Home › Guides › The Trucking Compliance Calendar: Every Federal Deadline in One Place
If you run under your own authority, five separate filings each keep their own schedule. Here's a plain-English map of how they line up — and how to keep any one of them from slipping past you.
The hard part about trucking compliance isn't any single form. It's that the main federal-facing filings a small carrier tracks each run on their own schedule, from their own start date, with their own agency. Nothing lines them up for you. Your MCS-150 is on a two-year cycle tied to your USDOT number. Form 2290 is annual and runs on the IRS tax year. UCR is annual and tied to the calendar. IFTA is quarterly. IRP renews once a year through your base state, on a date that depends on your account.
So there's no single "renewal day" to circle. A deadline can arrive in a quiet month when nothing else is due, which is exactly when it's easiest to miss. This page walks through each one so you can see how they fit together. It's general information to help you plan, not legal or tax advice, and DOTDeadline isn't affiliated with or endorsed by FMCSA or the IRS. Always confirm your own dates with the official agency.
Your MCS-150 (the form behind your USDOT number registration) has to be updated at least every 24 months, even in a year when nothing about your operation has changed. Under 49 CFR 390.19T, FMCSA doesn't send everyone the same due date — your schedule is encoded in your USDOT number itself.
Here's the rule. The month comes from the next-to-last... actually, from the last digit of your USDOT number: 1 = January, 2 = February, on through 9 = September, and 0 = October. The year comes from the second-to-last digit: if it's odd, you update in odd-numbered years; if it's even, you update in even-numbered years. So a carrier whose USDOT number ends in "52" updates in February of even years. Because it's a biennial cycle in a slow month, this is the one carriers forget most often — there's no invoice and no renewal notice tied to a payment. Our free MCS-150 due-date calculator turns your number into your exact month and year so you're not decoding it by hand.
Form 2290 is the Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT), and it's an IRS filing, not an FMCSA one — a common source of confusion. It generally applies to vehicles with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more.
The 2290 tax period runs from July 1 through June 30. For a vehicle you're already running at the start of the period, the return is due by August 31. If you first put a vehicle on the road partway through the year, the due date is the last day of the month after the month you first used it. You'll want your stamped Schedule 1 as proof of payment, since states typically ask for it at IRP registration. Tax amounts depend on weight and are set by the IRS, so file and confirm the current figures directly at irs.gov.
Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) is an annual program for interstate carriers, and it's separate from your MCS-150 update even though both touch your federal registration. The fee is based on how many vehicles you operate, in bracketed tiers.
The registration period is the calendar year. Enrollment for the coming year typically opens in the fall (around October 1), and you generally need to be registered before you operate in the new year — practically, by December 31. UCR fee amounts are set for each registration year and can change, so don't rely on last year's number; check the official UCR portal for the current fee for your fleet size.
If you cross state lines, two more programs run through your base state rather than a federal office. IFTA, the International Fuel Tax Agreement, is a quarterly fuel-tax return. The reporting quarters end in March, June, September, and December, and the returns are due the last day of the following month — roughly April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. You file one return with your base jurisdiction, which sorts out what you owe each state based on the miles you ran and the fuel you bought there. That makes clean mileage and fuel records the real work behind IFTA.
IRP, the International Registration Plan, is your apportioned plate — the annual registration that lets one plate cover multiple states. You renew it once a year through your base state, but the expiration date varies by state and by account, so IRP is the one deadline on this page you can't read off a calendar. Check your renewal date in your base state's account and treat that date as fixed.
Look at the whole picture and the trap is obvious. A biennial filing you can't feel coming, an IRS deadline in late summer, a fall-into-winter registration window, four fuel-tax returns a year, and a plate renewal on a date unique to you. No two of them share a rhythm, and most arrive with no bill in the mail to jog your memory. Miss one and the cost isn't just a late fee — a lapsed registration can put your authority or your ability to run at risk.
The fix is boring and it works: know each date, and get a reminder before it lands. Start with the free MCS-150 calculator on this site to lock in the deadline hiding in your USDOT number, then confirm your 2290, UCR, IFTA, and IRP dates against the official agencies. If you'd rather not track five clocks yourself, DOTDeadline can remind you ahead of each filing — but the calculator is free, and it's the right first step either way.
Interstate carriers juggle five federal-facing filings — MCS-150 (biennial, keyed to your USDOT number), Form 2290 (annual, IRS), UCR (annual), IFTA (quarterly), and IRP (annual, base-state) — and none of them share a schedule, which is exactly why one slips through. Map each date, confirm it with the official agency, and set a reminder before it's due.
Enter your USDOT number once and see your MCS-150 due date free — then keep every federal deadline in one place.
Check my date →DOTDeadline is an independent reminder tool. It is NOT affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the FMCSA, the U.S. DOT, the IRS, or any government agency. General information only — not legal, tax, or compliance advice. Always confirm with the official agency.