Around the Industry | Leasing & Rental
June 21, 2023
Who’s IFTA Account is Being Used?
By Danny Siem, PacLease Fuel Tax Manager
There are many ways of acquiring a truck; Buying new or used, leasing, or even long-term rentals. But with all these variations who’s responsible for reporting and ultimately filing appropriate fuel taxes?
The registered owner of the truck will need to determine if the truck should be reported under the registered owners’ International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) or if the truck will be reported under the Lease Partners’ IFTA. Once that decision has been determined, the responsible party will need to ensure IFTA fuel taxes are reported based on the expected schedule.
Let’s break this down with the following example: You have a fleet of trucks all registered to yourself. From there you decide to lease units out to your neighbor for a period of time. Before releasing the keys to your neighbor, you need to ask; Who is filing the fuel taxes? Let’s assume that your neighbor agrees it’s best for you to file fuel taxes, then your expectation is that you should receive all the necessary information to do so. Information like where the truck traveled, where the truck fueled up, how much the truck fueled up and the date the truck fueled up.
Let’s add another layer. Your neighbor does not turn in the necessary information to you. What do you do now? You need to get that information.
But what if your neighbor is not cooperating? Now you must ask yourself, do you wait until they cooperate or file what you have with penalties?
This additional layer is where a lot of my customers come to me and ask, what should we do? My responses are always the same. What do you want to do? Because at the end of the day, the truck belongs to you and unfortunately your (neighbor) is just using the truck for a while.
PacLease has a strong team that can understand the needs of your customers’ business. We can get into topics of discussion on how to protect your business, should your Leasing Partner do their own fuel taxes or not turn in necessary information.
Some topics of discussion might be:
- Recording and reporting penalty data
- Having a release of responsibility letter
- Hold Harmless Letters
- Bulk Fuel Tank Letters
- Properly registering the truck
In addition, PacLease has several other solutions that can ensure that you stay compliant.
For more information on the International Fuel Tax Agreement.
Learn how PacLease helps commercial fleets manage fuel tax compliance, with PacTax fuel tax reporting.
More information about PacLease Customized Solutions.
For more great blogs, visit PacLease Blogs.