UCR registration for 2027: who registers, what it costs, when it’s due

Who has to register

UCR applies to businesses that move property, household goods or passengers across state lines or national borders. The UCR Plan’s enforcement bulletin lists who is covered:

• motor carriers of every kind: for-hire, private (hauling your own goods) and exempt;
• brokers and freight forwarders;
• leasing companies that lease vehicles without drivers to interstate carriers;
• carriers based in Canada and Mexico that operate in the United States.

Two groups are not covered: carriers that only operate within one state (intrastate commerce), and private carriers of passengers, such as a church, school or business moving its own people.

Light trucks don’t get you out of it. The UCR Plan’s Do I need to register? questionnaire says that running only vehicles of 10,000 pounds or less “does not exempt you from registering with UCR.” Those vehicles just don’t count toward your fee bracket, unless they pull a trailer for a combined weight of 10,001 pounds or more.

2027 fee brackets

FMCSA raised the UCR fees in a final rule published September 1, 2026, effective October 1, 2026. The rule adopts the UCR Board’s recommendation, an increase that averages 20% over the fees used for 2025 and 2026. It ranges from $9 to $9,329 per business depending on the bracket. Even so, 2027 fees are lower than they were from 2019 to 2022.

The fees are set in 49 CFR 367.50 for 2027 and later years, until FMCSA changes them again:

Brokers and leasing companies always pay the bracket 1 fee: $55 for 2027. The same figures are on the UCR Plan’s fee brackets page. A one-truck owner-operator with its own authority pays $55 for 2027.

How to count your trucks

Your bracket depends on the number of commercial motor vehicles you own or operate. For UCR, a commercial motor vehicle is a self-propelled vehicle used on the highway in commerce that has at least one of these (UCR Handbook):

• a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of at least 10,001 pounds, whichever is greater;
• a gross combination weight rating or gross combination weight of at least 10,001 pounds when towing;
• placarded amounts of hazardous materials, whatever its weight;
• seats for more than 10 passengers, including the driver.

“Owned or operated” means vehicles registered in your name, or that you control under a long-term lease of 30 days or more. Trip leases of under 30 days don’t count, and what matters is the name on the registration, not who owns the truck (UCR Handbook).

The handbook gives two ways to count your fleet:

1. the number on the last MCS-150 you filed with FMCSA; or
2. the number you owned, long-term leased or operated during the 12 months ending June 30 before the registration year. For 2027, that is July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.

Vehicles you may add or leave out

The handbook allows two optional adjustments to the count:

• Leaving out intrastate trucks. A for-hire or private carrier may leave out property-carrying vehicles that run only in intrastate commerce. For UCR, though, a truck is interstate if it crosses a state line even once that year. It is also interstate if it hauls freight that started or will finish its trip in another state. Trucks with IRP apportioned plates can never be left out.
• Adding smaller vehicles. A for-hire carrier may add vehicles under 10,001 pounds that haul freight for pay. Federal law then limits most state and local credential requirements on those vehicles.

You only file the MCS-150 every two years, so the two counts can differ and put you in different brackets. Check which fits your operation before you register. Our MCS-150 biennial update guide explains when yours is due.

If you are leased on

The handbook’s rule for leased trucks is simple. A vehicle operated by a motor carrier with an interstate USDOT number counts in that carrier’s fleet, unless the carrier only uses it under a short-term lease. A truck run under more than one USDOT number counts in each of those fleets.

• Leased on, with no authority of your own: the carrier you are leased to counts your truck in its own UCR fleet.
• Your own authority, but every truck leased out: a business that holds motor carrier authority but leases all its vehicles to others should pay at the lowest bracket (UCR Handbook). For 2027 that is $55.

Weighing the two paths? See our lease-on vs own authority guide.

Deadline and how to register

• The deadline is January 1. To keep operating legally, you must register and pay before January 1 of the registration year (UCR Handbook, fee brackets page). After that the fee is still owed, and you can face state enforcement unless the UCR Board has postponed the due date.
• The 2027 portal opened October 1, 2026 (plan.ucr.gov). The Board recommends that states open each year’s registration on October 1, and states generally do.
• New carriers owe it straight away. The fee is due as soon as you mark interstate commerce on your USDOT profile or register in the system. So a carrier starting in mid-year should register for the current year before it runs interstate.

To register:

1. Go to ucr.gov, the UCR Plan’s National Registration System, and enter your USDOT number. You can also register through your base state.
2. Confirm your name, address and USDOT number, and enter your fleet count using one of the two methods above.
3. Pay the fee for your bracket. If you mail a check, the registration only takes effect once the payment is received and posted (UCR Handbook).
4. Keep records that support your vehicle count in case your state audits you.

How UCR is enforced

There is no UCR sticker or card to carry. Officers check your status in FMCSA and state databases: CVIEW, SAFER or ucr.gov’s enforcement lookup (UCR Plan bulletin). Enforcement works in four ways:

• Roadside. Officers record an unpaid UCR as violation “392.2 UCR – Failure to pay UCR fees” on the inspection report. The Plan runs two UCR awareness weeks a year, January 11–17 and June 7–13 in 2026.
• Plates. Some states, especially where one agency runs both IRP and UCR, won’t issue your vehicle registration until UCR is done (UCR Handbook).
• Audits. States audit a share of registrants and compare the plates on their IRP records with the fleet size you declared. These are usually desk audits: database checks and a phone call. A carrier that underpaid is treated as unregistered, and that status shows on FMCSA’s public website. It must pay a one-time fee adjustment, or its registration is suspended.
• Penalties. Each state sets its own, and the handbook calls many of them “significant”. Falsely completing the form can bring perjury penalties in your base state.

Common mistakes

• Paying for the wrong year. From October 1 the portal is open for the next registration year. Check the year on the form before you pay.
• Using an old MCS-150 count. If you added trucks since your last update, the 12-month count may be the accurate one. Your MCS-150 also needs updating anyway.
• Counting trip-leased trucks. Leases under 30 days don’t count toward your bracket.
• Thinking a small truck is exempt. Interstate carriers register even if every vehicle is under 10,001 pounds.
• Leaving it until January. After January 1 you are exposed at roadside and with your plates.

UCR is one of several yearly and quarterly filings for an interstate carrier. See our IFTA filing guide, our DOT compliance services and the rest of our trucking services.

Sources

Every rule, date, fee and rate on this page comes from the official sources below. We opened and checked each one on October 9, 2026. Rules change: if a source says something different from this page, the source wins.

1. 49 CFR Part 367, sections 367.40 and 367.50 (UCR fee tables) (eCFR, National Archives), text current to October 5, 2026.
2. Fees for the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement, final rule, 91 FR 56063, September 1, 2026 (Federal Register).
3. Fee Brackets (2027 and 2026 fees) (Unified Carrier Registration Plan).
4. Do I Need to Register? (Unified Carrier Registration Plan).
5. UCR Plan home page (2027 portal opening date) (Unified Carrier Registration Plan).
6. UCR Handbook, effective February 29, 2024 (UCR Board of Directors).
7. Unified Carrier Registration Awareness Initiative bulletin (Unified Carrier Registration Plan).
8. UCR National Registration System (Unified Carrier Registration Plan).

This guide is general information for owner-operators and small fleets, not legal or tax advice. Your base state or province, FMCSA and the official program sites have the final word on your filings.