We open the IRP account in your base state, assemble the address proofs, the insurance certificate and the Form 2290 Schedule 1, and get your apportioned plate and cab card. Then we renew, add and transfer trucks so the plates never lapse on the worst possible day.
The threshold sits in Article II of the IRP Plan. A power unit becomes apportionable when it is used in two or more member jurisdictions and meets at least one of three tests: two axles and a gross or registered gross weight over 26,000 lbs; three or more axles at any weight; or operation in a combination with a gross weight over 26,000 lbs. A two-axle truck at exactly 26,000 lbs is not caught, and a vehicle of 26,000 lbs or less may be apportioned at the registrant\'s option. Trailers are never under IRP: Section 515 grants a properly registered trailer full reciprocity, so it is registered once on a regular plate in its own state.
Three things IRP does not replace, though they are confused constantly: the IFTA license and decals (that is fuel tax with a quarterly return), FMCSA operating authority, and the state highway taxes charged by the mile separately: NY HUT, Kentucky KYU, the New Mexico weight distance tax and the Oregon weight-mile tax. The four systems side by side: IRP vs IFTA vs NY HUT vs Form 2290.
One formula for everyone: each state\'s full annual registration fee is multiplied by your share of miles in that state during the reporting period (Section 400). A new fleet with no mileage history is assessed by the base state\'s average per-vehicle distance chart (Section 320), updated by March 31 every year, so in year one you pay for an "average" route, not your own. From year two the invoice is built only on your actual distance for July 1 through June 30. That is why the mileage records (IVDR, ELD or GPS exports) are not a bookkeeping formality but the basis of the next invoice and the subject of the audit.
| Item | Who charges | How much | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apportioned fees for an 80,000 lb truck | The base state, distributed to the others | Kentucky IRP office benchmark: roughly $1,250-2,500 per year | Depends on weight, the set of states and the mileage share; your figure will be your own |
| Heavy vehicle use tax, Form 2290 | IRS | $100 at 55,000 lbs plus $22 per 1,000 lbs above, maximum $550 | Without a stamped Schedule 1 the state will not issue an apportioned plate to a truck of 55,000 lbs or more (26 CFR 41.6001-2) |
| Insurance certificate | Your insurer | New Jersey MVC requires a Certificate of Insurance for $1.5 million | We do not quote insurance prices; that is a separate conversation with the insurance desk |
| Cab card replacement | The state | New York $2.50; Texas duplicate online free | Never drive on a photocopy |
| Trip permit instead of IRP | The state you enter | New Jersey $25 for 72 hours; Texas $25 for 72 hours or $50 for 144 hours plus a $4.75 processing fee; Florida $30 for 10 days; Oregon $43 for 10 days | For rare trips; from the second or third long haul IRP wins |
| Hunter\'s permit for an empty vehicle | The state | Minimal fee, Florida $5 for 10 days | Section 530 of the Plan obliges every state to offer it |
Your base state is the one where you have an established place of business, or your state of residence where the state allows it. Under Section 305(b) of the Plan, as amended effective October 1, 2025, that is a physical building you own or lease for 12 months or longer, with a street address, signage and posted hours, staffed at least 20 hours a week by a permanent employee rather than an independent contractor, from which the trucking business is managed. Virtual offices, shared offices and P.O. boxes fail in every state.
Each state turns that into its own paper list. New Jersey (MVC Motor Carrier Services, Trenton): for commercial premises an SS-4 or Certificate of Authority plus a notarized lease of 12 months or longer covering the registration term, or a utility bill plus a photo of the signage with hours; for a residential address an NJ driver license plus a lease or utility bill and one secondary proof; if the office turns out to be outside the state, suspension with no refund of fees. New York (DMV IRB): three proofs, an NYS DL or DOS Filing Receipt plus two from the list, no P.O. box, address changes reported within 10 days; the Albany counter is closed, filing is by mail or through OSCAR. Georgia: five documents for an office or three for residency, not mixed, response in 5 business days. Florida: an office with employees (not contractors and not service agents) or residency of the carrier or an officer, three documents. State by state: base jurisdiction and established place of business.
How we handle it: in NJ, PA, FL, TX, IL and GA we prepare and file the package with the base state under a power of attorney. In New York the registrant files with the IRB themselves through OSCAR or by mail: we assemble and check all three proofs, complete the forms and walk you through the filing step by step.
The order of operations (USDOT, MC, UCR, 2290, IRP, IFTA) is laid out step by step in IRP registration step by step.
| Operation | How it works | Rule or source |
|---|---|---|
| Renewal | Invoice built on actual distance for July 1 through June 30. New Jersey issues a 15-day temporary apportioned authorization on an online renewal with no balance due; New York issues no Temporary Authority for renewals and asks for payment at least 20 days before expiration; Florida has no grace period, enforcement starts at 00:01 on the first day of the month after the one printed on the plate, with a $5-250 penalty from day 11 | NJ MVC, NY DMV IRB, FLHSMV rules |
| Add a truck | A supplement at any time; a Schedule 1 for that VIN is needed at 55,000 lbs and up (or a bill of sale within the last 60 days); the registration is effective when the supplement is processed, never retroactively, so until then only a trip or hunter permit | 26 CFR 41.6001-2; Sections 525, 530 |
| Transfer a plate to a replacement | The remaining fee is available for transfer to a replacement vehicle in the same fleet; New Jersey credits it only when the delete and the add are in the same application and makes no partial refunds; Illinois refunds nothing for unused registration | Section 435 |
| Change the weight | An increase is paid on the difference, prorated to the months remaining, with a new cab card after payment; a decrease is allowed only in limited cases and gives no credit, so it is easier done at renewal; New Jersey does not process a weight change on the renewal application itself | NJ MVC rules |
| Fix a VIN or cab card data | If it is the same truck, it is a document correction (NJ: form MCS-IRP-1; NY: fix the title first, then IRP-6). If the VIN is genuinely different, the state treats it as another vehicle: delete the old one, add the new one, file 2290 on the new VIN | NJ MVC, NY DMV rules |
| MCS-150 not updated | New Jersey says it in plain words: FMCSA will order the state to stop the vehicles and deny the renewal automatically. Texas must refuse or revoke registration under a federal OOS. MCS-150 in Motus first, renewal second | PRISM, NJ IRP Carrier Guide, TxDMV |
Every operation and every state trap in detail: IRP renewal, add, delete and transfer plates.
The records behind every application: IVDR or GPS trip data, odometer readings, distance by jurisdiction, monthly and quarterly summaries. They must be kept 3 years after the close of the registration year (Section 1000); New Jersey requires the carrier to keep them 5 years, New York 6 years, Texas three reporting periods plus the current one. Every base state audits on average 3% of fleets per year (Section 1025). If the records do not support the reported distance or are not produced within 30 days of a written request, the assessment is 20% of the annual apportionable fees, 50% for a second occurrence, 100% for a third (Section 1015); the appeal window is at least 30 days (Section 1065). If an IRP audit notice has already arrived, that is our audit representation for $499; if not, the subscription keeps the records in order ahead of time. The record requirements explained: IRP and IFTA audits: records and penalties.
Thaddeus runs one 80,000 lb truck out of New Jersey. He opened the company, got his MC, hung a regular NJ plate and was sure that "IRP is the same as IFTA, I have the decals". At a Pennsylvania scale it turned out that an apportionable vehicle with no apportioned plate and no trip permit has no registration in another state: onward only after buying a trip permit, with a warning. What we did: in three days we assembled the package for NJ MVC Motor Carrier Services (SS-4, a notarized 12-month office lease, a photo of the signage with hours, the title, a $1.5 million Certificate of Insurance, the Form 2290 Schedule 1), declared 80,000 lbs across the nine states on his routes and filed under a power of attorney. The state built the first invoice from the average per-vehicle distance chart, and Thaddeus had his apportioned plate and cab card the following week. Season two is on the Safety Compliance subscription: ELD exports by state are collected monthly, the renewal went out three weeks before expiration, and the truck did not sit a single day.
Prices for our work, flat and one-time. Apportioned fees, the 2290 tax and document fees go to the state and the IRS separately and are not part of our price.
| Service | Our price | Fees on top | On Safety from $99/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnosis: does your truck need IRP, which state is the base, what the first invoice will look like | Free | none | free |
| IRP account setup and first apportioned plates: address proofs, insurance certificate, title, Schedule 1, application, plate and cab card issued | $399 for a fleet of up to 2 trucks, plus $49 per additional truck | state apportioned fees per invoice, 2290 to the IRS | included |
| Annual IRP renewal: distance summary for the reporting period, application, invoice payment, new cab card before expiration | $199 for a fleet of up to 2 trucks, plus $29 per additional truck | state apportioned fees | included |
| Supplement: add a truck, delete a truck, transfer a plate to a replacement, change the weight, replace or correct a cab card | $99 per operation | state document fees and the weight difference | included |
| Change of base address or of the carrier responsible for safety on the account, change of base state | $99 | per state invoice | included |
| Trip permit or hunter\'s permit for a specific trip while the apportioned plate is pending | $59 per permit | state fee (NJ $25, TX $25-50, FL $30, OR $43) | included |
| An IRP audit notice has arrived | Audit representation $499 | none | separate |
Counting IRP alone, one-time is cheaper: the $199 renewal once a year and a couple of $99 supplements. But IRP rarely travels alone: next to it sit four IFTA quarters, Form 2290, UCR, the MT-903 in New York and the distance records someone has to keep for the audit. One-time that is $1,226-1,425 a year for one truck; on the BASIC subscription at $99/month all of it together costs $1,188.
On the Safety Compliance subscription from $99/month everything marked "included" in the table is done without a separate invoice, and the same subscription carries DQ files, Clearinghouse, the deadline calendar, insurance-filing and MCS-150 monitoring. You pay only the state and IRS fees and taxes. First week free β
What sits next to this service:
Go deeper: IRP step by step, base jurisdiction and established place of business, renewal and supplements, apportioned plate vs trip permit, IRP and IFTA audits.
Below are the literal phrasings people type into Google and ask ChatGPT about IRP and apportioned plates, with direct answers, thresholds, figures and Plan section numbers.
The International Registration Plan is an agreement among the 48 contiguous US states, the District of Columbia and ten Canadian provinces, 59 jurisdictions, on registering commercial trucks that operate in several of them. Instead of a separate plate in every state, the carrier registers once in its base state and receives one apportioned plate and one cab card per truck listing every jurisdiction and the declared weight in each. The registration fees are "apportioned": each state's full annual fee is multiplied by your share of miles there (Section 400). IRP is registration and is run by the DMV; fuel tax (IFTA), FMCSA operating authority and the state highway taxes (NY HUT, KYU, NM, Oregon) are separate credentials. TruckerNavi opens the IRP account for you for $399 for a fleet of up to 2 trucks, state fees separate: (315) 871-0833.
Under Article II of the IRP Plan a vehicle becomes apportionable when it operates in two or more member jurisdictions and has two axles and a gross or registered gross weight over 26,000 lbs, or three or more axles at any weight, or pulls a combination heavier than 26,000 lbs. A two-axle truck at exactly 26,000 lbs is not caught; a vehicle of 26,000 lbs or less may be apportioned voluntarily if it travels out of state often. Trailers are not registered under IRP (Section 515). If the truck is over the threshold but leaves the base state once or twice a year, a trip permit from the state you enter replaces IRP: New Jersey $25 for 72 hours, Texas $25 for 72 hours, Florida $30 for 10 days, Oregon $43 for 10 days. From the second or third long haul IRP is cheaper. We run the "do you need IRP and which state is your base" diagnosis free.
There is no single price: the fee depends on the declared weight, the set of states and the share of miles in each. The Kentucky IRP office puts an apportioned plate for an 80,000 lb truck at roughly $1,250-2,500 per year, a fair benchmark for the first invoice. A new fleet with no mileage history is assessed by the average per-vehicle distance chart (Section 320); from year two by your actual distance for July 1 through June 30. On top come the federal heavy vehicle use tax on Form 2290 ($100 at 55,000 lbs plus $22 per 1,000 lbs above, maximum $550) and small document fees: a replacement cab card in New York is $2.50. Our work: account setup $399 for a fleet of up to 2 trucks, renewal $199, any supplement $99, trip permit $59 plus the state fee. For Safety Compliance subscribers from $99/month the work is included.
The core list is the same everywhere, the details are set by the state. An active USDOT with a current MCS-150 (the state checks through PRISM), proof of an established place of business, a title or registration for each truck with the VIN and declared weight, an insurance certificate, a stamped Form 2290 Schedule 1 for trucks of 55,000 lbs and up (26 CFR 41.6001-2; a truck bought within the last 60 days goes on the bill of sale) and a paid UCR where the state requires it before IRP, as Texas does. In New Jersey (MVC Motor Carrier Services, Trenton) a commercial address needs an SS-4 or Certificate of Authority plus a notarized lease of 12 months or longer, or a utility bill plus a photo of the signage with hours, and the insurance certificate must be for $1.5 million. In New York three address proofs, no P.O. box, filing by mail or through OSCAR. In Georgia five documents for an office or three for residency. We assemble the package and file under a power of attorney in NJ, PA, FL, TX, IL and GA; in NY we prepare the package and guide your IRB filing.
Under Section 305(b) of the IRP Plan as amended effective October 1, 2025 (Ballots 462 and 463), it is a physical building in the base jurisdiction that you own or lease for 12 months or longer, with a street address, signage and posted hours of operation (the hours may be posted on a website), staffed at least 20 hours a week by a permanent employee rather than an independent contractor, from which the general management of the trucking business is conducted. Virtual offices, coworking spaces with a mailbox and P.O. boxes fail. Several states accept residency of the owner or a company officer instead of an office: Florida and Georgia, with three proofs. New Jersey warns outright that if a review shows the office is actually outside the state, the registration is suspended with no refund of fees. Separately, FMCSA requires its own principal place of business under 49 CFR 390.5T, and the addresses in the MCS-150 and in IRP have to agree.
Renewal runs on the base state's invoice, built on your actual distance for the reporting period of July 1 through June 30. The main rule: pay and get the new cab card before expiration, because you may only drive with a valid document in the truck. New Jersey issues a 15-day temporary apportioned authorization on an online renewal with no balance due; New York issues no Temporary Authority for renewals and therefore asks for payment at least 20 days before expiration; Florida has no grace period, enforcement starts at 00:01 on the first day of the month after the one printed on the plate, and from day 11 a penalty of $5 to $250 is added; Illinois refunds nothing for unused registration. The second trap is an overdue MCS-150. States run every renewal through PRISM, and New Jersey says it will stop the vehicles and deny the renewal automatically on FMCSA's order. MCS-150 in Motus first, renewal second. Our renewal costs $199 for a fleet of up to 2 trucks; included for subscribers.
Through a supplement to the active account, at any time of year. A new truck of 55,000 lbs and up needs proof of payment of Form 2290 for that VIN (or a bill of sale if bought within the last 60 days), the title and the declared weight. The registration is effective when the supplement is processed or a temporary document is issued, never retroactively: until then the truck runs on a trip permit (New Jersey $25 for 72 hours) or, if empty, on a hunter's permit (Section 530). When a vehicle is replaced, the remaining fee transfers to the replacement truck in the same fleet (Section 435), but New Jersey credits it only when the delete and the add are in one application and makes no partial refunds. A weight increase is paid on the difference, prorated to the months remaining; a decrease gives no credit and is easier done at renewal. A VIN error on the cab card is fixed by form (NJ: MCS-IRP-1), while a genuinely different VIN is a different vehicle: delete the old, add the new, file 2290. Any such operation costs $99 with us.
For one or two trips a year permits are cheaper; for regular work IRP is cheaper. You have to count three layers bought separately: registration (instead of IRP), fuel (instead of IFTA) and the state highway tax (Oregon, New York, Kentucky, New Mexico) that neither IRP nor IFTA covers. Florida example: a $30 trip permit for 10 days plus a $45 fuel use permit for 10 days against an apportioned plate that the Kentucky IRP office puts at $1,250-2,500 a year for 80,000 lbs. Permit limits: Texas no more than 5 entries a year on a fuel trip permit; Oregon no more than 5 passes per vehicle or 35 per account in 12 months; the New York HUT trip certificate no more than 10 a year, expiring at midnight on the third day. Permit fees are generally not refunded, a permit cannot be extended, a new one is bought, and a vehicle with no valid plate, cab card, trip permit or temporary registration is in violation in every state on the route. The full table: apportioned plate vs trip permit. We arrange a single permit for $59 plus the state fee.
Over 26,000 lbs on two axles, three or more axles at any weight, or a combination over 26,000 lbs, when operating in two or more jurisdictions (IRP Plan, Article II). Exactly 26,000 lbs on two axles is not caught.
It depends on weight, the set of states and the mileage share. The Kentucky IRP office benchmark for 80,000 lbs is roughly $1,250-2,500 a year. Our work: account setup $399, renewal $199, supplement $99; included for Safety Compliance subscribers.
IRP is registration: one apportioned plate and cab card, fees split among the states by miles. IFTA is fuel tax: a license, two decals and a quarterly return. The thresholds match, but apportioned plates do not replace IFTA decals.
Yes, for a truck with a declared weight of 55,000 lbs or more: the state must see the stamped Schedule 1 (26 CFR 41.6001-2). A truck bought within the last 60 days can be registered on the bill of sale.
No. Section 515 of the Plan grants a properly registered trailer full reciprocity: it is registered once on a regular plate in its own state.
A physical building in the base state, owned or leased for 12 months or longer, with a street address, signage and hours, staffed at least 20 hours a week by a permanent employee (Section 305(b), effective October 1, 2025). Virtual offices and P.O. boxes fail.
Only with a valid document in the truck. New Jersey issues a 15-day temporary apportioned authorization on an online renewal with no balance due; New York issues no Temporary Authority for renewals; Florida has no grace period.
No. States run renewals through PRISM, and under a federal out-of-service order or an overdue MCS-150 New Jersey and Texas refuse automatically. Update the MCS-150 in Motus first.
At least 3 years after the close of the registration year (Section 1000); New Jersey requires 5 years, New York 6. Without records within 30 days of a request, the assessment is 20%, 50% and 100% of fees (Section 1015). About 3% of fleets are audited each year.
No. Registration is effective when the supplement is processed or a temporary document is issued. Until then the truck runs on a trip permit (NJ $25 for 72 hours) or, if empty, on a hunter's permit (Section 530).
In New York the registrant files with the IRB themselves through OSCAR or by mail. We assemble and check the three address proofs, complete the forms and guide the filing. In NJ, PA, FL, TX, IL and GA we file under a power of attorney.
Message us on WhatsApp with your base state, truck weight and routes: we tell you free whether you need IRP, which address proofs to gather and what the first invoice will look like. Account setup $399, renewal $199, changes $99. Or on the Safety subscription from $99/month, where it is already included: first week free.