The toll statement arrives with forty lines on it for Bus 104. Most are the bridge on Route 7, twice a day. One is a Saturday afternoon on the turnpike, nowhere near a route. And there's a separate notice in the mail: a toll-by-plate bill with a late fee, because the tag in Bus 109 wasn't read. Who pays tolls on company vehicles — the company, the driver, or the school district?
The fair answer depends on why the vehicle was on that road. Here's a simple way to sort every toll, a policy drivers can follow, and the wage rules that decide how a toll can be passed on.
Who pays tolls on company vehicles? The short answer
When the vehicle is on company business, the toll is a cost of doing business — the company pays it. When a driver uses the vehicle for their own reasons, against your policy, the driver can fairly be asked to pay. Most cases fall into one of these:
| Situation | Who usually pays | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A toll on the route, every day | The company | It's part of running the route — price it into the route rate, or bill it if the contract allows. |
| A field trip or charter | The company, then the customer | Add it to the trip's price or bill it at cost. See field trip pricing. |
| A detour dispatch approved (a closed road, a new stop) | The company | Still company business — note who approved it. |
| A trip to the shop, the fuel depot or another yard | The company | Company business, off route. |
| A personal errand or a detour the driver chose | The driver, under your policy | Not company business — but see the wage rules below before taking it from pay. |
| The driver paid a work toll out of their own pocket | The company reimburses | With a receipt or statement, under a written reimbursement policy. |
| A toll-by-plate bill or late fee because a tag wasn't read | Usually the company | Most often a tag or account problem. If a driver removed or blocked the tag, your policy decides. |
How toll bills reach a fleet
Tolls arrive in two ways. A transponder account (an E-ZPass or similar) charges tolls to the company's account, and the statement lists each tag or plate, the plaza, the date and the time. When a tag isn't read and the plate isn't on the account, the toll authority bills the registered owner — your company — by mail. On the New York State Thruway, for example, an unpaid toll bill is followed by a second one with a $5 late fee, and an unpaid second bill becomes a violation with a $50 fee per notice (the Thruway's figures when we checked in October 2026; other authorities set their own).
Tip: Put every bus's plate on the toll account, keep a note of which tag sits in which bus, and check a tag is mounted after any windshield repair. Most toll-by-plate fees come from a tag that moved or a plate that was never added.
Reimbursing drivers who pay tolls themselves
If a driver pays a work toll with their own transponder or cash, reimburse it under a written policy. The IRS calls a reimbursement arrangement an accountable plan when three things are true: the expense had a business connection, the employee adequately accounts for it within a reasonable period (a receipt or a toll statement), and any excess is returned. Reimbursements under an accountable plan aren't wages; under a plan that misses one of those rules, they're treated as taxable pay. IRS Publication 463 also lists business tolls and parking as costs that can be claimed on top of the standard mileage rate.
Can an employer charge an employee for tolls?
Asking a driver to pay for a personal toll is one thing. Taking it out of their paycheck is another, and the rules are strict:
- Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, wages must be paid "free and clear" — a deduction for something that benefits the employer can't take pay below the minimum wage or overtime owed for that week.
- Many states go further and only allow deductions the employee has agreed to in writing — and some, New Jersey among them, only allow the kinds of deductions listed in state law.
- Business tolls are the company's cost. Charging drivers for tolls on their routes isn't "passing on" a cost — it's cutting their pay.
The simplest fair approach: the company pays every business toll; for a personal toll, the driver pays it directly or signs an authorization for that specific amount, where your state allows it. Put the rule in your driver handbook — the free driver handbook template has a section for vehicle use.
A toll policy drivers can follow
- Company vehicles are for company business. Say whether drivers may take a bus home, stop for lunch, or run errands — and what happens with tolls when they do.
- Use the tag, never cash or a personal account, unless dispatch says otherwise — and keep the receipt if you must.
- Don't move or remove a tag. Report a missing or damaged tag at the pre-trip.
- Detours need a call. If a road is closed, call dispatch; they'll note it.
- Personal tolls: how the driver will be asked to pay, and that nothing comes out of pay without their written agreement where the law requires it.
- Toll notices and violations are handled like traffic tickets: logged, matched to the run, decided case by case. See who was driving the company vehicle.
Sorting a month's toll statement
- Match each line to a vehicle by tag or plate.
- Match the time to what the vehicle was doing: a route run, a field trip, a shop visit — the same way you'd match a camera ticket to a route run.
- Mark each line: route, trip (bill it on), company errand, or unexplained.
- Ask about the unexplained ones — with the date, time and place, before deciding anything.
- Record the total by bus, so tolls show up in each bus's cost per mile.
An example, Bus 104's October statement:
| Date and time | Where | What the bus was doing | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekdays, 6:58 AM and 3:12 PM (40 lines) | River bridge | Route 7, morning and afternoon runs | Company — part of the route cost |
| Oct 14, 9:40 AM | Turnpike exit 9 | Field trip to the science museum | Company — added to the trip's invoice |
| Oct 21, 1:15 PM | Turnpike exit 11 | To the dealer for warranty work | Company |
| Oct 25 (Saturday), 4:12 PM | Turnpike exit 14 | Nothing scheduled | Ask the driver who had it; personal use → driver, under the policy |
Doing it in FleetCommander
FleetCommander doesn't connect to toll accounts or import transponder data automatically — tolls are entered by hand or from a CSV. Once they're in, they sit with each bus's other costs:
- The tag: each vehicle's page has its EZ Pass tag on the Identification card, beside the plate, and you can search the Fleet list by tag — handy when a statement only shows the tag number. See the Fleet guide.
- Tolls as expenses: press Add expense, choose the category tolls, the amount and date, the vehicle and, if you like, the driver. For a whole statement, Manage › Import CSV on Expenses takes Date, Category (tolls), Amount, Vehicle (the fleet number), Vendor, Department and Description columns. Tolls then count in Expenses › Cost summary (under Other) and each vehicle's Cost / mile. See the Expenses guide.
- Toll notices and fees: under Incidents › Violations, press Manage › Add violation, choose the vehicle and the Kind Unpaid toll, and leave Driver on Work it out — FleetCommander finds who was driving from the route run at that time, or who had the vehicle that day. On the violation's page, Whose fault? records the decision; if it's the driver's, Charge to the driver shows on the Driver hours & pay report as Charged to drivers. FleetCommander never changes anyone's pay. See the Incidents guide.
- Billing a trip's tolls: with district invoices on, add them to the month's draft under Extra charges and credits.
Office staff can tell Ava (Beta), the assistant in FleetCommander, Add $45 tolls for bus 102 — she shows a card, and nothing is saved until you confirm. Ask her Expenses this month or Which fines are due? to check what's open. See her page.
Related reading
- Who was driving the company vehicle when the ticket was issued?
- Camera ticket matched to driver by route
- What to include in a school bus driver handbook
- School bus cost per mile
Good to know: Toll rules and fees are set by each toll authority, and wage-deduction rules differ from state to state. This is general information, not legal or tax advice — check your state's wage laws and talk to your accountant or attorney before charging a driver for a toll.
Questions people ask
- Who pays tolls on a company vehicle?
- The company pays tolls on company business — routes, trips, shop runs and approved detours. A driver can fairly be asked to pay a toll from personal use the policy doesn't allow, but taking it from wages is limited by federal and state law.
- Can an employer deduct tolls from an employee's paycheck?
- Only where state law allows it, usually with the employee's written authorization, and never so that pay falls below the minimum wage for the week. Business tolls are the employer's cost and shouldn't be deducted at all.
- Is toll reimbursement taxable?
- Not when it's paid under an accountable plan: a business toll, backed by a receipt or statement within a reasonable time, with any excess returned. Under a plan that misses those rules, reimbursements are treated as wages.
- Who gets a toll-by-plate bill for a company bus?
- The registered owner — the company — when the tag isn't read and the plate isn't on the toll account. Adding every plate to the account prevents most of these bills and their late fees.