Connecticut IFTA Filing Walkthrough: myconneCT
Connecticut IFTA in myconneCT: $10 statutory decals, mandatory e-filing, the $50 or 10% late penalty, and the Highway Use Fee return beside it.
By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Sep 28, 2026 · 8 min read
A Connecticut IFTA account lives in one place: myconneCT, the Department of Revenue Services (DRS) portal. You register there, order decals there, renew there and file every quarter there, because DRS accepts returns only electronically. The same login also carries the state's per-mile Highway Use Fee, a second quarterly return that most heavy trucks owe even in a quarter with no Connecticut miles. The sourced facts render on the Connecticut IFTA page; this walkthrough puts them in the order you will work through them.
Who runs it, and where
DRS runs IFTA through its Business Tax Subdivision and Excise Tax Field Unit, reachable at 860-541-3222, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (DRS, "State of Connecticut IFTA Manual," IP 2021(6), 2021). Plates are a different agency. The Department of Motor Vehicles runs IRP apportioned registration, in person at its Wethersfield IRP Unit, covered on the Connecticut IRP registration page.
Step 1: confirm Connecticut is your base jurisdiction
You can license your vehicles in Connecticut if you are a Connecticut-based interstate motor carrier, you keep operational control and records for the vehicles in Connecticut or can make them available to DRS, and your qualified vehicles actually travel on Connecticut highways.
A qualified motor vehicle carries persons or property and has two axles with a gross or registered weight over 26,000 pounds, or three or more axles at any weight, or runs in a combination over 26,000 pounds. Recreational vehicles are exempt.
Step 2: register in myconneCT
Register with DRS as a Connecticut business, then add the IFTA/Motor Carrier registration in myconneCT and create your username and password (DRS, "Connecticut IFTA," accessed 2026-09-28, portal.ct.gov/drs/ifta/connecticut-ifta). Two items must line up before you start:
- A valid USDOT number in good standing.
- An FEIN or SSN that matches the one on your FMCSA registration. DRS recommends an FEIN.
If you still need the USDOT number, the Connecticut DOT number page walks through it. DRS processes the application and mails the license and decals. Your IFTA account number is 13 characters: CT, then your FEIN, then two internal digits.
Step 3: pay for decals, not a license
Connecticut sets the charge in statute. C.G.S. 12-487(b)(1) requires a Connecticut-based carrier to register each qualified vehicle operated in interstate commerce for $10 per vehicle, renewable every year (Connecticut General Assembly, "Sec. 12-487. Registration of vehicles for purposes of the motor carrier road tax. Use of dyed diesel fuel," accessed 2026-09-28). DRS publishes no separate license fee. You pay the $10 per vehicle when you order or renew decal sets through the Order IFTA Decals link on the license account in myconneCT (DRS, "IFTA FAQs," accessed 2026-09-28).
Each qualified vehicle gets two decals, placed on the lower rear exterior of each side of the cab. The license covers the whole fleet and runs January 1 to December 31. Keep the original in a safe place and a copy in each vehicle; since January 1, 2019 the license and temporary decals may be carried as an electronic image. While permanent decals are being affixed, a vehicle can carry a temporary permit valid for 30 consecutive days.
Skipping decals is not cheap. Running a qualified vehicle without properly affixed markers is an infraction with a $90 fine under C.G.S. 12-487(c), and missing decals can also mean buying a trip permit.
Step 4: weigh the trip permit route
A carrier can meet fuel use tax trip by trip with trip permits instead of a license. DRS caps a trip permit at ten days, no single IFTA trip permit covers every jurisdiction, and DRS publishes no price for a Connecticut fuel trip permit. The details, including the separate IRP trip permit, are on the Connecticut trip and fuel permits page. A trip permit does not touch the Highway Use Fee either: DRS offers no temporary Highway Use permit, so a heavy truck on a trip permit still owes the fee.
Step 5: file the quarter electronically
Returns are due the last day of the month after each quarter, and DRS does not allow annual filing (C.G.S. 12-483, "Payment of tax," and the IFTA Manual):
| Quarter | Due date |
|---|---|
| January to March | April 30 |
| April to June | July 31 |
| July to September | October 31 |
| October to December | January 31 |
Scroll sideways to see every column.
File even when you used no taxable fuel. A weekend or legal holiday moves the due date to the next business day. There is no paper option: the return goes through myconneCT, and DRS mails no return forms.
The rates are national. Connecticut diesel this quarter is $0.4990provisional per gallon in the national matrix. Read every jurisdiction you ran in off the IFTA rates by state table, run your miles and gallons through the IFTA calculator, and check your records against the national how to file IFTA guide.
Step 6: file the Highway Use Fee return in the same portal
This is the step that sets Connecticut apart. Since January 1, 2023, Connecticut charges a per-mile Highway Use Fee on vehicles with a gross weight of 26,000 pounds or more in FHWA vehicle Classes 8 through 13. The rate rises with gross weight. Carriers register with DRS in myconneCT and file a return every quarter, due the last day of the month after the quarter, even for quarters with no Connecticut miles (DRS, "Highway Use Fee Information," accessed 2026-09-28, portal.ct.gov/drs/businesses/highway-use-fee/huf).
So a heavy Connecticut truck files two quarterly returns on the same schedule and in the same portal: IFTA for fuel, and the Highway Use Fee for miles. Each is its own registration. A late or incomplete Highway Use Fee return owes 10 percent of the unpaid fee or $50, whichever is greater, plus 1 percent interest a month. DRS takes Highway Use Fee questions at 860-297-5677. The rate for each weight bracket is on the Connecticut Highway Use Fee page, and the return itself is walked through step by step in the Highway Use Fee filing walkthrough.
Step 7: renew in late November
Renewal runs through the same Order IFTA Decals link: order the renewal decal sets and pay for them. DRS sends IFTA renewal orders out in late November. It can deny a renewal when you have outstanding liabilities, or when you have filed no return showing miles outside Connecticut for the past three quarters. A truck that has stopped leaving the state has stopped needing IFTA.
Step 8: price a late return before you skip one
Failing to file or filing late costs $50 or 10 percent of the tax due, whichever is greater, plus interest at the applicable IFTA annual interest rate. DRS can also estimate a non-filer's liability, withhold decals or require a bond.
The bond rule is specific. First-time applicants post no bond unless they have a history of late reporting or payment to Connecticut. A licensee late in reporting or paying for any two periods within 12 months must post a bond equal to twice its average quarterly liability and keep it for two calendar years, in cash, corporate surety or a certificate of deposit endorsed to the State.
Missed returns then move in two steps. Failing to file or pay suspends the license; DRS then mails a notice of a hearing, at which the license may be revoked. A suspended or revoked carrier cannot legally operate in any member jurisdiction.
Keep the records behind each return for four years from the filing date. Trip reports must show the licensee, fleet and unit numbers, origin and destination, dates, routes, odometer readings, miles by jurisdiction and total trip miles. Fuel receipts must show purchaser, vendor, date, unit number, fuel type, price and gallons.
Closing the account
To cancel, send the decals and the original license with a written statement of your last operating date, or a notarized statement that they were destroyed, to DRS, Attention: Walk-In Registration Unit, 450 Columbus Blvd., Suite 1, Hartford, CT 06103-1837.
FAQ
Where does a Connecticut carrier file IFTA returns?
In myconneCT, the Department of Revenue Services online portal. Filing is electronic only. DRS mails no returns, and since 2023 it no longer mails the paper renewal and extra-decal forms either.
What does a Connecticut IFTA license cost?
DRS publishes no separate license fee. The charge is $10 per qualified vehicle, set by C.G.S. 12-487(b)(1), paid when you order or renew decal sets in myconneCT. Each vehicle gets two decals.
What is the penalty for a late Connecticut IFTA return?
$50 or 10 percent of the tax due, whichever is greater, plus interest at the IFTA annual interest rate. A zero-tax return filed late can still cost $50.
Is IFTA the only quarterly return a Connecticut truck files?
Not for heavy trucks. Since January 1, 2023, vehicles of 26,000 pounds or more in FHWA Classes 8 to 13 owe the per-mile Highway Use Fee, also filed quarterly with DRS in myconneCT, and DRS expects that return even for a quarter with no Connecticut miles.