How to Fill Out a Trip Sheet for IFTA

Your IFTA return is only as good as the records behind it. Every quarter you report miles and gallons for each state or province, and if you're audited, you have to prove those numbers. A trip sheet is the simplest way to do that: one page per trip with the odometer readings, the miles in each state, and the fuel you bought.

What IFTA says your records need

The rules are in the IFTA Procedures Manual (the edition effective August 2026), section P500. The main points:

• Any format works if it's adequate (P530). Records can be produced through any means and kept in any format or medium, as long as your base jurisdiction can audit them. Paper trip sheets, a spreadsheet, and a PDF all count.
• The burden of proof is on you (P520). In an audit, the base jurisdiction uses the best information it has. If your records are thin, that may not be your numbers.
• Keep them four years (P510) from the date the return was due or filed, whichever is later.

Section P540.100 says distance records that don't come from a GPS tracking system are accepted as adequate if they substantially document the fleet's operation and contain these elements:

1. The beginning and ending dates of the trip
2. The origin and destination of the trip
3. The route of travel
4. The beginning and ending odometer, hubodometer, or ECM reading for the trip
5. The total distance of the trip
6. The distance traveled in each jurisdiction during the trip
7. The vehicle identification number or vehicle unit number

If you rely on a GPS or ELD system instead, P540.200 has its own requirements, including a position record at least every 10 minutes while the engine is on, and data you can export as a spreadsheet or delimited file. A PDF or image from the tracking system doesn't count for that. Check that your provider can give you that export before you depend on it.

For fuel, P550.300 says a receipt, invoice, or transaction listing used for tax-paid credit must show the date, the seller's name and address, the gallons, the type of fuel, the price per gallon or the total price, the vehicle the fuel went into, and the purchaser's name. Your trip sheet lists the fuel stops, but keep the receipts. They're what you get credit for.

How to fill one out

1. Before you roll: write the date, your unit number, where you're starting, and the odometer.
2. At every state line: note the state you're entering and the odometer. Many drivers do it at the first safe stop after the line and subtract the few miles back.
3. At every fuel stop: date, state, truck stop name and city, gallons, and price. Keep the receipt with the sheet.
4. At the end: the ending odometer, the date, the destination, and the highways you ran.

Miles in each state are the odometer when you left it minus the odometer when you entered it. Add them up and compare the total to your ending odometer minus your starting odometer. They should match. If they don't, a reading is wrong or a state is missing. Fix it now, while you still remember the trip.

Worked example

Unit 114 runs Amarillo, TX to Joliet, IL, September 24 to 26, on I-40, I-44, and I-55. The odometer reads 412,300 at the start and 413,318 at the end.

• Entered Oklahoma at 412,371, so Texas miles = 412,371 − 412,300 = 71
• Entered Missouri at 412,762, so Oklahoma miles = 412,762 − 412,371 = 391
• Entered Illinois at 413,051, so Missouri miles = 413,051 − 412,762 = 289
• Ended at 413,318, so Illinois miles = 413,318 − 413,051 = 267

Total: 71 + 391 + 289 + 267 = 1,018 miles. Odometer check: 413,318 − 412,300 = 1,018. They match.

Fuel: 88.4 gallons in Oklahoma City, OK, and 71.6 gallons in Rolla, MO. That's 160 gallons bought on the trip.

MPG for the trip is 1,018 ÷ 160 = 6.36. One trip's MPG is rough, because it depends on how full the tanks were at the start and end. Over a whole quarter, those differences mostly even out.

Notice that Texas and Illinois have miles but no fuel, and that's normal. Section P720 of the manual lists what the quarterly return carries: your total distance and total fuel, an average fuel consumption factor (MPG) for the quarter, and for each jurisdiction the taxable miles, taxable volume, tax-paid volume, and net taxable volume. So each state's miles are turned into gallons with your quarterly MPG, and the fuel you bought there is subtracted. The IFTA calculator does that part once you have the quarter's totals.

At the end of the quarter

1. Pull every trip sheet for the quarter, including deadhead and bobtail moves in a qualified vehicle.
2. Add up miles by state across all of them.
3. Add up gallons by state from your fuel receipts, and check them against the fuel lines on the sheets.
4. Enter the totals in the IFTA calculator to see what you owe or get back in each state before you file with your base jurisdiction.

The trip sheet generator does the subtraction and the odometer check for you and gives you a PDF for your records. If you take per diem, the trip dates on your sheets also back up your days away. The per diem calculator uses them.