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DMV says audit staff now at quota for IRP/IFTA; e-logs and GPS data change reporting and audit work
Summary
DMV compliance staff told the committee the agency is staffed to meet federal IRP/IFTA audit quotas, described electronic GPS/e-log tracking requirements for carriers (effective Jan. 1, 2024) and said audits found both no-change cases and assessments; DMV emphasized compliance and education goals alongside recoveries.
Randy Robillard, the compliance division director at the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, told the House Transportation Committee that DMV audit staffing has increased and that the agency met required IRP/IFTA audit quotas in 2024 and expects to meet them again in 2025.
"We are currently staffed and we have 3 auditors to help us maintain a quota that we're required to administer by, the federal IRP and IFTA plans," Robillard said, noting a backlog from reduced staffing in prior years and that the DMV conducted a discovery program focused on IRP audits in 2024. He said the quota is to audit 3% of registered carriers for both IRP and IFTA annually and the DMV met that percentage in 2024.
Compliance staff described how commercial carriers track miles and fuel. Robillard explained that a January 1, 2024 IRP ballot requires electronic logs and GPS reporting (approximately every 15 minutes with latitude/longitude points) for carriers' mileage reporting. That electronic data is used in audits alongside drivers' logs and fuel receipts: "In the event of an audit, they have to provide that level of documentation, and the auditors are looking at that, and they're verifying to what they reported versus to what they have for individual driver's logs and what their GPS data says."
Robillard said audits produce a mix of outcomes, including many "no change" audits where carriers' records matched filings and other audits that produced assessments with penalties and interest. He said the DMV's focus is compliance and education as well as enforcement where necessary and that auditors' work is required by the IRP/IFTA plans and peer reviews.
Committee members asked about the percentage of audits that produce assessments; Robillard said he did not have a precise percentage in the session but offered to provide the information. Members also asked whether electric or propane vehicles are being treated in audits; Robillard said states vary in how they define and tax propulsion fuels and that Vermont is tracking other states' approaches.
