1. The IFTA dashboard
IFTA is a product in your MapUp account at platforms.mapup.ai. It has four views and a period picker. Everything on every view is computed from the same records, so a number you see on the summary can be followed down to the truck, the day and the GPS points behind it.
| View | What it shows | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | Fleet totals on both mileage bases, the data-quality banner, then one row per state for the period | Month close, quarter close, the return |
| Vehicle Summary | One row per truck: miles, gallons, MPG, jurisdictions operated, exceptions | Finding the truck that is moving the fleet number |
| Vehicle By State | One row per truck per state | Settlement by truck, defending a jurisdiction figure |
| Daily Detail | One row per truck per state per day, with both mileage bases, odometer at entry and exit, the reconciliation flag and the fuel purchased that day | The audit trail; working an exception |
Above the table: a State filter, a search box, the IFTA Report button (the state-by-state PDF), Export (CSV or Excel of the current view) and Edit columns. The period picker at the top right sets the range for every view; it shows the range in UTC.
2. The summary cards
Five figures, computed twice.
| Card | How it is computed | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Total miles | Sum of jurisdiction miles for the period. Top row from map-matched GPS, bottom row from odometer readings | The two rows should be within a few percent of each other. A wider gap is one provider not exposing odometer, or a set of held records |
| Fleet MPG | Total miles divided by total fuel for the period | IFTA apportions fuel with fleet MPG, not per-truck MPG. A sudden change in fleet MPG usually means fuel is missing, not that the trucks changed |
| Consumed gallons | Miles in each jurisdiction divided by fleet MPG, summed | This is fuel burned where the truck drove, which is what fuel tax follows |
| Taxable gallons | Consumed gallons in IFTA jurisdictions after exclusions | Oregon and non-IFTA jurisdictions are outside it |
| Estimated gross tax | Taxable gallons per jurisdiction times that jurisdiction's rate for the quarter, summed | Gross, before tax-paid credits. Net due or refund needs tax-paid gallons, which come from purchases |
The banner
When fuel purchases or tax-paid gallons are missing for the period, the summary carries a yellow banner: gross estimate only, net IFTA due or refund cannot be finalized. It clears when purchases for the period are matched. It is not an error. It is the product refusing to pretend.
3. Reading the two bases
Every jurisdiction segment on Daily Detail carries the odometer delta (ECM), the GPS-reconstructed miles, the percentage difference and a flag. The flag decides which miles are used and whether the record goes into the rollup.
| Flag | Difference | Miles used | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OK | Under 2 percent | Odometer | Engine odometer and GPS agree. High confidence | Nothing |
| Flagged | 2 to 5 percent | Odometer | Minor variance, logged | Review in the weekly pass if a truck is flagged repeatedly |
| Warning | 5 to 15 percent | GPS | Significant variance; GPS used as fallback and marked as such | Check the odometer feed for that truck; a device swap or a provider gap is the usual cause |
| Held | Over 15 percent | Withheld | Excluded from the rollup pending review | Open the day from the exception queue and resolve it before the week closes |
Two other markers appear on segments: odometer source (ECM, GPS or estimated) and crossing inferred, set when a border crossing had to be placed across a GPS gap. Both are kept on the record and in the evidence packet; neither changes the miles on its own.
4. The state table
One row per jurisdiction for the period. Columns can be added or removed with Edit columns; these are the ones the return needs.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| State, Quarter | Jurisdiction and the IFTA quarter the period falls in |
| Raw odometer miles | Odometer-based miles in the jurisdiction; the map-matched equivalent is a column you can add |
| Fuel consumed (gal) | Jurisdiction miles divided by fleet MPG |
| Fuel filled (gal) | Gallons purchased in the jurisdiction, from matched transactions |
| Taxable gallons | Consumed gallons subject to fuel tax in that jurisdiction |
| Tax rate | The jurisdiction's diesel rate for the quarter, from the rate table MapUp maintains |
| Est. total tax | Taxable gallons times rate |
| Toll miles, Non-toll miles | The split by toll road segments, from the toll engine; New York's Thruway miles are here |
| Vehicles | Units that operated in the jurisdiction in the period |
Net position per jurisdiction is consumed gallons minus tax-paid gallons: positive is tax owed, negative is credit. Purchased gallons without tax-paid evidence do not reduce it. It appears once purchases are matched and is on the quarterly rollup and the report.
5. Following a number down
The drill-down is the audit trail. Six steps from a state total to the evidence.
Summary: pick the state row
Note total miles on both bases and the vehicle count.
Vehicle By State: filter to that state
Sort by miles. The trucks that carry the number are at the top; a truck with miles and no fuel for the period is the first thing to check.
Vehicle Summary: open the truck
Jurisdictions operated, MPG against the fleet, exceptions on the truck.
Daily Detail: the days in that state
Entry and exit time, odometer at entry and exit, GPS miles, the flag, the fuel purchased that day with its source.
The record: what is behind it
GPS points used, crossing coordinates, toll road match, receipt reference. This is the evidence packet, and it is what an audit response is built from.
Export what you looked at
CSV or Excel of the filtered view, or the IFTA Report PDF for the period.
6. Working the exception queue
Exceptions are records IFTA found and held rather than absorbed. The queue lists them by reason with the truck, the day and the jurisdiction. Clear it weekly, before settlement, and it stays short.
| Reason | What it usually is | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Missing fuel, truck moved | A truck with miles and no purchase for several days: a card not mapped, a yard fill not imported, a driver paying cash | Map the card, import the yard file, or add the receipt as a manual entry. If the truck ran on fuel bought earlier, note it and clear |
| Unmatched vehicle | A device reporting under an ID that is not on the unit list: a new truck, a swapped device, a rental | Map it to a unit or exclude it. Until then its miles are outside every total |
| Odometer disagreement | ECM delta and GPS miles more than 15 percent apart for a segment | Open the day. A device reset or a provider gap shows immediately. Accept the GPS basis, accept the odometer basis, or exclude the segment with a note |
| GPS gap, crossing inferred | No pings across a border; the crossing was placed by route reconstruction | Usually fine on a known corridor. Review if the gap is long or the truck's next ping is far from the reconstructed route |
| Missing weight | A special program applies in a state the truck entered, and the weight that program keys on is not on the unit | Add the weight on Units; the program miles compute from then and for the backfill |
| Fuel type missing | Imported transactions without a fuel type | Re-import with fuel type; DEF must be tagged so it stays out of fuel totals |
Screenshot to add: ifta-exceptions.jpg
The exception queue filtered to one week, grouped by reason, with the held count at the top.
7. Special taxes
Five states levy mileage-based taxes alongside IFTA. IFTA detects when a truck operates in one, checks the program's weight gate against the unit, and computes the program miles on a separate ledger. Nothing to request; the special tax block appears on the record and the summary.
| State | Program | Applies to | Treatment in IFTA totals | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | Highway use tax (HUT) | Trucks over 8,000 lbs unloaded or tractors over 4,000 lbs unloaded, rate by unloaded weight | New York miles stay in the fuel tax totals. Thruway miles are IFTA-taxable but HUT-exempt, so the record carries Thruway and non-Thruway separately | Quarterly, with the state |
| Oregon | Weight-mile tax | Vehicles over 26,000 lbs, rate by declared weight | Oregon is an IFTA member but taxes these vehicles by weight and mile, not fuel. Oregon records are on their own ledger and out of the fuel tax totals | On Oregon's own schedule |
| Kentucky | KYU weight distance | Combined licensed weight of 60,000 lbs and over, not farm-plated; flat rate per mile | Kentucky miles stay in IFTA and are flagged for KYU | Quarterly, with the state |
| New Mexico | Weight distance tax | Declared gross weight over 26,000 lbs, rate by weight tier; reduced rate for classified one-way haul carriers | New Mexico miles stay in IFTA and are flagged for WDT | Quarterly, with the state |
| Connecticut | Highway use fee | Combination vehicles of 26,000 lbs and over, rate by weight bracket; heavy single-unit trucks are exempt | Connecticut miles stay in IFTA and are flagged for HUF | Quarterly, with the state |
A unit that fails a program's gate is recorded as exempt for that program, not skipped. A unit missing the weight the program needs is flagged. Rate tables and filing calendars are maintained by MapUp with effective dates, so a historical period recomputes on the rates that applied then.
Screenshot to add: ifta-special-tax.jpg
The special tax summary for one quarter: program miles per truck for NY HUT, OR WMT, KYU, NM WDT and CT HUF, with the applicable flag.
8. Weekly settlement
Fleets that settle with owner-operators weekly need fuel tax and fuel credits per truck, per jurisdiction, every week. The weekly rollup is built for that.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Week | Monday to Sunday |
| Truck, jurisdiction | One row per truck per jurisdiction operated |
| Miles total, miles taxable | For the week, on the basis the flags selected |
| Fuel gallons purchased | Matched purchases in that jurisdiction that week |
| Fuel gallons consumed | Miles divided by the fleet MPG for the week |
| Fleet MPG applied | The exact value used, so settlement can show its work |
| Tax-paid gallons | Gallons on which tax was paid at the pump |
| Special tax summary | Program miles for the week, where a program applies |
| Days operated | Days the truck ran in that jurisdiction |
Pull the prior week after it has fully finalized, which is three days after the week ends. Nothing under a finalized week changes, so a settlement run never has to be re-opened because late data arrived. The rollup is on Vehicle By State with a week filter, on Export, and on GET /weekly.
9. Month close and quarter close
Month close
- Set the period to the month. Confirm the banner is clear; if it is not, the fuel for the month is not fully matched.
- Compare total miles on both bases. Investigate any provider whose units show a wide gap.
- Clear the exception queue for the month. Held records are outside every total.
- Check the Vehicles column against the active unit count. A missing truck is either not connected or not mapped.
- Export the Summary and Vehicle By State for the file.
Quarter close
- Wait for the last three days of the quarter to finalize.
- Set the period to the quarter and generate the IFTA Report. The report is built from finalized records only.
- Review net tax gallons per jurisdiction on the quarterly rollup: consumed minus purchased, positive owed, negative credit.
- Pull the special tax summary for the programs that apply to your units and send each to its own filing.
- Send the report and the exports to whoever prepares the return. You or your filing agent submit it to your base jurisdiction.
Why the quarterly rollup, not twelve weekly ones
IFTA applies fleet MPG for the reporting period. The quarterly rollup uses the quarter's MPG; weekly rollups use each week's. Summing weekly figures gives a slightly different answer, and the quarter is the one the return wants.
10. Answering an audit
An audit names a period, a set of trucks and usually a few jurisdictions. Everything asked for is already attached to the records.
- Set the period and filter to the trucks named. Export Vehicle By State and Daily Detail.
- For each jurisdiction figure questioned, open the record. The evidence packet holds the GPS points used in reconstruction, the crossing timestamps and coordinates, the odometer readings at each crossing, the toll road segment matches and the fuel receipt references.
- Request the packet for the trucks and dates as a bundle from ifta@mapup.ai, or through
GET /audit/evidenceon the API. The response package is assembled from the records, not rebuilt from exports. - Where a figure changed between filing and audit (a resolved exception, a corrected mapping), the record carries the change and the note.
IFTA generally requires licensees to keep supporting records for four years from the return due date or filing date, whichever is later. MapUp retains the supporting records and the raw GPS behind your reports for that period, so the evidence is available at audit without depending on the ELD vendor's retention.
11. The weekly review
Fifteen minutes, once a week, before settlement runs.
- Exception queue for the week: clear it, or note why a record stays held.
- Trucks with miles and no fuel for the week. Usually a mapping, sometimes a yard file that did not arrive.
- Units flagged Warning on more than one day. A device or provider problem shows here first.
- New units reporting as unmatched. Map them before their miles matter.
- Fleet MPG for the week against the trailing quarter. A step change is missing fuel, not a change in the trucks.
- Special program miles for any truck that entered New York, Oregon, Kentucky, New Mexico or Connecticut for the first time: confirm the weight on the unit.