IFTA/IRP audit

[Rawze]

(09-16-2023 )SquareOne Wrote:  Well, after 2 months the IFTA / IRP audit (at least for this time) is over with. Long story short, everything matched correctly and they did accept the calculated fuel mileage for the reported quarters. To achieve there approval, this is what they required...

- July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2022 federal mileage reporting
- All daily 'trips' for the period in question
- All fuel receipts for the period in question
- Worksheets that show the compilation of quarterly reported miles and miles for the IRP renewals
- Any other documentation which would assist in proving my case

For just a one truck operation at that time, it was plenty of info nonetheless. I asked her about the process taking 2 months for a small company and what they do for a large company. To my surprise she mentioned they didn't have the man-power to audit larger companies. Therefore, they take on smaller ones to meet the audit quota. I think that's ridiculous, but a necessary evil us smaller guys have to deal with.

In the end, out of over 200k miles and countless trips, there was one 105 gallon discrepancy. Apparently there was one receipt missing for that 105 gallons purchased and I ended up getting a bill for $26 to cover the taxes which I supposedly didn't pay. Now, with all that documentation and how accurate everything else was (as in quite literally 100% within all other categories of reporting), do I think it was possible she made a mistake --- absolutely! At that point though, after 2 months and now 2.5hrs into my audit assessment, I just wrote a damn check for the 'amount owed' and let this $hit be done!

Maybe this info will help others who have this situation show up at random. It's imperative that you keep EVERY fuel receipt in order to prove you paid taxes on the fuel purchased. Depending on the auditor, they will certainly comb through all Uitems presented to them. I have a pretty solid system and can pull anything they request and show prove of whatever they need, yet somehow I still 'owed' that measly $26. Just be prepared in the event any of you guys have to go through this. You will have to defend any info reported and unfortunately they get to choose the time period and the amount of documentation they want to see. Until next time....

I have always over-paid any required taxes like that by a little bit (always by under-claiming an item or 3, or double claiming something slightly in their favor by purposeful mistake). As soon as they start screwing with me, I start finding where I over-paid a bit ehemm '''by mistake" .. and they leave me alone real fast once they see that they owe me moneys instead.


Now .. because you had to paid them, ... it is on their records in their system that you owed them moneys during your last audit, and this opens you up for further investigations and more random checking in the future.

Just the beer talkin'.