Frequently Asked Questions by our subscribers
Click a question to read the answer
Q: What do I do when I see a Diversion or Import report that I registered with an FEIN posted but the company's Name and Address is shown as 'unverified'?
This signifies that either:
a) the company reporting the transaction on Fueltrac has entered an incorrect FEIN or
b) the FEIN is correct but the trading partner has never signed up for a free subscription on Fueltrac.
To solve this problem the company registering the Diversion or Import must be contacted to correct the problem. If a) is the problem the company will need to correct the Diversion. If b) is the problem the company with the “unverified” information will have to sign up for a free Fueltrac subscription. As soon as this happens all diversions involving the questionable FEIN will be corrected automatically.
Q: Who can correct a Registered Diversion and how can I tell?
First look on the Diversion Report for the “Register Affiliation:” This gives you the role that the registering company played in the transaction. This company is the only one that can cancel or enter a replacement Diversion.
Q: What happens when a company cancels or corrects a registered Diversion?
The first step is to cancel an existing Diversion. To accomplish this The registering company locates and highlights the the target Diversion in the list of Diversions. Then click on the ” Correct This Diversion ” link near the center of the screen. A pop up window will appear asking if you want to proceed. If you answer “OK” Fueltrac creates a new Diversion identical to the original except that all Gallons are negative. This double entry insures that the first Diversion must be cancelled before a correction can be filed. If the correction process only involved cancellation the correction process is complete. The second step is to register a third Diversion with the correct information.
Q: What is a Diversion?
A diversion takes place when a motor fuel product is drawn from an IRS registered terminal and the loaded product is delivered in a State other than that listed on the manifest (bill of lading). A diversion is essentially an amendment to the manifest reported by the Terminal.
Q: Why is diversion reporting important?
Most of the time a fuel tax adjustment (credit or billing) must be performed by the States and/or fuel tax remitting company. This is more critical in States that asses fuel taxes at the rack but it can also be useful in States that tax at the wholesale level.
Q: What information is included in a diversion?
The fuel carriers and consignors/wholesalers usually register Fueltrac diversions. These transaction participants have the required information. Fueltrac diversions include the carrier FEIN, consignor/wholesaler FEIN, supplier name, IRS terminal ID, transaction date, bill of lading number, original destination state, delivery point zip code, new destination state, up to 4 product codes, net and gross gallons of each product and the consignee FEIN if known. Transportation mode is always highway transport.
Q: What is an Import/Export?
Each Import to one State is an Export to another State. So while the term import/export is commonly used, there is only one transaction reported, usually the import. Fueltrac displays this data to the export State as an export. An import takes place when a fuel consignor, wholesaler, or retailer loads product from any storage facility other than an IRS registered terminal and delivers that product in another State. Over 90% of ethanol is manufactured in the corn belt and great plains States. Therefore, almost all ethanol used in the most populated States must be imported.
Q: How does Fueltrac prevent a single IRS registered fuel terminal transaction from having multiple Diversions registered?
First it important to note that market conditions may dictate that more than one Diversion is required before all the fuel included in a single manifest can be delivered. The first Fueltrac rule is that; “Multiple Diversions can be assigned to a single manifest as long as the fuel is not returned to a previous origin state.” In other words a fuel load may go from say “GA to AL” and then “AL to FL” but once in FL it cannot be diverted back into either GA or AL. In the previous example fuel could have been dropped in each of the three States. This brings us to the second Fueltrac rule that; “Each time afield load crosses into a State not authorize on the original manifest a Diversion should be registered. This registration would report the fuel on board when crossing the state line.”
The improved Fueltrac makes it possible to report multiple drops in the same State. However, Fueltrac warns the data entry person and they must override any multiple drops in the same State.
Finally, if a second party to a transaction tries to register a second Diversion to a manifest Fueltrac will stop the process.
Q: Why is import reporting important?
It is a transaction record that; 1) provides the basis for fuel tax adjustments required by an interstate transaction and 2) alerts the import State that fuel products are entering the State below the Terminal rack. With the growing requirement that fuels contain a manufactured fuel component in the final blended product, interstate movement of manufactured blending components has grown many fold in recent years.
Q: How do I cancel or correct an incorrect registered Diversion?
The first step is to cancel an existing Diversion. To accomplish this locate and highlights the the target Diversion in the list of Diversions. Then click on the ” Correct This Diversion ” link near the center of the screen. A pop up window will appear asking if you want to proceed. If you answer “OK” Fueltrac creates a new Diversion identical to the original except that all Gallons are negative. This double entry insures that the first Diversion must be cancelled before a correction can be filed. If the correction process only involved cancellation the correction process is complete.
The second step is to register a third Diversion with the correct information.
Q: When I register a Diversion, why do I sometimes receive a Diversion Report + a notification that an Import/Export Report was created?
Fueltrac does two calculations:
Import /Exports are Calculated if the following conditions exist:
The Origin Terminal State is different from the Original Destination State.
Diversions are Calculated if the following conditions exist:
The shipments Origination is an IRS Registered Terminal and the Original Destination State is different from the New (Final) Destination State.
It can be seen that these two calculations are independent. However, if the load originates at an IRS Terminal then the Import/Export calculation is done first. Then the Diversion documents the fuel tax status for both states involved. Fueltrac does this evaluation on all Diversion registrations to make sure that double reporting of Import/Exports is not necessary.
It’s all done under the hood or the convenience of our customers.
Q: I am trying to register an import. However the company that owns the bulk facility is not shown on the supplier list. What do I do?
Click on this Email
link and send the name of the supplier you need to add. We will add it so you can complete the registration process.
Q: All of a sudden our eMail Diversion/Import notices stopped coming. What happened?
Sometimes eMail receiving servers block incoming eMail. When this happens Fueltrac cannot correct this problem. The people that manage your incoming eMail must remove Fueltrac’s eMail server from the BLACKLIST.