The Pennsylvania IFTA-100 quarterly fuel tax return is how a Pennsylvania-based motor carrier settles fuel tax across every state and Canadian province its qualified vehicles crossed during the quarter. You file one return with the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, and Pennsylvania redistributes what you owe to the other member jurisdictions. It is due on the last day of the month after each quarter closes, and almost every carrier now files it electronically through myPATH.
Filing Deadlines and Who Has to File
Returns are due on these dates:
- First quarter (January–March): April 30
- Second quarter (April–June): July 31
- Third quarter (July–September): October 31
- Fourth quarter (October–December): January 31
If the deadline falls on a weekend or state-recognized holiday, it moves to the next business day. A return is required every quarter, even one with no activity and no tax owed; a zero-dollar filing keeps the account in good standing.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. International Fuel Tax Agreement and Motor Carriers Road Tax Compliance Manual
You need an IFTA license, and therefore need to file the IFTA-100, if you are based in Pennsylvania and operate a qualified motor vehicle across state or provincial lines. Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 2101.1, a qualified motor vehicle is any non-recreational vehicle used to transport people or property that either has two axles and a gross or registered gross weight over 26,000 pounds, has three or more axles regardless of weight, or is a combination whose gross or registered gross weight exceeds 26,000 pounds. Gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating substitutes when no registered gross weight exists.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 75 – Motor Carriers Road Tax A vehicle that meets those thresholds but never leaves Pennsylvania does not trigger IFTA.
Records You Need Before You Start
The IFTA-100 is math driven, and every number traces to two piles of documentation you should be collecting all quarter.
Distance Records
For each trip by each qualified vehicle, Pennsylvania expects an Individual Vehicle Mileage Record or trip report showing trip start and end dates, origin and destination (city and state), route of travel with beginning and ending odometer readings, total trip miles, miles broken down by jurisdiction, vehicle unit and fleet number, and carrier name. These feed the IFTA-101 schedule, where you report total and taxable miles by jurisdiction.3Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. International Fuel Tax Agreement Recordkeeping Requirements and Disposition of Decals
Fuel Records
Keep the original retail receipt or invoice for every fuel purchase placed into a qualified vehicle’s tank. Each receipt has to show the date, gallons, fuel type, seller name and address, and the vehicle’s unit number. If you draw from bulk storage, keep separate withdrawal logs (date, gallons, fuel type, vehicle fueled) plus monthly or quarterly inventory records showing beginning balance, purchases, and ending balance.
Hold all of this for four years from the return’s due date or the date you filed, whichever is later.3Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. International Fuel Tax Agreement Recordkeeping Requirements and Disposition of Decals
Non-Taxable and Non-IFTA Miles
Some miles show up in your total column but not your taxable column. Yard moves inside a terminal that never touch a public road, personal conveyance, and miles on private property or certain toll facilities are not taxable. Miles run in non-IFTA jurisdictions (Alaska, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Mexico, and Canada’s Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon) are reported separately as non-IFTA miles and produce no IFTA tax. Categorizing these correctly keeps you from overpaying.
Running the Numbers on the IFTA-101
The tax math sits on the IFTA-101 schedule. The idea is simple: you owe tax based on the fuel you consumed in each jurisdiction, and you get credit for fuel tax you already paid at the pump there. The difference is what you owe or what you’re refunded.
Fleet Average MPG
Add up total miles your fleet ran everywhere for the quarter (IFTA and non-IFTA, taxable and non-taxable). Add up total gallons placed into all qualified vehicles everywhere. Divide miles by gallons and round to two decimals. That one number is your fleet average MPG, and it applies to every jurisdiction on the return.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. International Fuel Tax Agreement and Motor Carriers Road Tax Compliance Manual
Jurisdiction Lines
For each state or province your fleet entered, the IFTA-101 walks the same sequence:
- Total miles in the jurisdiction, taxable and non-taxable together.
- Taxable miles: the subset subject to fuel tax, excluding trip-permit miles and non-taxable categories.
- Taxable gallons: taxable miles divided by fleet average MPG. This is the fuel you’re deemed to have consumed there.
- Tax-paid gallons: what you actually bought at retail in that jurisdiction, on which pump tax was already paid.
- Net taxable or credit gallons: taxable gallons minus tax-paid gallons. A positive figure means you burned more than you bought there and owe tax; a negative figure means the reverse and gives you a credit.
Multiply the net figure by the jurisdiction’s tax rate for the quarter. Rates change every quarter, so pull the correct period from the International Fuel Tax Association rate matrix.4International Fuel Tax Association. Tax Rate Matrix
Surcharge Jurisdictions
Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia each add a surcharge line on top of their fuel tax line.4International Fuel Tax Association. Tax Rate Matrix Indiana’s surcharge is computed on taxable distance (rate times miles). Kentucky and Virginia apply their surcharge to taxable gallons the same way as the base tax. You cannot offset surcharge amounts with tax-paid credits.
Transferring Totals to the IFTA-100
Once the IFTA-101 is complete, the IFTA-100 itself is mostly transcription. Enter your Pennsylvania IFTA account number and the reporting period at the top. The body of the form takes the net tax or refund from the IFTA-101, which is the sum of every jurisdiction’s amount due minus every credit. There are also lines for prior-quarter adjustments, credits carried forward, and interest owed on any late balance. The last line is your total payment due or refund claimed.
Check the account number character by character. A transposed digit can delay processing or bounce the return. Filing through myPATH populates it automatically and takes that risk off the table.
Submitting the Return and Paying
Electronic Through myPATH
Log in at mypath.pa.gov, open your IFTA account, enter the jurisdiction data, and let the system calculate and generate a confirmation on submission.5Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Can I file my quarterly fuel tax IFTA-100 online? Keep the confirmation number as proof of timely filing. You can pay in the same session. Any single payment of $20,000 or more must go by electronic funds transfer.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. International Fuel Tax Agreement and Motor Carriers Road Tax Compliance Manual
Paper Filing
If you file on paper, mail the completed IFTA-100 and IFTA-101 with payment to:
PA Department of Revenue
Bureau of Motor and Alternative Fuel Taxes
PO Box 280646
Harrisburg, PA 17128-06466Department of Revenue. Motor/Alternative Fuels Help
Make checks payable to “PA Department of Revenue.” Payment goes with the return, not separately.
Penalties and Interest for Late or Short Filings
Missing a deadline or underpaying triggers a penalty of $50 or 10 percent of the tax due, whichever is greater, per late occurrence. Interest runs at one percent per month (or any fraction) on unpaid tax and is computed separately on the amount owed to each individual member jurisdiction, unlike the penalty, which sits on the whole balance.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. International Fuel Tax Agreement and Motor Carriers Road Tax Compliance Manual
Inadequate records carry a heavier consequence. The Department can revoke your IFTA license and add a penalty of 100 percent of the assessed tax, doubling the bill. In an audit with insufficient records, the Department also defaults to four miles per gallon for consumption, which for most modern trucks produces a much larger tax figure than actual consumption would.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. International Fuel Tax Agreement and Motor Carriers Road Tax Compliance Manual
Fixing a Return You Already Filed
If you find an error after submission (wrong mileage in a jurisdiction, a fuel purchase you missed, a data-entry slip), file an amended return for that quarter. Guidance for original and amended filings sits on the Department of Revenue’s Motor Carriers Road Tax page and inside myPATH.7Department of Revenue. Motor Carriers Road Tax/IFTA The amended return replaces the original for that period, so enter corrected figures for every jurisdiction, not just the ones that changed.
If the amendment produces additional tax and you file after the original due date, penalty and interest run on the additional amount from that original deadline forward. If the correction produces a credit, you can apply the overpayment to future quarters or request a refund. Refunds are generally released only after the Department confirms you have no outstanding liabilities to any IFTA member jurisdiction.
Closing a Pennsylvania IFTA Account
If you stop interstate operations or shut the carrier down, close the account rather than simply stop filing. File a final IFTA-100 for the last quarter you operated qualified vehicles, then contact the Bureau of Motor and Alternative Fuel Taxes to close the account formally. An account left open can generate unfiled-return penalties even with no operations. Return or destroy unused decals; running with expired or invalid credentials creates its own enforcement problems at roadside.