Fuel tax specialists
Work the quarterly return, chase receipts, accept rebuilds and sign as preparer
- Each cell opening to its trips and receipts
- Card provider and vendor answering only what is needed
- What the auditor would assess, before filing
Features
IFTA reporting features, from ELD trip miles to a return filed by two people
Fuel tax specialists and assistant controllers use them to prove each figure before the base jurisdiction asks. The screens follow one fleet's third-quarter return.
demoInvented for the sample: the carrier, its tractors and staff, the card provider, the fuel vendor and each figure you see.
- 01Worked return
IFTA return worked as a sheet: miles, taxable gallons, tax-paid gallons, tax
- Fleet MPG shown as its equation. Miles over gallons sits under the sheet, so each taxable-gallon figure traces back to the one number it depends on.
- Each cell opens to its trips and receipts. The specialist answers an auditor's question about any jurisdiction from the row itself, not from a folder.
- Gap rows kept inside the sheet. A charge missing details, reefer fuel or rebuilt miles stays visible on its row until a person closes it, then shrinks to a tag.
- 02Auditor's read
Challenger reads the draft as the base jurisdiction's IFTA auditor would
- Each point priced as would be assessed. The specialist sees what each weak record would cost on audit and works the expensive ones first.
- A month sampled and a truck rebuilt. The challenger rebuilds one tractor's miles from its distance record, as an IFTA audit does, before the state does it.
- Errors in the agents' own draft caught. Reefer fuel counted as tractor fuel comes out of the draft before anyone signs it.
- 03Fuel records
Fuel receipts missing one of the seven details, each with an owner and a clock
- Card lines sorted by product first. DEF, reefer fuel, scales and washes are set aside, so only diesel placed in a qualified vehicle earns tax-paid credit.
- Each fill checked for the seven details. A hand-keyed line with no gallons or fuel type is caught at intake rather than by the auditor.
- Drivers asked in bulk, on a clock. Missing receipts are requested from drivers within the standing deadline instead of at quarter end.
- 04Card provider
Fuel-card provider answers transaction detail in fixed fields
- Only the fields IFTA needs, per transaction. The provider answers seller, gallons, fuel type, price, unit and purchaser, which is what a third-party transaction listing must show.
- Typed gallons replace the estimate. The credit moves with what the provider sends, and an empty field keeps the line open instead of guessing.
- Driver requests withdrawn once covered. When the card detail is complete, drivers stop hunting for paper receipts.
- 05Yard vendor
Mobile fuel vendor types each truck's gallons and whether state tax was paid
- One delivery split truck by truck. A single card charge for a yard delivery becomes per-unit gallons that can be credited and audited.
- Tax included answered yes or no. The evidence that state tax was paid becomes a field on the fill record, where the auditor will look for it.
- 06Vendor note
Vendor's free-text note read and routed by the fuel tax specialist
- Exact words, with sender and time. No agent summarizes or acts on what the vendor wrote; the specialist reads it before the charge can close.
- Routed with a reason code. A payment question goes to accounts payable, while a gallons question asks for a corrected ticket and keeps the charge open.
- 07Rebuilt trip
Miles lost in a GPS gap rebuilt from bills of lading and a fuel stop
- Gap found by the ten-minute reading rule. A stretch with no reading for the required interval is flagged, so miles do not fall into no jurisdiction unnoticed.
- Rebuilt miles labeled on the return. The rebuild travels with the return, the binder and the audit package as rebuilt, never as GPS miles.
- Accepted only after the record is opened. The specialist opens the trip record and gives a reason before rebuilt miles count.
- 08What-if
IFTA audit what-if on disallowed receipts, the GPS gap and 4.00 MPG
- Each weak record played forward. The specialist sees the tax at stake if the three charges were disallowed or the gap left unplaced.
- The fleet-wide failure case priced. What failed records would cost the whole fleet is on screen while there is still time to fix them.
- Rates and MPG editable as assumptions. Nothing in the what-if changes the return or touches its signatures.
- 09Sign and file
IFTA fuel tax return prepared, co-signed and filed by two people
- Preparer, then a second person. The assistant controller's co-signature stays locked until the worked return and the rebuilt trip have been opened.
- What goes to the state beside the signatures. Total miles, gallons, fleet MPG, jurisdictions and net tax are read at the moment of signing.
- Records kept four years. Trip records, fill records, the yard reconciliation and each signature stay with the quarter for the retention the manual sets.