There may be logbooks with an "IFR" column but I never had one
Can anyone tell me what license/rating IFR time would be useful towards?
The FAA IR requires 40hrs total instrument time and that is instrument time not IFR time.
The JAA IR does not recognise any IFR or instrument experience at all. They just want you to sit with an instructor for 50/55hrs.
The JAA ATPL is an hour building exercise,
AFAIK.
My last long trip was about 15hrs, all IFR, and I logged maybe 10 mins instrument time. That is how IFR works. You get the full IR and it allows you to fly VMC on top, in the sunshine.