Form FT-505: Claim for Refund of Taxes Paid on Government Entity Fuel Card Purchases

Form FT-505 is a New York State Department of Taxation and Finance form used by government entities to request a refund of taxes paid on fuel purchased with a government credit card. This includes fuel that was bought at retail with New York State fuel excise tax, prepaid sales tax, or petroleum business tax already included in the price. Government agencies aren’t supposed to bear the cost of these fuel taxes when the purchase qualifies as an exempt government transaction, so FT-505 exists as the mechanism to get that money back.

The situation this form addresses is a common one. A government entity’s fleet vehicle stops at a regular gas station and pays with a government-issued credit card. The pump price already includes New York fuel taxes, just like it would for any retail customer. Since government entities are generally exempt from these taxes on fuel used for official purposes, the tax collected at the point of sale wasn’t actually owed. Form FT-505 lets the agency claim that amount back from the state rather than trying to get the exemption applied at the register, which usually isn’t practical at a typical fuel station.

Who needs this form? It’s specifically for government entities — federal, state, county, municipal, or other qualifying public bodies — that operate vehicles or equipment using fuel bought through a government credit card program. If your agency issues fuel cards to drivers and those purchases happen at commercial retail locations where tax was charged, this is the form your finance or fleet office should be using to recover those costs periodically.

Filing frequency and recordkeeping matter here. Claims are typically filed based on accumulated purchases over a period, and the entity needs documentation to back up the claim — receipts, card statements, or transaction logs showing the fuel type, gallons purchased, dates, and amounts of tax paid. Without solid records, the Department can deny or delay a refund claim, so agencies that use fuel cards regularly usually build a routine around collecting and organizing these records before filing.

As for the paperwork itself, FT-505 is not a fillable PDF. You’ll need to download it, print it out, and complete it by hand. That means gathering your purchase information ahead of time so you’re not scrambling to fill in numbers accurately while writing. Double-check entity identification details, the reporting period covered by the claim, and the total tax amount being requested before submitting. Since it’s a handwritten submission, legibility counts — the Department processes a large volume of these forms, and a claim that’s hard to read can slow down your refund.

This form fits into a broader category of New York fuel tax refund claims that serve different groups facing similar tax-paid-at-the-pump situations. For example, commercial fishing vessel operators have their own version of this process, detailed in Form AU-631, which covers fuel taxes paid on fuel used in commercial fishing operations. If your entity purchases fuel in bulk volume rather than through retail card transactions, it’s worth reviewing Form FT-940, which certifies use of motor fuel purchased in volume and may apply instead of or alongside FT-505 depending on how your agency buys fuel. And if your organization is also dealing with refund requests outside of fuel, such as wireless service charges, the process outlined in Form AU-100-I follows a similarly structured refund request pattern.

Before submitting FT-505, confirm you’re using the current version of the form from the Department of Taxation and Finance, since older versions can be rejected or cause processing delays. Keep a copy of everything you send in, along with your supporting documentation, in case the Department has questions or needs additional verification before issuing the refund.