IFTA, KYU and NY HUT: The Filing Calendar That Keeps a Small Fleet Out of Penalties

I have watched two carriers pay for a filing nobody remembered. One paid upwards of $500, the other upwards of $800, over Kentucky and New York returns that never went in. Neither owed much tax. Both had a truck that ran those states a handful of times in the quarter. The money went to penalties, interest and a reinstatement fee, not to the road.

That is the thing about IFTA and the state mileage taxes. The tax itself is small for a 3 to 10 truck fleet. A truck that runs 800 miles through Kentucky in a quarter owes about $23. The penalty for not saying so is bigger than the tax, and in Kentucky it comes with a $500 fee to get the license back.

Five filings, one due date, one habit. Here is the calendar, and what each filing costs when you miss it.

Five filings, one calendar

IFTA covers fuel tax across the 48 states and 10 provinces. Four states charge their own tax by the mile on top of it, and Connecticut became the fifth in 2023. All of them use the same quarterly date. Put it on the dispatch wall and the whole problem is one afternoon, four times a year.

For 2026 that means April 30, July 31, then November 2 for the third quarter because October 31 is a Saturday. The fourth quarter lands on February 1, 2027, because January 31 is a Sunday. The IFTA Articles of Agreement (R960) set that weekend rule. The states follow it in practice, but check each portal the week before.

1. IFTA: four returns a year, even when you owe nothing

Miss the date and your base state may assess $50 or 10 percent of the delinquent tax, whichever is greater (R1220). That covers a late return, a missing return and an underpayment. A zero-tax quarter still owes the $50. Interest runs two points above the IRS underpayment rate, charged monthly (R1230), which for 2026 is 9 percent a year, 0.75 percent a month. Virginia's DMV spells out the same $50 or 10 percent rule on its IFTA page.

The number that trips small fleets is not the rate. It is fleet MPG. Each jurisdiction's taxable gallons are your miles there divided by fleet MPG, and fleet MPG is total miles divided by total gallons bought. A missing fuel receipt pushes MPG up and taxable gallons down, and an auditor will find it. Keep every receipt and every state line.

2. Kentucky KYU: the $500 that comes from filing nothing

Kentucky's weight distance tax applies to any carrier with a combined license weight over 59,999 pounds, at 2.85 cents a mile. That is where the $23 above comes from: 800 miles at $0.0285.

The license requires a return every quarter whether or not you ran Kentucky. In the state's words, if you did not travel during a quarter, you must file zero miles "to avoid a penalty, interest, and a revocation fee of $500." Under KRS 138.685 the return is due on or before the last day of the month following the quarter, through the Motor Carrier Portal.

This is the one I see missed most. A fleet gets the KYU number for one Louisville load, never runs Kentucky again, and forgets the license exists. Two quarters later it is revoked, and the fee to get it back costs more than a year of the tax. If Kentucky is a once-a-year state for you, buy the one-time temporary permit per trip and skip the license.

3. New Mexico weight distance: 35 percent higher since July 1

New Mexico taxes vehicles with a declared gross weight over 26,000 pounds by the mile, on a table that steps up with weight. The 2004 table ran from 11.01 mills a mile at 26,001 to 28,000 pounds to 43.78 mills at 78,001 pounds and over, about 4.4 cents. A truck that runs empty 45 percent or more of its New Mexico miles can register as a one-way hauler and pay two thirds of that.

On July 1, 2026 the state raised the weight distance tax by 35 percent, the first change since 2004. Add 35 percent to the top row and an 80,000 pound truck pays about 5.9 cents a mile. The third-quarter return due in November is the first one at the new rate. If your spreadsheet still has the old table, it is wrong now.

The return is quarterly on the same dates, and a return is required even if the truck never entered New Mexico. A late return costs 2 percent of the tax for each month or part of a month, up to 20 percent, plus interest. Each truck also needs its own electronic permit, renewed every year.

4. New York HUT: the certificate is the trap

New York's highway use tax applies to any truck or tractor with a gross weight over 18,000 pounds on state highways, Thruway toll miles excluded. Each vehicle carries a certificate of registration and a decal. Once you hold a certificate you must file for every period, even if no tax is due and even if someone else paid the tax for you.

New filers start quarterly on the same dates. After a full year the state resets your frequency by the prior year's tax: $1,200 or less and you file once a year, more than $12,000 and you file monthly, in between you stay quarterly. The letter that changes it is easy to miss. If you hold a certificate and have not filed in a while, check your frequency before you check your mail.

The penalties are the steepest on this list. A late return or payment costs 10 percent of the tax due plus 1 percent for each additional month, up to 30 percent. More than 60 days late and the minimum penalty is $100, or the whole tax on the return if that is smaller. The state can suspend or revoke the certificate without a hearing for a missed return, and operating without one is a misdemeanor with a fine of $100 to $250 on a first conviction.

5. Connecticut highway use fee: the newest one

Connecticut's fee started January 1, 2023 for vehicles of 26,000 pounds or more in FHWA Class 8 through 13. You register with the Department of Revenue Services on myconneCT, keep a copy of the free permit in each eligible truck, and file. The rate steps with gross weight, from 2.5 cents a mile at 26,000 to 28,000 pounds to 17.5 cents over 80,000.

It began monthly. Since the fourth quarter of 2023 it is quarterly, due the last day of the month after the quarter, and a return is required whether or not you ran Connecticut. Late or incomplete filing costs 10 percent of the unpaid fee or $50, whichever is greater, plus interest at 1 percent a month. Keep the mileage records four years.

What a missed quarter costs

Take a four-truck fleet with one truck that runs the Northeast. In a quiet quarter it owes $23 to Kentucky and nothing to IFTA, because it bought fuel where it burned it. Forget both returns and the bill is $50 to IFTA for the zero return, then penalty, interest and $500 to Kentucky once the license is revoked. More than $550, and a morning on the phone, for a quarter whose tax was $23.

The pattern in both carriers I watched was the same. The license was obtained for one customer, the customer went away, and nobody cancelled it or kept filing the zeros. Every item on this page is a filing, not a payment. The payment was never the problem.

The checklist

Before each quarterly date:

• ☐ List every license and certificate the fleet holds: IFTA, KYU, NM permit, NY HUT, CT HUF, and who got it
• ☐ Cancel any license you no longer need rather than letting it lapse
• ☐ Pull miles by state for every truck from the ELD and check them against fuel stops
• ☐ Match every fuel receipt to a state and a truck; gallons with no receipt are not tax-paid
• ☐ File the zero returns first, they are the ones that get forgotten
• ☐ Confirm the New Mexico rate table in your software is the July 2026 table
• ☐ Check your New York filing frequency against last year's tax, not habit
• ☐ Put the next due date on the dispatch wall, with the weekend shift for Q3 and Q4

The fees that step up with fleet size are in When a Three-Truck Fleet Should Add the Fourth Truck, and the fuel side of the IFTA math is in The October 1 Strike That Wasn't, and the Diesel Bill That Is. Both feed the cost per mile calculator.

Freight Friend works out the IFTA return from the fuel and miles by state you already keep, at the official IFTA rates with Kentucky's surcharge line, and does the same for KYU, New York HUT, Connecticut, New Mexico and Oregon, with a link to each state's portal. You file it there, and you record it as filed. You are still the one who decides.