My new plane (PA22-150) came with an autofuel STC and 87 octane E0 is plentiful around here. So while I was going through the purchasing process I started building a setup to fuel the airplane. Saving a few bucks on every gallon will pay for the fueling setup in approx 50 hours.

Aluminum tank, and a water-blok filter, digital meter at the nozzle. Grounding / bonding reel added and the tank is also grounded to the truck ground.


20130602_163120.jpg by scottf, on Flickr



20130602_163120.jpg by scottf, on Flickr



20130602_163052.jpg by scottf, on Flickr



20130602_163037.jpg by scottf, on Flickr





Anyone else doing something similar? I have made a fuel log to track fuel going in and out. I am wondering for the state of Idaho wants to see for road tax exemption... if I need to keep receipts from the gas station when fuel is purchased, or just a log of quanity and use of the fuel? I will also occasionally fill up the wife's car, etc. so not all fuel in/out is elegible for tax exemption, thus the log.

I guess I'm an expert, especially since I got audited by the state for taking the exemptions! It sounds like you have a pretty good handle on what you will want if ever audited:
The fuel log, excellent idea, these people love paper work, and you want to be able to shovel it at them by the truckload.
Absolutely required is the paper receipt that comes out of the fuel pump, not just your credit card receipt, guess how I found that out?
This may be overkill, but taking a date stamped picture each time you fuel, showing the actual fuel hose going in the actual airplane, and being able to match those pictures up with your hand written log plus the receipts and you'd be golden

A nice lady named Nancy is you would be dealing with if audited, and I'm not being sarcastic, she made "getting caught" as painless as possible, and educated me on the importance of keeping the paper trail. I didn't in some cases (I was/am also claiming a deduction for my off road use of diesel while operating my crane on the job site) and had to pay a small amount, less then $200.00. I was happy to wrap it up for that amount, and got educated in the process, now I have my ass covered 6 ways from Sunday. Most importantly, I was able to prove to her satisfaction that I was a dummy and not a criminal, big difference. No fraud on my part in other words, just sloppy record keeping. A few weeks after we finished up, I got a further query from the state tax people, asking how I would rate her job performance, I gave her a A+ and meant it! They let me slide on the previous years and just "got" me on 2011, fair enough.

Here's what I use. Not quite as fancy as yours but works very well. Pump is grounded to frame, grounding cable from frame to plane, drag chain from frame to ground.

OK thanks. I will keep the receipts then. My thinking was the receipts could cloud or confuse the "auditor"... say I buy 25 gallons, put 20 into the airplane, and 5 into my car. Logged appropriately, I will report the 20 gallons as tax exempt, but not the other 5. Just didn't want the state to be confused when they see the quantities differ between the pump receipt and the quanitity claimed as used off-road.

Sounds like just keep a good log of fuel in and out AND receipts and I should be fine.

SkySteve wrote:Here's what I use. Not quite as fancy as yours but works very well. Pump is grounded to frame, grounding cable from frame to plane, drag chain from frame to ground.

Cool setup. Will that gravity feed once the flow is started?

No. Will not gravity feed. The stand puts the barrel at the same height as my truck tailgate for easy loading/unloading. One of the top arm of the stand is bolted so it pulls up, then is cut to slide down over a bolt on the other end to hold it in place. This makes it easy to get the drum in and out of the stand. Like this:

scottf wrote:OK thanks. I will keep the receipts then. My thinking was the receipts could cloud or confuse the "auditor"... say I buy 25 gallons, put 20 into the airplane, and 5 into my car. Logged appropriately, I will report the 20 gallons as tax exempt, but not the other 5. Just didn't want the state to be confused when they see the quantities differ between the pump receipt and the quanitity claimed as used off-road.

Sounds like just keep a good log of fuel in and out AND receipts and I should be fine.

I don't know anything about Idaho bureaucrats, but I do have some background with bureaucrats. If I were you, I'd keep car gas completely separated from the gas you're putting in the plane. I think mixing the two might be an invitation for a LOT of suspicion on the part of the tax folks.

MTV

mtv wrote:

scottf wrote:OK thanks. I will keep the receipts then. My thinking was the receipts could cloud or confuse the "auditor"... say I buy 25 gallons, put 20 into the airplane, and 5 into my car. Logged appropriately, I will report the 20 gallons as tax exempt, but not the other 5. Just didn't want the state to be confused when they see the quantities differ between the pump receipt and the quanitity claimed as used off-road.

Sounds like just keep a good log of fuel in and out AND receipts and I should be fine.

I don't know anything about Idaho bureaucrats, but I do have some background with bureaucrats. If I were you, I'd keep car gas completely separated from the gas you're putting in the plane. I think mixing the two might be an invitation for a LOT of suspicion on the part of the tax folks.

MTV

I think as long as I have a log and can account where all the fuel I purchased went, there should be no issue. I bought the transfer tank mostly for the plane, but it will also be useful for boats, cars, motorcycle, lawnmower, etc. Not going to restrict use of a piece of useful equipment just to make the auditors happy.

It may not be worth the hassle of trying to get your road tax back. I drive natural gas vehicles and qualify for a 50 cent/gallon tax credit but it has to be filed quarterly, the 18.3 cent excise tax gets deducted from the 50 cents and you have to apply for a special number. Also you agree to let them to come and inspect your vehicle and submit quarterly and annual reports for as long as you own the vehicle. There's a filing fee associated with every mandatory report. I was going to get $600 bucks back but decided that 80 cent gas was cheap enough and $600 wasn't enough for a lifetime membership in another gummint spanking machine.

Interesting. I didn't know it had to be reported quarterly. I was mainly hoping to divert some funds into the aviation fund instead of the road fund, I think the dept. of aviation get 8 cents per gallon credit or something like that. Every penny counts. I going to still keep good records and save receipts and try it out for a year and then see if it is worth it. You would think the government would make doing the right thing easy... afterall you can buy offroad diesel without the road tax.

I did the road-tax-refund thing for years. How it works in WA is they refund the road tax, less sales tax & aviation tax -- so the cheaper the gas, the more the refund. Back in the days of $2 gas, I used to get back quite a bit, as much as (as I recall) 15 or 20 cents a gallon-- but as prices rose, not so much. The last time I filed, I got back a notice that said once the mogas cost rises above $3.78/gallon, the aviation tax & sales tax combined are more than the road tax. So it looks like no more refunds for me.

Found the requirements below from the State of Idaho.


What records do I need to keep?

You must keep records that support your fuels tax refund claim. These records include all motor fuels receipts
showing the total gallons of tax-paid fuel purchased and withdrawal records that show the number of gallons of
fuel withdrawn from a bulk storage tank, the equipment the fuel is put into, and whether the fuel use is taxable
or nontaxable.

Nosedragger wrote:It may not be worth the hassle of trying to get your road tax back. I drive natural gas vehicles and qualify for a 50 cent/gallon tax credit but it has to be filed quarterly, the 18.3 cent excise tax gets deducted from the 50 cents and you have to apply for a special number. Also you agree to let them to come and inspect your vehicle and submit quarterly and annual reports for as long as you own the vehicle. There's a filing fee associated with every mandatory report. I was going to get $600 bucks back but decided that 80 cent gas was cheap enough and $600 wasn't enough for a lifetime membership in another gummint spanking machine.

Nosedragger brings up some very valid points.. The guv will make exceptions to give you that warm fuzzy feeling... Then the filing fee, regs, required documentation, etc,etc makes the whole concept an act in futility.... What is really scaring them now is the guv is pushing CNG as their cure for energy dependence and reduced pollution... I agree on both points but the scary part is people will install home fueling stations using Haskell boost pumps drawing from the nat gas line coming into the house... With diesel the guv can dye it red to distinguish it as non rev fuel.... There is NO way to dye nat gas and the lost revenue keeps the politicians awake at night..

ps........ to keep it on topic.. my fueling rig uses the same equipment as the OP, only I use a 55 gal drum, not a bed tank.

Stol wrote:

Nosedragger wrote:It may not be worth the hassle of trying to get your road tax back. I drive natural gas vehicles and qualify for a 50 cent/gallon tax credit but it has to be filed quarterly, the 18.3 cent excise tax gets deducted from the 50 cents and you have to apply for a special number. Also you agree to let them to come and inspect your vehicle and submit quarterly and annual reports for as long as you own the vehicle. There's a filing fee associated with every mandatory report. I was going to get $600 bucks back but decided that 80 cent gas was cheap enough and $600 wasn't enough for a lifetime membership in another gummint spanking machine.

What is really scaring them now is the guv is pushing CNG as their cure for energy dependence and reduced pollution... I agree on both points but the scary part is people will install home fueling stations using Haskell boost pumps drawing from the nat gas line coming into the house... With diesel the guv can dye it red to distinguish it as non rev fuel.... There is NO way to dye nat gas and the lost revenue keeps the politicians awake at night..

ps........ to keep it on topic.. my fueling rig uses the same equipment as the OP, only I use a 55 gal drum, not a bed tank.

Shhh. Don't let them hear you. If they knew they were subsidizing a heli logger, they'd change the rules retroactively.

When I first started using mogas in my first airplane, I bought a set of three 5-gallon gas cans to tide me over until I got a tank & pump set-up for the back of my pickup. Never did get it, and 18 years later I'm still using the same three old cans. Two hours worth in my current airplane, and my E-zero mogas source is handy enugh that I can just swing by on the way home from the airport when I need to fill up.
I've gotten to where I prefer fueling out of the cans-- when I buy avgas at home, I usually pump it into the can(s) and gas up the airplane at the hangar just like with mogas.