IFTA Renewal for 2027: Decals, Deadline and Grace Period

An IFTA license is good for one calendar year. Every licensed carrier has to renew it, and every qualified truck needs a new pair of decals for 2027. The paperwork is short, but the timing trips people up: the renewal has to be filed in 2026, and the grace period in January and February only covers what is on the truck, not the application.

This guide follows the 2027 grace period memorandum that IFTA, Inc. issued on October 1, 2026 and the rules in the IFTA Articles of Agreement it quotes. Renewal forms, opening dates and fees are set by each base jurisdiction, so treat your own base state’s notice as the final word on those.

What you are renewing

Under the Articles, the license “is valid for the current calendar year ending December 31” and “the decals shall be issued annually.” Your 2026 license and decals stop being current at the end of the year. Your IFTA account number does not change: the identification code “will remain unchanged from year to year until the license is canceled or revoked.”

The base jurisdiction issues one license and at least two decals per qualified vehicle. Renewing means a new license for the account and a new set of decals for every truck you plan to run outside your base state in 2027. If you are still setting up your first license, start with IFTA decals and license setup instead.

The deadline is in 2026, not in February

The memo is direct about this: “IFTA License Renewals for 2027 must be filed with your base jurisdiction before the end of 2026.” It also says “The two-month grace period is for display of renewal credentials, not to file your renewal application for those credentials.”

In practice that means December 31, 2026 is the last day to get the renewal application in. IFTA, Inc. goes further and encourages carriers “to file your renewal application with your base jurisdiction well before December 31, 2026”, so the new decals have time to arrive before you need them.

Some jurisdictions skip the application. The Articles let a base jurisdiction notify a licensee in good standing that the license “will automatically be renewed for the following calendar year.” If you have not received a notice like that, assume you have to apply.

What your base jurisdiction checks before it renews

A renewal is not automatic approval. Rule R345 says a renewal license and decals are issued if all of these hold:

• the license is not revoked, suspended or canceled;
• all tax returns have been filed;
• all motor fuel use taxes, penalties and interest due have been paid;
• you are in compliance with the base jurisdiction’s laws.

An unfiled quarter or an unpaid balance can hold up the 2027 decals. There is one more condition worth knowing if your trucks rarely leave home: a jurisdiction may “cancel or deny renewal” for a carrier that stays inside its base jurisdiction and reports zero or base jurisdiction distance only for three or more consecutive quarters.

The January and February grace period

Rule R655.200 gives renewing carriers “a two-month grace period (January and February) to display the renewal IFTA license and decals.” The memo confirms that this is the rule for 2027, because “there are no new member jurisdictions implementing the IFTA in 2026.”

For the first two months of 2027, the memo says a truck traveling through IFTA member jurisdictions must display one or more of these:

1. A valid 2027 IFTA license and two IFTA decals issued by an IFTA member jurisdiction.
2. A valid 2026 IFTA license and two IFTA decals from an IFTA member jurisdiction, if a renewal application has been filed for 2027.
3. A valid trip permit issued by the IFTA member jurisdiction through which the truck is operating.

Option two is the one most carriers lean on, and it only works if the renewal was filed. Running into January on 2026 credentials without a filed renewal leaves you with option three, a trip permit for each jurisdiction you enter. From March 1, only the 2027 license and decals or a trip permit will do.

Putting the new decals on early

Rule R630 lets carriers “operate with the IFTA decals and license two months prior to the effective date shown on the credentials.” For 2027 credentials that window opens in November 2026, so you can put the new decals on as soon as they arrive.

Doing that does not close out 2026. The same rule says those carriers “are responsible for filing a fourth quarter report for the year preceding the effective date of the new credentials, including all operations for that quarter.” The fourth quarter 2026 return still covers every mile and gallon from October through December, and it is due January 31. The IFTA Q4 filing guide covers that return in detail.

When a trip permit is the fallback

If a truck has neither current nor prior year credentials it can use, the grace period rule points to “a valid single-trip permit from the IFTA jurisdiction in which they are operating.” That permit is bought from the state you are entering, not from your base state, and you need one per jurisdiction. The guide to trip and fuel permits explains how they work and how states differ.

Skipping both is a roadside problem. Under R660, failing to carry the license or display the decals “may subject the vehicle operator to the purchase of a trip permit, a citation, or both.”

Putting the 2027 credentials on the truck

Once the renewal comes through, the same display rules apply as in any other year:

• Decals on both sides. The decals “must be placed on the exterior portion of both sides of the cab.”
• A license copy in every truck. You make copies of the license, and a paper copy or an electronic image has to be in each vehicle or available when requested.
• No swapping between trucks. “Decals shall not be transferred between motor vehicles without authorization from the base jurisdiction.”
• Temporary decal permits. A base jurisdiction may issue a 30 day temporary decal permit to a licensee in good standing, carried in place of the annual decals. Whether yours does, and what it charges, is up to the base jurisdiction.

IFTA renewal is not IRP renewal

IFTA covers fuel tax. Your apportioned plates are a separate registration under the International Registration Plan, renewed on their own schedule with their own paperwork. Renewing one does nothing for the other. If your fleet is based in New Jersey, the IRP side is covered in apportioned plates in New Jersey.

A short renewal checklist

1. Check that every 2026 quarterly return is filed and every balance is paid.
2. Read your base jurisdiction’s renewal notice, or confirm whether it renews automatically.
3. Count the trucks that need 2027 decals.
4. File the renewal before December 31, 2026, ideally well before.
5. Put the new decals on both sides of each cab and a license copy in each truck once they arrive.
6. File the fourth quarter 2026 return by January 31, 2027, even if the new decals are already on.

If you have questions about your own renewal, the memo points you to your base jurisdiction. Contact details for each one are on the IFTA, Inc. site under Carrier Information.