Trucking Compliance, in Plain English
How the state motor-carrier portals actually work, which taxes apply on top of the federal HVUT, and what every credential on your cab card means — with official sources for every claim.
State Motor-Carrier Portals & IRP Offices
TNTAP: How Tennessee Truckers Use the Taxpayer Access Point
Tennessee runs every IRP transaction through TNTAP — here is what the portal handles, what it demands, and where the county clerk still comes in.
OHCORS: Ohio’s Commercial Registration Online System
Ohio centralizes IRP in Columbus and pushes the work through OHCORS — plus a renewal month set by your tax ID and a name-match rule that stops leased operators cold.
MoDOT Carrier Express: Missouri’s IRP System
Missouri splits trucking between two agencies and four renewal quarters — and gates every plate on two documents: the 2290 and your county property tax receipt.
WisCRS: Wisconsin’s IRP and IFTA System
Wisconsin closed its walk-in motor-carrier counter for good — WisCRS, the mail, and a dedicated 2290 inbox are how the paperwork moves now.
Minnesota IRP: e-Services and the Prorate Office
Every Minnesota apportioned plate expires the same night, with no grace period — here is how the Prorate unit, e-Services, and the renewal calendar actually work.
PennDOT Apportioned Registration: How Pennsylvania IRP Works
No online portal, certified funds only, and renewal proof that must list every truck in the fleet — Pennsylvania IRP rewards preparation like nowhere else.
Illinois IRP: How the Springfield Process Works
One office issues every Illinois apportioned plate — and the state runs two different registration years side by side. Timing is everything here.
The Georgia Trucking Portal: Online-Only IRP
Georgia locked IRP out of every county tag office in 2018 — the Trucking Portal is the only door, and its renewal penalties are mandatory.
NCDMV IRP: Raleigh, Charlotte, and the Stops System
North Carolina blocks renewals with account “stops,” refuses a used truck’s old Schedule 1, and wants your 2290 faxed before you click renew.
Indiana Motor Carrier Services: IRP and Base Plates
IRP plates cannot be bought at the Indiana BMV — and fleets of five or more heavy vehicles are moving to MCS too, with a renewal month you pick exactly once.
TxFLEET: Texas Apportioned Registration Online
TxDMV will not add a truck to an IRP fleet while its 2290 is unpaid — TxFLEET is where that check happens, for some 87,000 credentialed carriers.
Florida IRP: The BCVDS in Tallahassee
Florida statute makes the Schedule 1 a registration condition at every county counter — and new IRP accounts still go through one room in Tallahassee.
California IRP: DMV Apportioned Registration
California layers three programs on a heavy truck — IRP, CVRA, and the Clean Truck Check — and any one of them can hold your registration.
Oregon Trucking Online: One Portal for the Weight-Mile State
Registration, IRP, IFTA, and the per-mile tax all run through one ODOT portal — with temporary-pass caps that force regulars to enroll.
K-TRIPS and KCoVRS: Kansas’s Two-System Setup
Permits from KDOT, plates from KDOR — Kansas splits its trucking systems down the middle, and most carriers end up needing both.
OSCAR: New York’s One Stop Credentialing and Registration
Three agencies, one login — but you can’t start a brand-new carrier life in OSCAR, and the system sleeps every night at 8:45.
Michigan IRP: One Lansing Office, Everything Online
Branch offices can’t touch Michigan IRP — it all runs through the Lansing unit and MiLogin, with a documentation rule that can lock your online access.
Oklahoma IRP: The Corporation Commission’s System
Oklahoma IRP lives at the Corporation Commission — with an enforcement-date grace period, a $200-or-30% late penalty, and a flat $100 fee on every plate.
Montana ePART and eTRIPS: MDT’s Carrier Systems
Montana runs trucking through its DOT, splits permits into a brand-new system, and wants the 2290 in the vehicle owner’s name.
Nebraska Motor Carrier Services: One Application, Two Programs
Nebraska folds IFTA and IRP into a single application, sells trip permits with no login at all — and spells out which 2290 year works in the summer.
Maryland IRP: Glen Burnie and the myMVA Business Portal
Maryland prints its 2290 rule in capital letters — CREDENTIALS WILL NOT BE PROCESSED without it — and staggers renewals by quarter and month.
Massachusetts IRP: The RMV’s Two-Track System
New accounts by mail, renewals in a portal that needs its own onboarding — and the country’s strictest published place-of-business test.
New Jersey IRP: mCarrier, Trenton, and the No-Grace Calendar
New Jersey publishes the best 2290 paperwork rules in the region — and a renewal calendar that never forgives: no grace, and late renewers still pay for the original year.
North Dakota IRP: Bismarck, By Appointment
One office opens accounts, renewals are online-only, permits belong to the Highway Patrol — and the 2290 rule is written into state law.
Washington Prorate: IRP on License Express
Washington retired TAP in 2025 — prorate now lives in License Express, where even your 2290 uploads have a filename rule.
Virginia IRP: VIIM, EZReg, and EZFleet Behind One Portal
Three systems, one 2FA login — and a Schedule 1 rule that lets a single receipted form cover the whole fleet.
Colorado IRP: Lakewood by Appointment, County for Everything Else
Colorado splits trucks between county offices and one appointment-only state counter — then gives IRP renewals a full month of grace.
Iowa IRP: One Office, No Counter Accounts, No Grace
Iowa won’t open an IRP account at the counter, runs everything from one Ankeny office — and gives late renewals zero grace.
Arkansas IRP: AMCS, Little Rock, and the 2290 Courier Service
Arkansas will literally mail your 2290 to the IRS for you — a walk-in service no other state offers — then asks for your property tax receipts at renewal.
Alabama IRP: The AMC System and Paperless 2290s
E-file your 2290 and Alabama verifies it electronically — no stamped copy needed. Just don’t mix up the state’s two renewal clocks.
South Dakota IRP: Motor Carrier Connect and the Tonnage System
South Dakota measures trucks in tons, renews IRP in just four months of the year — and allows no temporary credentials on renewals.
Connecticut IRP: One Room in Wethersfield
No branch can touch Connecticut IRP, renewals never happen at the window — and CT is the rare state that accepts a Schedule 1 in the previous owner’s name.
West Virginia IRP: Charleston’s Fixed-Window System
Miss West Virginia’s May-to-July renewal window without returning your plates and you owe a full year — but cross 55,000 pounds and the 6% privilege tax disappears.
Arizona IRP: Everything Moved to AZ MVD Now
Arizona retired mCarrier in 2023 — carrier business now runs in AZ MVD Now, where a fleet with zero Arizona miles cannot renew online.
Kentucky IRP: The County Clerk Comes First
Before Frankfort issues a Kentucky apportioned plate, your county clerk has to sign off — and the 2290’s e-file watermark had better be visible.
New Mexico IRP: Paper to Santa Fe, Permits on TAP
New Mexico still runs IRP by mail — faxes explicitly refused — and holds every credential hostage to the receipted Schedule 1.
Louisiana IRP: OMV, LA Trucks, and Policy 57.00
Louisiana writes the most complete HVUT policy in the South — right down to what to do when your Schedule 1 is lost — and never lets a fleet expire in June.
Mississippi Apportioned Tags: TAP and the Two Forbidden Months
No Mississippi fleet expires in December or January, new trucks get seven working days to register — and the 2290 grace period comes with a revocation clause.
The South Carolina Trucking Portal: Blythewood’s Online Gate
South Carolina’s portal holds your credentials hostage until the 2290 uploads — and deletes any transaction that sits idle five days.
Utah IRP: One Tax-Commission Portal for Everything
Utah runs trucking through its Tax Commission — which means IRP, IFTA, and a sales-tax exemption live under one roof, with a 2290 threshold the state states two ways.
Nevada IRP: Everything Expires December 31
Nevada licenses every IRP fleet by calendar year with no grace period — softened only by an installment plan that covers Nevada’s share alone.
Idaho CRS: Self-Service Trucking, Above the County Line
Idaho lets carriers print their own temporary permits online — but counties cap out at 26,000 pounds, and heavy full-fee trucks pay by the mile.
IRP in Smaller-Program States, Plus Alaska and Hawaii
Six states that run apportioned registration with almost no published guidance — and the two states that are not in IRP at all.
Weight-Distance & Highway-Use Taxes
Weight-Distance Taxes: The Four States That Charge by the Mile
New York, Kentucky, New Mexico, and Oregon tax trucks per mile — on top of the federal HVUT, at four different thresholds, with four different credentials.
New York HUT: The Highway Use Tax, Decal to Return
New York taxes truck miles starting at just 18,000 pounds — with a decal on the bumper, a return every quarter, and Thruway toll miles carved out.
The KYU Number: Kentucky’s Weight-Distance Tax
Free to get, unforgiving to ignore — Kentucky’s KYU license taxes every mile at 60,000 pounds and revokes accounts that skip even a zero-mile quarter.
New Mexico’s Weight Distance Tax: Permits, Quarters, and the One-Way Discount
New Mexico permits every truck over 26,000 pounds annually, taxes each mile by weight — and is the one state that prints its 2290 requirement on the same page.
Oregon’s Weight-Mile Tax: Pay by the Mile, Not at the Pump
Oregon swaps the fuel tax for a per-mile tax at 26,001 pounds — with bonds for new accounts, monthly reports, and a major simplification coming July 2027.
Carrier Credentials & Federal Compliance
UCR: The Unified Carrier Registration, Explained
An annual fee with no sticker, no card, and no exceptions for brokers with zero trucks — and fees rising about 20% for 2027.
The USDOT Number: Trucking’s Universal Identifier
Free to get, mandatory to maintain — and the biennial update is due even when nothing changed, on a schedule hidden in your number’s last two digits.
MC Numbers and Operating Authority: Who Needs Them
For-hire carriers of regulated freight need authority on top of the USDOT number — $300 each, insurance on file first, and the MC number itself may be retired.
The BOC-3: Trucking’s Legal-Service Filing
No BOC-3, no authority — and an invalid one later can suspend the authority you already have. Here is what the process-agent filing actually does.
IFTA: The Interstate Fuel Tax, From License to Quarterly Return
One license, two decals per truck, four deadlines a year — and an axle rule that counts only the power unit. IFTA rewards reading the fine print.
IRP: How Apportioned Registration Actually Works
One plate, one cab card, fees split among every state you run — the reciprocity deal behind every "apportioned" tag on the road.
The New Entrant Safety Audit: Your First 18 Months
Every new carrier gets audited — usually within a year — and sixteen specific violations fail you automatically. Preparation is a filing cabinet, not a lawyer.
The Eight DOT Inspection Levels, Decoded
From the 37-step full workup to an inspection that happens wirelessly while you drive — what each CVSA level actually checks.
Intrastate vs. Interstate: What Actually Triggers Federal Rules
Never crossing a state line does not make you intrastate — the cargo’s journey decides, not the truck’s.
Trip Permits: The Short-Term Alternative to Apportioned Plates
A registration credential for the occasional run into a state you are not plated in — priced and timed differently in every jurisdiction.
Fuel Trip Permits: The Alternative to an IFTA License
A per-trip fuel-tax credential — and the one reporting nuance almost every article online gets wrong.
Oversize and Overweight Permits: Federal Limits, State Permits
Federal law sets the ceiling on the Interstate System; every permit that exceeds it comes from a state.
IFTA Decals: Placement, Renewal and the Grace-Period Trap
Two decals, both sides of the cab, renewed every year — and a grace period that does not mean what most carriers think.
How IFTA Tax Is Actually Calculated
One fleet MPG figure drives the entire return — and the surcharge line is computed on a different basis than everything else.
Filing the IFTA Quarterly Return: Deadlines, Zero Returns and Penalties
Four deadlines a year, a mandatory return even in a quarter you did not operate, and a penalty with a $50 floor.
IFTA Audits and Recordkeeping: What You Must Keep
Four years of records, a GPS standard stricter than most telematics exports, and a penalty rule that changed in January 2026.
Looking for your state's 2290 rules?
The Form 2290 requirements by state directory covers what every state demands as proof of HVUT payment at registration.