Florida IFTA: How to Get the Licence and File Your Return

Florida IFTA is handled by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV), the agency that also runs vehicle registration and IRP, where most states use a revenue department. You apply for the licence and order decals there. The requirement is the standard one: qualified motor vehicles, generally over 26,000 pounds gross weight or with three or more axles, operating in Florida and at least one other IFTA jurisdiction.

Florida charges no fee for the annual IFTA licence. Decals are $4.00 per set, one set per qualified vehicle.

You file returns with FLHSMV by April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31, or the next business day. A quarter with no interjurisdictional travel still needs a zero return. The licence renews by calendar year, so the new decals have to be on your trucks by the time the old ones expire.

Because FLHSMV also administers IRP, Florida carriers deal with one agency for apportioned plates and fuel tax. The return is no easier, since the distance by jurisdiction still has to come from somewhere.

A Florida truck can run four hundred miles without leaving the state, so many Florida carriers are intrastate and need no IFTA. Those that cross into Georgia and Alabama usually do it on long runs where one trip covers three jurisdictions, and rebuilding those from trip sheets is where returns go wrong. A telematics device logs position continuously and the platform totals distance by state, so the number is measured. The same device reports engine and idle data, which matters in a climate that shortens the life of anything marginal under the hood.

Under the IFTA Procedures Manual, you keep the records behind each return for four years from the due date or filing date, whichever is later. An audit asks for trip-level distance and fuel receipts tied to a vehicle, a date and a jurisdiction, and a GPS distance report with trip logs, kept with the fuel-card export, answers it.

The essentials for a Florida-based carrier. Fees are those in effect at the time of writing; confirm them with FLHSMV before each renewal.