Montana IFTA Filing Walkthrough (Quarterly)

Montana runs IFTA out of its transportation department, but not out of one office. Motor Carrier Services (MCS) issues the license and the decals. The Revenue Services Bureau, part of MDT's Fiscal Services Division, takes the quarterly returns, pays refunds and runs audits. Both sides meet in ePART, MDT's online system for IFTA, IRP and permits. Knowing which office owns which step saves a lot of phone transfers. The sourced deadlines, contacts and penalty figures render on the Montana IFTA page; this walkthrough puts them in the order you will use them.

Mont. Code Ann. 15-70-121 is the statute that authorizes MDT to join the International Fuel Tax Agreement and adopt rules to carry it out. The working detail lives in MDT's IFTA Guidelines (Rev. September 2025).

Step 1: confirm Montana is your base jurisdiction

You may license in Montana when three things are true, per MDT's IFTA page:

• You are a Montana-based interstate motor carrier.
• You keep operational control and records for your vehicles in Montana, or can make them available there.
• Your qualified vehicles put miles on Montana public roads.

The qualified vehicle test is the standard IFTA one: two axles with a gross or registered gross weight over 26,000 pounds (11,797 kilograms), three or more axles at any weight, or a combination over 26,000 pounds. Recreational vehicles are excluded.

Step 2: get a USDOT number, then apply on MDT-IFTA-002

MDT's new account sheet requires a USDOT number before it will set up IFTA, IRP or UCR, so start with your Montana DOT number.

The application is the IFTA New Carrier Application, form MDT-IFTA-002. It asks for:

• The license effective date, FEIN and USDOT number.
• Legal and trade names, plus Montana mailing and physical addresses.
• Officers, and three forms of proof of residency.
• Bulk fuel storage in Montana and elsewhere.
• Any prior IFTA licenses and any revocation.
• The number of vehicles that need decals.

Mail the new account packet. MCS needs original signatures on new account documents, renewals and the signature page, so those go by mail to Motor Carrier Services, PO Box 4639, Helena, MT 59604-4639. Other IFTA and IRP documents can go by email to mdtmcsirpcontact@mt.gov. Your ePART login arrives by email 1 to 3 business days after setup.

What will it cost? MDT does not say. The IFTA page, the Guidelines, the new account sheet and the MDT-IFTA-002 form all leave out a license fee, and the form has no fee field. The Guidelines describe an Additional IFTA Decal Order Form without a price, too. We record no fee rather than guess, so call MCS at (406) 444-2998 before you budget. Most new Montana carriers set up Montana IRP registration through the same MCS office at the same time.

Step 3: file each quarter through ePART

Once the account is live, returns go to the Revenue Services Bureau, not MCS. The online route is ePART. Credentials are emailed at application, or on request to mdtiftatax@mt.gov. The Fiscal Services Division offers ePART training by phone, in person at 2101 Prospect Avenue in Helena, and through online videos.

Manual filers use the IFTA Tax Return, form MDT-IFTA-001. It has separate lines by fuel type and a Fuel Purchase Summary for refund requests. You can file online, fax to (406) 444-5411, mail the return, or send it through the State of Montana File Transfer Service. A USPS postmark, fax date stamp, email date or online completion counts as the filing date.

Returns are due on or before the last day of April, July, October and January, for the quarters ending March, June, September and December. A due date on a Sunday or holiday moves to the next business day. A return is due every quarter, even one with no operations.

Credits over $5 are refunded within 90 days of a properly filed request with a fuel purchase summary. A credit you do not use within eight quarters is removed. Montana also refunds fuel tax used for PTO and refrigeration units through a separate MDT form. The math of building a return by jurisdiction is the same in every member state: our how to file IFTA guide walks it, and the IFTA calculator runs the per-jurisdiction numbers before you enter them in ePART. Questions about a return go to (406) 444-7664 or mdtiftatax@mt.gov; audits are (406) 444-7609.

Step 4: know what a late or missed quarter costs

A late Montana return draws a penalty of $50 or 10 percent of the total tax liability, whichever is greater. It applies to any late return, even one that shows a credit or no miles. Amending a return that falsely reported no miles draws the same minimum penalty.

Interest is assessed monthly on the tax due to each jurisdiction, and a full month is charged for any part of a month late. MDT will waive a penalty once every three years, which is worth knowing before you pay a first late penalty.

Missed quarters escalate on a short clock:

• Revocation in 30 days. If a tax delinquency is not satisfied and no written appeal is filed within 30 days of the first notice, MDT revokes the license. Record-keeping failures can revoke it too. Reinstatement needs all taxes paid, all reports filed, all requested records received and an account eligible for renewal.
• Cancellation for inactivity. MDT may cancel a license with no activity, or no travel outside Montana, for three consecutive quarters.

Keep the records behind each return for four years.

Step 5: renew in October and place the decals

The license covers one fleet and runs January 1 through December 31. Carry a photocopy of it in each vehicle. Each qualified vehicle gets two decals, one on the exterior of each side of the cab. IRP-registered carriers get decals only for the number of registered vehicles. Decal colors rotate every three years: green for 2026, red for 2027.

Renewal opens in October, after the third-quarter return is filed and paid. To renew, a carrier must not be revoked or cancelled and must have filed all returns and paid all tax, penalty and interest. Paper renewals go to Motor Carrier Services, PO Box 4639, Helena, MT 59604-4639. An account not renewed by December 31 is cancelled on January 15.

A renewal received before December 31 gets a grace period to the last day of February to receive and display the new credentials, while the prior year's valid license and decals stay on the truck. You may run the new decals from December on, but carry the prior year's license until December 31.

An established account in good standing can get a temporary IFTA license in place of decals while decals are pending. A new account cannot.

The short trip alternative: a temporary fuel permit

MDT calls trip permitting the only alternative to IFTA. A temporary special fuel permit costs $30 under Mont. Code Ann. 15-70-456(1). It lasts up to 72 hours and is void once the vehicle leaves Montana. Where to buy one, and the IRP-side trip permit, are laid out on the Montana trip and fuel permits page.

The Montana shape, in short

Four things to remember. Licensing and decals belong to Motor Carrier Services at (406) 444-2998, while returns and refunds belong to the Revenue Services Bureau at (406) 444-7664, and both run through ePART. The new account packet needs original signatures, so it goes by mail. Returns follow the standard quarter-end clock on form MDT-IFTA-001 or online, with a $50 floor on late penalties and a once-every-three-years waiver. And an unpaid delinquency can cost the license in 30 days, while three quiet quarters can cancel it. Current fuel tax rates by jurisdiction render on the IFTA rates by state table.