Do You Also Unintentionally Make the Common IFTA Fuel Tax Mistakes?
You want to upscale your business security and generate more profit. As a business owner, it’s not always easy to track down your fleet, the driver’s HOS, fuel usage and distance travelled in a particular state. That’s why things might get heavy for you if you don’t know the common mistakes you have been making.
Over the years, we’ve seen many transportation firm owners have one thing in common. And that is to repeat the same mistake because there is tedious paperwork and one needs to devote a lot of time.
Here we bring you the typical mistakes you can avoid and help yourself expand the business for highway use IFTA Tax Reporting.
Mistake#1: Using daily trip reports instead of ELDs
Paperwork is a mess; you must remember all details and put them down. But no! you don’t need paperwork; know the odometer reading for starting and ending points and fill up the measures in your calculator to evaluate the highway use tax accurately. And with smart ELDs, you can trace your vehicle’s GPS location, speed, and driving habit. With this data, you can easily calculate the fuel tax for each state your fleet covers.
Mistake#2: Not keeping the receipts of fuel purchases
Never abandon the fuel receipt for invoice purposes. Maybe you have a roadside assistance service to deliver fuel whenever you need it; no matter what, you should always carry the receipts.
Mistake#3: Not having the retention necessities
Many times the fleet owners aren’t aware of the IFTA regulation. Sometimes they’re not even familiar with it. Always keep in mind that CMV owners must keep their IFTA tax return, along with HOS and trip reports, fuel usage reports and other supporting e-logbook information.
Mistake#4: Having sloppy trip records
Before submitting any report, double-check the errors.
Fill up all the blanks and avoid untidy handwriting. Nobody wants a penalty for silly mistakes. Please ensure the data you show to the inspector is legible and accurate. That’s why you should buy ELD solutions from a reputable business that carries transparency.
Mistake#5: Still utilising the dispatch system to compute miles
We all know how unworthy is the dispatch system for the transportation business. The system allows us to calculate the miles for the goods delivery. It doesn’t function like an ELD that can calculate the mileage from the initial to the ending point. Dispatch miles fail to recognise the miles driven after the delivery, so you miss the readings, and your IFTA trucking report becomes faulty. And this tiny error can cost you a huge amount penalty.
To sum up
Mistakes are no good for any business. Even a tiny error can lead any business to go bankrupt to legal disputes. With an accurate IFTA trucking report, you are on the way to standing your business out of the rest. When you have confidence in your business, your clients rely on you too. There is one solution the all the problems regarding IFTA reporting; investing in an ELD solution.
Brian Styris is the author of this article. For more details about ELD Mandate Canada please visit our website: etrucks.com
