An Arizona IFTA bond is a surety or cash bond the Arizona Department of Transportation can require from a motor carrier before issuing International Fuel Tax Agreement credentials, authorized under Arizona Revised Statutes Section 28-5736 and capped at $100,000.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-5736 – Bond Requirement Not every carrier has to post one. ADOT asks for it only when something about your filing history, standing, or background suggests the state may have trouble collecting fuel taxes from you.
Who Actually Has to Post One
Under ARS 28-5736, the ADOT director may require a bond in any of these situations:1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-5736 – Bond Requirement
- You have a pattern of filing quarterly returns late or paying fuel taxes late.
- The director decides Arizona’s or another IFTA jurisdiction’s financial interests are at risk, which often comes out of an audit.
- You’re based in a jurisdiction that doesn’t participate in IFTA.
- You held an IFTA license in another state and lost it or left it in bad standing.
- You have no operating history as a motor carrier in Arizona or any other IFTA jurisdiction.
That last trigger catches new trucking operations off guard. If you’re brand new with no IFTA record anywhere, ADOT can condition your first license and decals on posting a bond. Carriers trying to come back after a revocation face the same hurdle. Until the bond is in place, no decals issue, and without decals your interstate operations stop.
How Much the Bond Will Be
The IFTA Procedures Manual sets the floor at twice your estimated average tax liability for a single quarterly reporting period.2IFTA, Inc. IFTA Procedures Manual If ADOT pegs your average quarterly fuel tax at $3,000, your bond will be at least $6,000. For carriers with filing history, ADOT works from actual returns. For new applicants with no numbers to work from, expect the department to estimate from fleet size and projected mileage.
Arizona law caps the bond at $100,000 no matter how high the estimated liability runs.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-5736 – Bond Requirement The director sets the actual amount somewhere below that ceiling, and the statute does not fix a minimum dollar figure.
What You Pay Out of Pocket
The bond amount is not what leaves your bank account. With a surety bond, you pay an annual premium that’s a percentage of the bond’s face value. The percentage depends mostly on your personal credit and business financials. Strong credit lands you at the lower end; weaker credit pushes the rate up significantly. The premium recurs every year the bond stays in force.
Cash and Other Alternatives
Arizona accepts a cash bond in place of a surety bond, and the IFTA Procedures Manual recognizes a few other equivalents:2IFTA, Inc. IFTA Procedures Manual
- A cash deposit by cashier’s check, money order, or other certified funds payable to Arizona, using ADOT’s Form 96-0460.3Arizona Department of Transportation. Motor Carrier Services
- An automatically renewable certificate of deposit from an FDIC-insured Arizona bank, made payable to the state. Interest goes to you; cancellation is controlled by the state.
- U.S. government obligations, or Arizona, county, or city bonds, with a market value at least equal to the required bond amount.
A cash bond ties up the full amount for as long as ADOT requires security. Most carriers choose a surety bond because the annual premium is a fraction of the face value, but the cash route is there if you can’t qualify with a surety company.
Filing Form 96-0224
The correct form is ADOT Form 96-0224, “IFTA Bond,” last revised in May 2025.4Arizona Department of Transportation. IFTA Bond Form 96-0224 The form asks for:
- Principal information: your legal name as the IFTA licensee, business type, any trade name or DBA, and business location.
- Surety information: the surety company’s name, state of domicile, and the attorney-in-fact signing for the surety.
- Insurance producer details: the Arizona-licensed producer’s name, title, AZ producer license number, mailing address, email, and phone.
- Bond details: bond number, penal sum, your ADOT application date, the date liability begins, and the execution date.
Four signatures are required: the surety’s attorney-in-fact, the principal or an authorized officer, any partners if the business is a partnership, and the Arizona-licensed insurance producer. A power of attorney showing the attorney-in-fact’s authority must be attached.4Arizona Department of Transportation. IFTA Bond Form 96-0224 Missing signatures or blank date fields get the form bounced back, which pushes your decals further out.
Submit the completed form by email to mvdmcs@azdot.gov, or mail it to:3Arizona Department of Transportation. Motor Carrier Services
MVD Motor Carrier Program
PO Box 2100, Mail Drop 527M
Phoenix, AZ 85001
If you mail the original, use certified mail or a tracked carrier. Once ADOT verifies the surety and the form, your account is updated and you can receive current-year decals and license credentials.
If the Surety Cancels
A surety that wants out must give ADOT 60 days’ written notice. Cancellation takes effect on the last day of the month that includes the end of that 60-day period.4Arizona Department of Transportation. IFTA Bond Form 96-0224 If you get a replacement bond that ADOT accepts before the 60 days run out, the old bond ends on the new bond’s effective date instead.
Cancellation doesn’t wipe out past liability. The surety still answers for taxes, penalties, and interest that arose before the termination date. The real risk is to you: if you don’t replace the bond within the 60-day window, ADOT suspends your IFTA credentials, and you can’t legally run interstate without valid decals. A cancellation notice is a hard deadline.
Staying Off the Bond List: Quarterly Filing Deadlines
Late or missed filings are one of the main reasons ADOT ends up requiring a bond in the first place.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-5736 – Bond Requirement Returns are due the last day of the month after each quarter closes. For 2026:
- Q1 (January–March): April 30, 2026
- Q2 (April–June): July 31, 2026
- Q3 (July–September): October 31, 2026
- Q4 (October–December): January 31, 2027
You file one return with Arizona as your base jurisdiction, reporting miles driven and fuel purchased in every IFTA member state and province, and Arizona distributes what’s owed to the other jurisdictions. One missed deadline can put your account on ADOT’s radar for a bond; repeated misses make it almost automatic.