IFTA Tax Rates in Alabama (2026)

Key numbers at a glance

Alabama sits on some of the busiest trucking corridors in the Southeast — I-20 out of Birmingham, I-65 from Montgomery to the Gulf, I-10 across the Florida panhandle traffic. Every one of those miles gets taxed at Alabama's rate on your IFTA return, whether you bought fuel in the state or not. The rates below are drawn from the official IFTA Inc. fourth quarter 2026 tax rate matrix and from the Alabama Department of Revenue — as of Q4 2026 — always confirm the current quarter's official IFTA matrix before you file, because the matrix is not finalized until December 4, 2026. For the full state-by-state picture, see the IFTA rates by state hub.

IFTA tax rates in Alabama

Two numbers run almost every trucker's Alabama IFTA line — the diesel rate and the gasoline rate — both in effect since July 1, 2025 per the Alabama Department of Revenue's motor fuels tax rates page:

Alabama's rates are produced by the Rebuild Alabama Act of 2019, which raised the excise tax in steps and then indexed it: every other October 1 the Department of Revenue recalculates the rate against the National Highway Construction Cost Index, and since the 2025 adjustment the pair sits at 30.0 cents gasoline / 31.0 cents diesel. That makes Alabama a mid-pack state — noticeably cheaper than Georgia and Florida, a few cents dearer than Mississippi and Tennessee. Alabama has no separate IFTA surcharge line, unlike Indiana's surcharge schedule or Virginia's two-line base-plus-additional-tax structure.

How Alabama IFTA affects your filings

IFTA taxes fuel where it burns, not where it buys. Your Alabama tax line is Alabama miles divided by your fleet MPG, times $0.310 for diesel. Run a Montgomery to Atlanta to Chattanooga trip at 6.5 MPG and the return looks like this:

Notice the leverage: Alabama is 54% of the miles but 52% of the tax, because its rate sits between Georgia's 37.3 cents and Tennessee's 27.0 cents. Now flip the fueling. If you bought all 90.7 gallons in Georgia, you prepaid 37.3 cents a gallon — $33.86 — against $29.01 owed, and you are owed roughly a $4.85 refund. Buy it all in Alabama and you prepaid $28.14 against $29.01 owed, a near-perfect wash. Run those scenarios yourself in the IFTA calculator before each quarter closes; the same three-state math that takes ten minutes in October prevents a surprise bill in January.

Two filing mechanics worth knowing. First, use the rate in effect for the quarter you are filing — a Q4 2026 return uses Q4 rates, and using a stale rate is a classic audit flag. Second, Alabama is a net-importer of through freight, so if you base in Alabama and run the Southeast regularly, expect most quarters to balance out; run mostly I-95 or I-80 lanes and the coastal rates will dominate your return.

Fueling strategy around Alabama: price minus tax

The pump price in Alabama includes the 31.0-cent diesel tax that comes back to you at filing time anyway, so shop by net price: pump price minus tax, plus a glance at the rates ahead. On the neighbors — Mississippi 24.0 cents, Tennessee 27.0 cents, Georgia 37.3 cents, Florida 41.0 cents (all Q4 2026) — the plays are obvious. Heading east toward Atlanta, fill in Alabama: 6.3 cents a gallon cheaper than buying the same gallons in Georgia, roughly $6.30 per hundred gallons. Heading south into Florida, cross the line with full tanks — Florida diesel at 41.0 cents is a full dime above Alabama's. Coming down I-65 from Tennessee or across I-20 from Mississippi, those states are 4 to 7 cents cheaper than Alabama, so top off before you re-enter. A hundred gallons a week moved from Georgia pumps to Alabama pumps is about $330 a year in tax timing, before interest. And because fuel surcharge recoveries track the diesel benchmark rather than state tax quirks, check the fuel surcharge guide to make sure your rate add-on is keeping pace with what you actually spend at the pump.