IFTA Tax Rates in Delaware (2026)

Key numbers at a glance

Delaware packs a remarkable amount of trucking into 30 miles of I-95: the Route 13 and Route 40 freight corridors, the Port of Wilmington drayage, and every Northeast truck that rolls between Baltimore and Philadelphia. Its fuel taxes are flat, low and stable, which in a region of 50-to-74-cent diesel rates makes Delaware the anomaly worth planning around. The figures below come from the official IFTA Inc. fourth quarter 2026 tax rate matrix and Delaware's motor carrier publications — as of Q4 2026 — always confirm the current quarter's official IFTA matrix before filing (this quarter's matrix is not final until December 4, 2026). See the whole map on the IFTA rates by state hub.

IFTA tax rates in Delaware

Delaware keeps it simple — a flat excise per fuel, no gross receipts tax, no surcharge schedule — and the rates rarely move. Delaware DMV licenses IFTA carriers and the Delaware Division of Revenue administers the underlying fuel taxes:

Delaware is one of the few states where diesel is taxed below gasoline — most states charge special fuel the same or more. There is no Indiana-style surcharge line and no Virginia-style two-line split; Delaware files one rate per fuel and that is the whole entry. The IFTA Inc. matrix also notes Delaware's alternative-fuel vehicle registration fees, a reminder that Delaware funds roads partly outside the fuel tax — which is exactly why the pump-side rate can stay this low.

How Delaware IFTA affects your filings

Your Delaware line each quarter is Delaware miles divided by fleet MPG, times $0.220 for diesel. Take a Baltimore to Wilmington to Philadelphia run at 6.5 MPG — the classic I-95 Northeast leg:

Delaware is 21% of the miles but under 9% of the tax. Flip the fueling and the state's value shows: buy all 66.1 gallons in Delaware and you prepaid $14.55 against $35.24 owed, leaving $20.69 due — but you prepaid the cheapest tax in the region on every one of those gallons. Buy the same fuel in Pennsylvania and you prepaid $49.02, stranding $13.78 until refund time. Neither extreme is required; the point is that Delaware gallons carry 22 cents of embedded tax instead of 47 or 74, so every gallon you can legally shift into a Delaware tank is 25 to 52 cents of cash-flow relief. Run your own lanes in the IFTA calculator and file with the quarter's matrix — Delaware's rate stability makes it the one line on the return you can set and forget.

Fueling strategy around Delaware: price minus tax

Shop by net price: pump price minus the state tax, then check the rates ahead. The Q4 2026 neighbor map — Pennsylvania 74.1 cents diesel (the second-highest IFTA rate in the nation), New Jersey 56.1, Maryland 47.4 — makes Delaware's 22.0 cents look like a pricing error. The plays write themselves. Northbound I-95: fill in Delaware, not New Jersey, and save 34.1 cents a gallon. Southbound toward Baltimore: fill in Delaware, not Pennsylvania or Maryland, and save 25.4 to 52.1 cents. Running the Route 13/40 corridor or draying the Port of Wilmington, Delaware pumps should be your default stop. A hundred gallons a week shifted from New Jersey pumps to Delaware pumps is about $1,770 a year in tax timing — real money for a one-truck operation on a corridor this dense. Anchor it against the weekly benchmark with the fuel surcharge guide: the surcharge recovers the diesel price, and the Delaware fueling habit keeps the IFTA settlement from clawing it back.