4th Quarter 2009 IFTA returns due soon

Your 4th quarter 2009 IFTA fuel tax report is due by January 31, 2010.

Collect all your diesel gallons purchased and miles driven between October 1 and December 31, 2009.  Then, use IFTA Plus to enter your information and prepare your IFTA return.

Safe driving!

IFTA Plus Discontinues Utah IFTA Fuel Tax Preparation

As of 1/20/2010, IFTA Plus is discontinuing our Utah IFTA preparation because of new Utah state regulations requiring all companies to file fuel tax returns using their online website.  All of our existing Utah companies will be receiving a full refund for any pre-paid quarters.

Utah now joins Minnesota in adopting regulations that act solely in the State’s best interest without regard for existing practices, tools and vendors of the transportation industry.

How to properly calculate IFTA taxes owed per truck

IFTA Plus has established itself as the leader in online IFTA fuel tax preparation boasting thousands of customers and a growing number of features.  One issue, however, has long confused customers and hopefully this will help clarify the matter.

When preparing a state IFTA fuel tax return, IFTA Plus combines all miles driven and fuel purchased across all trucks within the company.  An overall company MPG is calculated and used to determine the amount of taxes a company owes.  IFTA Plus offers a report showing the amount of taxes owed for each truck.  Here lies the problem because there are two approaches to this calculation.

1)  Use the company MPG when calculating truck taxes.

This approach uses the company MPG along with the truck mileage and fuel to determine the truck taxes.  If a company has 5 trucks and this method is used, the sum of the taxes owed per truck will equal the amount of taxes owed by the company.

2) Use the truck MPG when calculating truck taxes.

This approach uses the truck MPG along with the truck mileage and fuel to determine the truck taxes.  If a company has 5 trucks and this method is used, the sum of the taxes owed per truck will not equal the amount of taxes owed by the company.  The total taxes owed equals the amount the truck would pay if it were to file on its own.

While the difference may seem slight, it method greatly alters the amount of taxes owed per truck.  Take the following example of 2 trucks.

In this scenario, the overall company drove 20000 miles and bought 3500 gallons of fuel for a company MPG of 5.71.  The company would have an IFTA credit of $6.29.

When calculating the amount owed per truck

If we use the company MPG, Truck 1 would owe $139.57 and Truck 2 would get a credit of $145.86.  The total of these equals the overall company IFTA credit of $6.29.  If we use the truck MPG, Truck 1 would get a credit of $20.00 and truck 2 would owe $31.25.  The total of these does not equal the overall amount paid by the company.

Which approach is best for you?

This is hard to determine.  You will be able to justify either approach.  Using the company MPG penalizes drivers who get better gas mileage, but it better reflects their contribution to the amount of taxes your company paid.  Using the truck MPG is more fair to the drivers, but in the end the sum of the trucks does not total the amount owed by your company.

No matter which choice you prefer, IFTA Plus lets you decide which method is best and provides you an easy way to switch between these methods.  For current customers, to change this setting navigate to settings -> IFTA  and check or uncheck the ‘use the company MPG as compared to the truck MPG’ setting.

IFTA Plus Helps Prevent and Manage IFTA Audits

At least 3% of all trucking companies must undergo an IFTA audit each year. IFTA Plus can help your company through an IFTA Audit.

Q4 2009 IFTA fuel tax preparation

As of this morning, January 1 2010, IFTA Plus is ready to prepare your fourth quarter 2009 IFTA fuel tax return.

If you already have an account with IFTA Plus, sign in and start entering your miles and fuel.  If not, our registration process takes only a minute and we walk you through each step in the filing process.  You don’t have to pay for anything until you are ready to print out your state IFTA fuel tax return.

To complete your return, you will need to collect your miles per state and fuel purchases per state between October 1 and December 31.  If you need help with older returns, we can file any quarter since Q1 2007.

As always, feel free to contact us if you need further assistance.  See you soon!

Thanks for a successful Q3 09 filing season

I’d like to start off by saying thanks to each company that used IFTA Plus to prepare their third quarter 2009 IFTA fuel tax return.  This quarter, like many others, saw a lot of milestones for us.

This quarter:

• Saw our ninth consecutive 20% quarterly increase in the number of IFTA returns prepared.
• Had over 81% of our filers from last quarter return this quarter.
• Experienced numerous calls from satisfied customers praising the ease of use and the speed of preparation.

We talked with over 85 companies who called to say thanks, ask questions, or to ask for help.  From these conversations, we understand the pains the trucking industry is experiencing right now.  Many companies can’t make enough money to support their business.  We hear you and we are working hard to make sure your next quarter fuel tax filing will be easier, faster and cheaper than ever.  If you have any suggestions, let us know by leaving a comment.  We are always looking forward to customer suggestions.

Thank you all for your new and continued business.  Drive safe and we’ll see you next quarter.

Stuart Ludlow – IFTA Plus

1 Week Left to File Q3 2009 IFTA Fuel Tax Reports

Your third quarter 2009 IFTA fuel tax report is due in one week by October 31, 2009.

Collect all your diesel gallons purchased and miles driven between July 1 and September 30, 2009 and head to www.iftaplus.com to enter your information and print out our IFTA report.  That’s all you need.

Safe driving!

Top 7 IFTA Plus Questions

IFTA Plus is the default IFTA fuel tax preparation software for over 1500 companies.  If you are looking for an immediate, affordable, accurate, and proven online fuel tax preparation software, IFTA Plus is a great choice.  Read what a few of our customers have to say about us.

1) Does IFTA Plus prepare my IFTA return for me?
Yes, our IFTA Plus software prepares your fuel tax return.  However, when we prepare it is based on you. You enter your own miles driven and fuel purchased and then you tell us when to prepare your return.  30 seconds later, your return is prepared and sent to you via email.

2) What states can you prepare?
We can prepare all US states except for Minnesota and Idaho.  We support miles driven in Canada, but don’t currenly support Canadian returns.

3) How fast can I generate my IFTA return?
This depends on how much information you have.  If you have your mileage driven per state and fuel purchased per state, you can sign up, enter your data, and print your return in about 15 minutes.  If you have a lot of trucks and data, you can use our bulk upload excel spreadsheet speed up the data entry process.

4) Do I pay my fuel taxes online?
No.  IFTA Plus does not collect any money owed to your state.  We only collect $25 to prepare your return.  You are responsible for printing out the return, signing it, and sending a check to your state if taxes are owed.

5) Can I manage multiple companies with a single login?
Yes.  If you are responsible for preparing returns for separate companies, you can create an account hierarchy that lets you change between all companies.

6) Can you prepare past quarters and do you calculate penalties?
Of course we can.  We can prepare any fuel tax return for any quarter since Q1 2006, our first quarter in business.  We will also calculate any past penalties imposed by your state.

7) Do you store my returns?
Yes, we store a copy of your return on our servers forever.  If you ever need to refer to past returns, we always have a version saved.

Don’t forget the 4 Required Steps to File your IFTA Fuel Taxes.

Do you have any IFTA Plus questions?

Updated Contact Phone Number

The IFTA Plus phone number has recently changed to 816.200.PLUS

Q3 2009 IFTA fuel tax returns

As of October 1 2009, we are officially ready to prepare your third quarter 2009 IFTA fuel tax return.

If you already have an account with IFTA Plus, sign in and start entering your miles and fuel.  If not, our registration process takes only a minute and we walk you through each step in the filing process.  You don’t have to pay for anything until you are ready to print out your state IFTA fuel tax return.

To complete your return, you will need to collect your miles per state and fuel purchases per state between July 1 and September 30.  If you need help with older returns, we can file any quarter since Q1 2007.

As always, feel free to contact us if you need further assistance.  See you soon!