OKLAHOMA CITY - Motorcoach operators trying to avoid high registration fees and/or property taxes in their home states by registering their coaches in Oklahoma may be in for a rude awakening.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission reports that during the past year it has received International Fuel Tax Agreement license applications from a number of out-of-state charter bus companies.

The IFTA applications usually come to the state corporation commission after the company has purchased commercial license plates from one of Oklahoma's motor license agents, which are located throughout the state.

When the corporation commission staff reviews the IFTA application it becomes clear that operational control of the buses in question is not in Oklahoma. Since the International Fuel Tax Agreement specifically requires registration of qualified motor vehicles and operational control to exist in the same base jurisdiction, the application is being denied by Oklahoma officials.

That denial quickly turns into a financial shock for the operators.

The problem, as it turns out, is that the charter bus company has already purchased Oklahoma tags for its buses and is not entitled to an Oklahoma IFTA account. The company then submits an IFTA application to the jurisdiction where operational control exits and gets denied because its vehicles are not registered in that jurisdiction.

To make matters worse, Oklahoma law does not allow a refund of registration fees in such situations. That means the coach operator can't get a refund for the registration fees it has paid to Oklahoma.

"To avoid this Catch-22 situation, operators should carefully review where their operation resides and is controlled. Then obtain your vehicle registration and IFTA license from the same jurisdiction," said Scott Greenawalt, regulatory program manager for the Oklahoma Corporation Committee.
"And to do that, you must ensure that both operational control exists and registration is obtained in the jurisdiction in which you desire to obtain your IFTA account," Greenawalt added.