Georgia IFTA Filing Walkthrough (Quarterly)

Georgia keeps IFTA inside the Department of Revenue, and one login covers the whole account: the Georgia Tax Center at gtc.dor.ga.gov. Registration, decal orders, quarterly returns, and renewals all happen there. The sourced facts live on the Georgia IFTA page; this walkthrough puts them in filing order, and it covers the reporting change Georgia's 2026 fuel tax suspension left behind.

Step 1: confirm Georgia is your base jurisdiction

Two things have to be true. The truck has to be a qualified motor vehicle, which the Department defines as two axles with a gross or registered gross weight above 26,000 pounds, three or more axles at any weight, or a combination that crosses the same weight line. And the operation has to leave the state. A truck that never crosses the Georgia line sits outside the agreement and does not register with the motor fuel unit at all.

Georgia adds a condition of its own. The registration asks for an established Georgia business location, so a mailing address by itself will not carry it. A qualified vehicle based here and not IFTA registered anywhere else licenses with Georgia and then reports every jurisdiction on one Georgia return.

Still waiting on credentials, or bringing an unlicensed truck into the state once? Georgia issues a 10-day motor fuel use tax permit for each unregistered vehicle entering the state, in place of the annual license and decals, under Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-9-2-.04, Trip Permit Instead of License Under International Fuel Tax Agreement. The price and the purchase route sit on the Georgia trip and fuel permits page.

Step 2: open the IFTA account in the Georgia Tax Center

New accounts open online only. From the Georgia Tax Center home page, choose Register a New Georgia Business and step through the International Fuel Tax Account registration. Have your Social Security Number or FEIN ready, your IRP and USDOT numbers where they apply, the jurisdictions where you store bulk fuel, bank details for ACH debit payment, and Social Security Numbers for every company officer and responsible party.

Decals come from the same account. One set covers one vehicle, with a decal on or near each side of the cab, and the Department processes a decal request the next business day and mails it to the address on file. A truck waiting on decals is a truck waiting on the post. Georgia publishes no separate IFTA license fee on top of the per-vehicle decal charge. The sourced decal amount, and the Department's own note on why there is no second charge, both sit on the Georgia IFTA page.

The licensing rule is Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-9-2-.02, International Fuel Tax Agreement Licensing Requirements. It makes the annual license good from the day it issues through the last day of the year, unless the Commissioner suspends or revokes it first.

Apportioned registration does not ride along with this account. IRP lives in a separate Revenue system, the Georgia Trucking Portal, covered on the Georgia IRP registration page. Plan on two logins.

Step 3: keep the quarter's records as you go

Every return needs miles and gallons per jurisdiction. Keep both running through the quarter instead of rebuilding them the week the return is due, because an audit works from fuel receipts and trip records rather than from a reconstruction. The national how to file IFTA guide covers the record set auditors ask for.

Step 4: file Form IFTA-100 in the Georgia Tax Center

Georgia's return is Form IFTA-100, with a quarterly fuel tax schedule attached for each fuel type you burn. Inside the Georgia Tax Center: open the IFTA account, select View Returns, click File Return for the period, confirm whether the company operated, complete the reporting detail and the IFTA tax detail pages, review the summary, and submit. Keep the confirmation number. A carrier with no travel anywhere, including inside Georgia, still files and checks the No Operations box, and every page of the return has to go in.

Returns are due the last day of the month after the quarter closes, and the date moves to the next business day when it lands on a weekend or a holiday. That rule bites more often than carriers expect. The third quarter of 2026 would fall due on a Saturday, so Georgia's published calendar shows November 2, 2026 instead, and the fourth quarter would fall due on a Sunday, so it shows February 1, 2027. Reporting and payment sit under Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-9-2-.03, International Fuel Tax Agreement Reporting and Payment Requirements.

The return applies each jurisdiction's own rate. Georgia's special diesel line this quarter is $0.3730IFTA Fuel Tax Rate Matrix, 3rd Quarter 2026 (International Fuel Tax Association, Inc. (IFTA, Inc.))Verified Jul 18, 2026 per gallon in the national matrix. Run your numbers through the IFTA calculator and compare lines on the IFTA rates by state table before you submit.

One more thing while you are in the form. The Form IFTA-100 instructions flag the surcharge jurisdictions by suffix: the surcharge line for a jurisdiction is its code followed by the number 2, and the taxable volume on that line repeats the figure from the standard line above it.

Step 5: report the 2026 fuel tax suspension the way Georgia asks

Georgia suspended its state excise tax on motor fuels for 60 days in 2026, from March 20 through May 19, under Act 375 (House Bill 1199). The Department of Revenue then published filing guidance that changes the arithmetic on every return those dates touch.

Here is the instruction. Report all miles traveled in Georgia during the suspension in Total Miles, but leave them out of Total Taxable Miles. Report the tax-free gallons in Total Gallons, but leave them out of Tax-Paid Gallons. A carrier that filed the first or second quarter of 2026 the ordinary way overstated its Georgia taxable miles and should look at an amended return.

The instruction belongs to a Georgia suspension and to Georgia miles, so a filing template built around the other jurisdictions will not carry it. Check the quarter yourself before you trust a service to have caught it.

Step 6: renew by December 31 and fit the decals by February 28

Renewal season opens October 1. The decal on the truck expires December 31, and next year's decal has to be requested by that same date. IFTA, Inc. allows an extension for placing the updated decal on the vehicle no later than February 28. Miss that, and any vehicle running after March 1 without the new decals and the current license is exposed to penalties in every member jurisdiction it enters.

What a late or missing Georgia return costs

Georgia charges on four separate lines, and they stack. Filing or paying after the due date draws a penalty set as the greater of a flat charge or a share of the unpaid tax balance, and the Form IFTA-100 instructions repeat that same rule on the form itself. Each failure to file a return carries its own flat charge on top. Interest accrues monthly on what is owed. Operating without proper registration carries a separate per-incident penalty, the one that turns a paperwork lapse into a roadside bill.

The sourced amounts sit with the Department of Revenue's motor fuel rules page for Georgia interstate motor carriers, linked in the sources below.

FAQ

Where does a Georgia carrier file its IFTA return?

In the Georgia Tax Center. Open the IFTA account, pick the period, confirm whether the company operated, complete the reporting and tax detail pages, and submit, then keep the confirmation number. The return is Form IFTA-100 with a fuel tax schedule for each fuel type.

When are Georgia IFTA returns due?

The last day of the month after the quarter closes, moving to the next business day when that falls on a weekend or a holiday. Georgia publishes a dated calendar each year, and two of the coming quarters land on a Monday rather than on the last day of the month.

How did the 2026 fuel tax suspension change a Georgia IFTA return?

Georgia suspended its motor fuel excise tax from March 20 through May 19, 2026. The Department of Revenue tells carriers to report those Georgia miles in Total Miles but leave them out of Total Taxable Miles, and to report the tax-free gallons in Total Gallons but leave them out of Tax-Paid Gallons.