13
• West Virginia — IFTA quarterly tax report instructions (revised 4 January 2024) — checked 2026-10-13
• New York State — Form IFTA-101 instructions (revision 5/26) — checked 2026-10-13
• New York State — Form IFTA-100, quarterly fuel use tax form (revision 5/19) — checked 2026-10-13
• Texas Comptroller — International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) — checked 2026-10-13