IRP: How Apportioned Registration Actually Works

Quick Answer

The International Registration Plan (IRP) is a reciprocity agreement among the 48 contiguous states, DC, and ten Canadian provinces: register once with your base jurisdiction, get one apportioned plate and one cab card per vehicle, and your registration fees are divided among jurisdictions by the percentage of distance run in each. Registration is required for vehicles used in two or more jurisdictions with two axles and over 26,000 pounds, three or more axles at any weight, or combinations over 26,000 pounds. Since the Full Reciprocity Plan (2015), cab cards list all member jurisdictions — no more adding states or trip-permitting into unlisted ones.

Every "apportioned" plate is the visible end of a 59-jurisdiction agreement: instead of registering a truck separately in every state it crosses, the carrier registers once at home, reports its distance by jurisdiction, and the Plan splits the fees. The paperwork — and the enforcement — runs through two documents: the plate and the cab card.

Who must apportion

An apportionable vehicle is one used or intended for use in two or more member jurisdictions that transports persons for hire or property, and that has two axles and a gross vehicle weight (or registered weight) in excess of 26,000 pounds, or three or more axles regardless of weight, or is used in a combination exceeding 26,000 pounds. Recreational vehicles, vehicles on restricted plates (farm plates in most states), and government vehicles are excepted — and lighter vehicles may often apportion optionally.

The thresholds are deliberately identical to IFTA’s, which is why the two credentials almost always travel together — but they are separate programs: IRP is registration, IFTA is fuel tax.

How the money splits

Fees are based on the percentage of distance traveled in each jurisdiction, at each jurisdiction’s own fee schedule — 40% of your miles in Ohio means 40% of an Ohio-rate registration, and so on down your distance ledger. First-year accounts without distance history use each jurisdiction’s average per-vehicle distance chart. This is also why IRP audits are distance audits: your trip records back the percentages that set everyone’s share.

Full reciprocity: the 2015 change that still confuses people

Before 2015, carriers listed specific jurisdictions on the cab card and bought trip permits to enter unlisted ones. The Full Reciprocity Plan changed that: apportioned cab cards now display all member jurisdictions with the qualified operating weight for each, and the estimated-distance provisions died with it. If you hold an apportioned plate today, you are good in every member jurisdiction — at the weight listed for it on your card.

The cab card is the credential enforcement actually reads: it lists every jurisdiction and your registered weight in each, and the vehicle may only operate up to the listed weight per jurisdiction. Weight listed too low in a state you cross loaded is a citation waiting at the scale.

Where the 2290 fits

IRP and the federal Heavy Vehicle Use Tax intersect at the registration counter: nearly every state demands the IRS-receipted Schedule 1 (Form 2290) before issuing or renewing apportioned registration on vehicles at 55,000 pounds or more. The IRP itself is silent on the tax — it is federal law, enforced by the states as a registration condition — which is why the Schedule 1 shows up in every state’s IRP renewal checklist with its own formats and windows.

Frequently asked questions

What does "apportioned" mean on a license plate?⌄
That the vehicle is registered under the International Registration Plan: one registration whose fees are divided — apportioned — among the states and provinces the carrier runs, in proportion to distance traveled in each. One plate and one cab card cover all 59 member jurisdictions.
Do I need IRP if I never leave my state?⌄
No — IRP applies to vehicles used in two or more member jurisdictions. Intrastate-only trucks register on ordinary commercial plates with their state. The moment regular interstate operation starts at the qualifying weights, apportioned registration (or trip permits for occasional runs) becomes the requirement.
What is a cab card?⌄
The registration document issued with an apportioned plate, carried in the vehicle, listing every IRP jurisdiction and the registered weight for each. Enforcement reads it at scales and stops — and the vehicle may only operate up to the weight listed for the jurisdiction it is in.
Does my IRP registration cover the Form 2290?⌄
No — the federal HVUT is a separate annual IRS tax at 55,000 pounds or more taxable gross weight. States enforce it as a registration condition: expect every IRP office to demand the receipted or e-file-watermarked Schedule 1 before issuing or renewing apportioned credentials at that weight.

Related guides

More in Carrier Credentials & Federal Compliance

Official sources

Agency rules, fees and contacts can change — confirm current requirements with the agency before acting. This guide is general information for truckers, not tax or legal advice.

Need your stamped Schedule 1 for the paperwork above?

E-file Form 2290 with Send 2290 and download the IRS-watermarked Schedule 1 — typically within minutes of IRS acceptance.

E-File Form 2290