IFTA calculator: estimate your quarterly fuel tax
Enter the miles you drove and the tax-paid gallons you bought in each state or province. The calculator works out your fleet MPG, the tax due or credit for each jurisdiction, and the net total for the quarter, using IFTA's official diesel rates. Free, with no sign-up.
Your estimate
Choose the quarter, add a row for each state or province you drove in, then press Calculate. Your fleet MPG, tax or credit per state and the net total appear here.
This is an estimate, not a filed return. It uses one fleet MPG rounded to 2 decimals and the diesel rate for the whole quarter. Your base state's own return rounds its own way and may apply rules this page does not, such as rate changes inside the quarter. Surcharges (Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia have used them) are included only where IFTA's rate file carries one for the quarter.
How the IFTA calculation works
IFTA lets a carrier file one fuel-tax return with its base state instead of one with every state it drove in. Each state is owed tax on the fuel you used on its roads, and you get credit for the tax you already paid at its pumps. The calculator follows the same five steps:
Fleet MPG
Divide all the miles your trucks drove in the quarter by all the gallons they burned. IFTA uses this one fleet average for every state, carried to two decimals.
Taxable gallons per state
Divide the miles you drove in each state or province by that fleet MPG. That is how much fuel IFTA says you used there.
Net gallons
Subtract the tax-paid gallons you bought in that state. More fuel used than bought means tax is due; more bought than used means a credit.
Tax or credit
Multiply net gallons by the state's diesel rate for the quarter. Where a state charges a surcharge, it applies to every taxable gallon, with no credit for fuel you bought there.
Net total
Add the tax due and the surcharges, then subtract the credits. A positive total is what you owe your base state; a negative total is a net credit.
Example: 10,000 miles on 1,550 gallons is 6.45 MPG. 4,200 Texas miles ÷ 6.45 = 651.163 taxable gallons. Bought 600 tax-paid gallons in Texas, so 51.163 net gallons × $0.2000 = $10.23 due to Texas.
Questions
Is this an IFTA return I can file?
No. It is an estimate for planning. Your base state's return follows its own rounding and may apply rules this page does not, such as a rate that changes inside the quarter. File through your base state, using your own trip and fuel records.
Where do the tax rates come from?
From IFTA's official quarterly rate file, which Yolda stores and checks every day. The calculator uses the diesel column for the current and the previous quarter. If a rate is not posted yet, or changes inside the quarter, you type the rate yourself.
Which states and provinces are included?
The 48 IFTA member states and IFTA's ten Canadian provinces. Alaska, Hawaii, Washington DC, Canada's territories and Mexico are not IFTA members, so they have no tax line. Their miles and fuel still count in your fleet MPG: add them to the fleet totals.
Are surcharges included?
Only where IFTA's rate file carries a surcharge for that state and quarter. Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia have used surcharges. A surcharge is paid on every taxable gallon, even when you bought fuel in that state.
How does Yolda do this for a real quarter?
Yolda's IFTA software builds the quarterly worksheet from the miles and fuel you already track: ELD imports, trip records, fuel card feeds and receipts. It pins the official rates to the quarter and flags gaps for review. You file the return; Yolda keeps the calculation.
See how Yolda's IFTA software builds the whole quarter, or work out your trucking cost per mile.