ABS Temporary Fuel and Trip Permits

Let us Handle Your Permits to Keep Your Fleet Compliant & On the Road

You’re on a tight deadline, and every mile is an investment. We won’t let you waste time or pay unnecessary fines along the way! Knowing the facts about required permits is essential, and our mission is to help your fleet stay compliant and on the road.  Obtaining temporary fuel and temporary trip permits for our clients means faster turnaround, no hassles and accuracy from start to finish.

The International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) covers 48 U.S. states and Canadian provinces. Essentially, when your vehicle is IFTA-registered, you record the distance traveled in each state or province and pay the appropriate fuel taxes.

Temporary Fuel Permit

This permit is required for freight motor vehicles operated on an occasional or infrequent basis. It may be issued for a maximum of seven consecutive days and is valid only for the vehicle for which it has been issued.

A Fuel Permit is required if your vehicle is traveling out of state and any of these apply:

  • Your vehicle does not have a current IFTA decal assigned and displayed as part of the International Fuel Tax Agreement
  • Your power unit has 3 or more axles regardless of weight if you cross state lines
  • Your tow vehicle and trailer have a combined gross vehicle or registered weight over 26,000 lbs

Temporary Trip Permit

This permit allows interstate travel for commercial motor vehicles that are not registered under the International Registration Plan (IRP). It allows for the movement of a laden truck, truck-tractor, trailer, semitrailer, or a motor bus on the state’s highways.  These permits are available in increments of 72- or 144-hours, One-trip, or 30-days.

Every day ABS is entrusted with the job of transporting other people’s property. We consider it a privilege to help our customers do that as efficiently as possible! Learn more about our services, and how we can save your company valuable time and money.

Required Paperwork for All Truck Drivers

Paperwork all truck drivers should have with them in the cab.

Don’t Be Caught Without Your Required Paperwork!

Have you had an inspection turn south because of missing paperwork? Whether you call it a permit book, a paperwork binder or a document folder you need to keep one in your truck. Here is a list of 8 important pieces of paperwork a truck driver should always have in their permit folder.

  1. MC Authority – MC Authority shows your company’s registration with the DOT and authorizes you to transport freight. It lists your company name and motor carrier number.
  2. Certificate of Insurance – The title says it all; it lists your insurance company and policy numbers along with contacts for your agent. Keep in mind there are several policies on the same sheet. They may have different expiration dates, so be sure to check them all.
  3. Truck Registration – This paperwork lists your rig’s VIN, license plate, make and model as well as info on the registered owner. States issues IRP registrations annually, and they can be valid for single or multiple states. Just like with insurance, expiration dates are critical.
  4. Annual Inspection – Certified mechanics fill out these checklists and confirm your equipment is operational and defect free. Annual means dates are important, be sure to check for expiration dates. Yearly inspection stickers go on the side of your truck, but you also need the paper inside your binder.
  5. Lease Agreement – If you are an owner operator or drive a truck not registered under your company’s name, you need a lease agreement. These vary between a single page or multipage contracts, this document lists equipment ownership and lease terms.
  6. IFTA – You need both stickers and a cab card. Both need annual updates and show company information and expiration dates, IFTA stickers change colors annually making it easy to spot outdated ones.
  7. ELD Instructions –Paperwork that explains how to operate your electronic logging device. The DOT mandates that these must be kept inside your truck and presented during an inspection.
  8. Backup Paper Logs – Again, mandated by the DOT in case of ELD failure, you need at least one week’s worth of driver logs or minimum of seven sheets.

While truck drivers need trailer registration and annual inspections during DOT inspections, we advise against keeping this paperwork inside the cab. These go inside a box mounted on the nose of the trailer. Drivers tend to keep them inside the cab for easy access, but this can lead to problems. If you swap trailers, this paperwork stays with you and hence leaves the other driver without the documents. An excellent tip to keep your papers organized is a ringed binder with clear plastic sleeves, protecting your paperwork against rips and spills and keeping everything within reach.

As always, we’re here to keep your fleet compliant and on the road with all your registration and titling needs. Head over to the contact form to get started today.

What Is IFTA and Who Needs It?

What is IFTA and who needs it? Read our blog for more.

 

 

Does Your Business Need to Worry About IFTA?

IFTA stands for International Fuel Tax Agreement and it exists to simplify the reporting of fuel use between Canada and the US. Within the contiguous United States and Canada, our roads and highways help us get to where we are going. But who takes care of these roads if they become damaged and in need of repair? Who pays the cost? 

Private citizens are not the only ones that benefit from our highway systems. Many companies and individuals depend on it as a means of commerce. Getting goods from point A to Point B is their livelihood, and any deviation in their path could cost them money, which is why maintaining the IFTA is an essential part of the foundation of our economy. 

Now, unless you work in the trucking or fuel industry, chances are you wouldn’t know about the IFTA. So, let’s take a look at this integral part of our transportation system and discover who they are and how they keep the world of commerce on the road. 

What Is the IFTA?

An acronym for International Fuel Tax Agreement, the IFTA is a way for each state and 10 Canadian provinces to assist in the upkeep and maintenance of our roadways.  Currently, in the U.S., the only states that are not a part of IFTA are the District of Columbia, Alaska, and Hawaii. Every other state participates. 

For our neighbors to the North, the provinces that have entered into the agreement are as follows: Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Before the IFTA’s formation, each state and province required that trucking companies carried fuel permits for their region. As you can imagine, this process was time-consuming, costly, and extremely inefficient for all parties involved. 

The amount of additional work that this process created cut into each companies profitability. If your company owns a fleet of trucks that travel the continental United States and into Canada, and you have to provide fuel permits for each truck. That adds up to a lot of working hours spent filling out applications and thousands of dollars in administrative costs paid by your company alone each year.  Thankfully the IFTA fixed what was once a convoluted (and sometimes contradictory) process. 

The Process

There is still an application process that companies must abide by; however, it’s one application filled out annually rather than the numerous applications as previously required. 

Base State

Each company is required to register with a base state. This base state is where companies will submit their reports, pay their fuel tax, and maintain their records. The main IFTA office in that particular state will then hold the responsibility of disbursing funds to other states and performing audits of companies as needed.  

Registering Vehicles

Not every vehicle or truck on the road is required to register with the IFTA. Companies and trucks must meet the following five requirements: 

  1. Each vehicle must commercially travel between two IFTA jurisdictions
  2. Must weigh over 26,000 pounds
  3. Must have three or more axels on the power unit 
  4. If it’s a bus, it must carry more than 20 passengers
  5. Must use diesel, propane, or natural gas 
Application Process

Once you have filed your IFTA application with the main office in your base state, it goes through an approval process. For an application to be considered complete, it must contain the following information:

  • Legal Business Name
  • Address of Business
  • Federal Business ID Number
  • USDOT Number 

Once the application process is complete, and your company or truck is approved, you will receive two decals to place on your vehicle. These decals must be on either the driver’s side or passenger side door, and a copy of the license must be in your vehicle at all times.

Since these decals are sent by mail, the state will send a temporary license via fax or email that you can keep on you until the actual stickers arrive. This small consideration helps trucking companies get to work once the application has been filed rather than waiting until their official documents arrive via snail mail. 

The renewal applications will be sent to you automatically each year once your current license is nearing its expiration period. 

Fuel Tax Report

IFTA taxes are what help keep our roads safe to drive on, so it only makes sense that they collect taxes every quarter. A tax payment made out to the Secretary of State for your base State and sent in with your reports for your fleet. 

The dates each fuel tax report are due are as follows:

  • First Quarter: covers January to March is due April 30th
  • Second Quarter: covers April to June is due July 31st
  • Third Quarter: covers July to September is due October 31st
  • Fourth Quarter: covers October to December is due January 31st

Should the amount you pay accumulate from year to year causing an overage, that credit can go on to your next year’s statement or, in some cases, refunded to you. 

Receipts and Records

Keeping good records is essential in this process. With numerous trucks in your fleet, the information can get convoluted and often quite confusing. Each time you make a payment, a receipt should be printed up and stored with that quarter’s paperwork. Each receipt should disclose the seller’s name and address, fuel type, date of purchase, the purchaser’s name, the vehicle registration number, how many gallons the purchaser acquired, and the total cost of the sale.   

As if keeping tabs on your fuel tax reporting isn’t enough work, you must also keep track of the mileage of each vehicle. Per regulation, you must list this mileage in monthly increments. Your report must also include any fuel purchased at service stations. 

Keeping Commerce Moving

Our roads and highways are the lifelines that help the trucking industry keep commerce moving. The IFTA helps to monitor those roads to ensure that they stay open and operational so we can get our products and services to where they need to go. 

For more details on your company’s tag or title needs, visit our website or contact us for more information.