Haunted Tales: The IFTA Audit


The IFTA AuditExpressIFTA presents Haunted Tales to get you in the Halloween spirit. Gather round Trucking Nation for a bloodcurdling tale of the IFTA Audit (lightning strikes). It can happen to any registered IFTA account, 3% are required to be audited every year. But when an unsuspecting Owner-Operator named Bryan opened the notification letter, his life was changed forever. An audit was coming.

What was Bryan going to do? How would he survive the Night of the IFTA Audit (lightning strikes again).

At first he panicked, digging through boxes and files to make sure everything the auditor would need was there. He called his base jurisdiction to make sure he had all the required documents. His confidence was great and he relaxed while waiting for a knock at the door. Bryan’s peaceful wait did not last long.

Thundering, deep grey clouds rolled in and a storm began. The roof made an eerie creak as the rain started to come down harder. Then all of the sudden it was pitch black. “Probably just a power outage,” Bryan reassured himself. A phone starts ringing, but it’s not his cell, it’s the land line. Bryan thought this to be quite odd because no one ever calls him on that line. He doesn’t even remember the number. Bryan takes a deep breath before answering the call …”hello.”

A deep, dreary voice came across the line…”This is Mr. Shaw, the IFTA Auditor. Despite the weather, your audit will continue on schedule and I will be there momentarily.” Before Bryan could explain the power was out, Mr. Shaw hung up the phone. The thought of how Mr. Shaw got his phone number had left his mind. Bryan dashed to the table and went down the list of requirements one last time:

– Completed copy of a driver trip record or trip sheet from one of the 12 most recent quarters
– Date of the trip, starting and ending
– Trip origin and destination
– Route of travel and/or beginning and ending odometer reading of the trip
– Total trip miles
– Miles/kilometers by jurisdiction
– Unit number or vehicle identification number
– Vehicle fleet number
– Registrant’s name
– Trailer number
– Driver’s signature and/or name
– Fuel purchases
– Copy of an actual Over-the Road fuel receipt
– Completed copy of a bulk fuel withdrawal log
– Copy of the monthly or quarterly summary
– Detailed equipment list including the make, model, and gross weight for IFTA qualified units

Bryan had everything he needed and while the beads of sweat were starting to form on his forehead he heard it – Knock, Knock, Knock. Mr. Shaw had arrived. As Bryan reached for the door handle, his hand shaking and nerves building, he froze. The door knob had turned on its own and the door slowly creaked open. No one was there. Bryan walked out on the porch and there was no sign of Mr. Shaw. Bryan knew he heard three distinct knocks on his door. At that moment, a strong wind blew past Bryan and in the house, throwing all his IFTA documents into the air. Papers were flying everywhere and some even seemed to stay suspended in the air.

Bryan was dumbfounded at the sight of floating papers in his living room. His thoughts were interrupted by a loud bolt of lightning right by the house and the power flashed on. All his IFTA documents started raining down from the ceiling. He didn’t know what to think of what just happened, he just knew Mr. Shaw was on his way and his documents were all over the place. After a quick cleaning, Bryan sat down and waited….and waited…and waited.

 Mr. Shaw never came, and Bryan was furious. He called the IFTA office the next day to find out what happened. Bryan turned ghost white when they told him his IFTA audit went well and nothing seemed to be out of order. He explained to the lady on the other end that Mr. Shaw never showed up for the audit. He told her about the phone call and that he thought he heard someone at his door, but it was nobody. A dead silence echoed through the phone after the IFTA worker said….”Bryan, Mr. Shaw has been dead for 7 years.”

The Haunting IFTA Auditor continues to makes his rounds every October. Bryan had everything he needed, but if he hadn’t there would have been some ghostly penalties.

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