Why should a carrier care about inadequate records for IFTA and IRP recordkeeping?

Question: Why should a carrier care about inadequate records for IFTA and IRP recordkeeping?

Answer: In an International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) or International Registration Program (IRP) audit, carriers should strive for an adequate records rating because if the records are inadequate, under the IRP, carriers will pay a 20 percent assessment. The 20 percent assessment is 20 percent of the IRP fees for the audit period in question. Consider the most recent IRP bill and then take 20 percent of that bill — that would be the IRP penalty assessment. This is a steep assessment for most carriers. Under IFTA, the auditor can drop a carrier’s reported miles-per-gallon (MPG) to 4 MPG/1.7 kilometers-per-liter (KPL) or may reduce the reported MPG/KPL by 20 percent and recalculate the reported taxes.