Unified Carrier Registration (UCR)

Scope

Private property carriers, for-hire passenger, property, and exempt commodity carriers, freight forwarders, leasing companies, and brokers engaged in interstate commerce are subject to annual registration under the UCR program.

Carriers based in and/or operating in non-participating states are required to register with UCR; the UCR application form provides guidelines for selecting a base state.

Carriers domiciled in Canada or Mexico operating in the United States are also subject to UCR registration.

Regulatory citations

• 49 CFR Part 367 — Standards for registration with states

Key definitions

• Interstate or interstate commerce: The movement of goods or passengers across state lines or across the borders of the United States. This includes a movement entirely within a state when that movement furthers interstate commerce.
• Intrastate: Movements that are wholly within one state and that are not interstate.

Summary of requirements

Registration with the UCR. Each registrant entity must submit an annual filing and be registered before operating in interstate commerce. Registration, information, and forms are available for all carriers at the UCR website.

Determining the base state. There are guidelines for determining the base state.

• When the principal place of business is located in a participating state, that state will serve as the carrier’s base state.
• When the principal place of business is not located in a participating state, any participating state in which the carrier maintains an office or operating facility may serve as its base state.
• When a carrier does not have a principal place of business, office or operating facility in any participating state, the participating state that is nearest to the location of the carrier’s principal place of business may be the base state, or the carrier may select any participating state within their FMCSA region.

Participating states.*

*Carriers based in non-participating states are also subject to registration with the UCR.

Determining number of vehicles. The registrant’s UCR fee is based on the number of commercial vehicles owned or operated.

This is the number of CMVs reported on your last MCS-150 form filed with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) or the total number of vehicles owned and operated for the 12-month period ending June 30 of the year immediately prior to the year for which the UCR registration is made.

The number of vehicles includes all vehicles owned and/or leased (term of lease for more than 30 days).

Fee structure. The UCR fee structure is a bracket system, with the per-carrier fees based on the number of vehicles the carrier operates. UCR fees are not imposed per vehicle, and are uniform across the country for all carriers of a given size, no matter where they are based.

The UCR fees are determined by the FMCSA based on recommendations from the UCR Board of Directors. The fees may be adjusted on an annual basis.

Freight forwarders operating a fleet of vehicles are considered motor carriers and are subject to fees depending upon the number of vehicles they operate.

Brokers, leasing companies, and freight forwarders (who do not operate any commercial motor vehicles) are subject to the lowest fee tier. However, if these entities are also motor carriers, they are subject to the fee according to the number of vehicles they operate.

Motor carriers not required to have a USDOT number pay the lowest fee tier because the vehicles are not defined as CMVs.

Fees under UCR can change from year to year, and are codified in 49 CFR part 367.

UCRA credential. The UCR does not issue a paper credential to be carried in the vehicle. Proof of registration under the UCRA is available to roadside enforcement via FMCSA electronic information systems.

Interstate and intrastate carriers. Interstate carriers that also operate intrastate commercial vehicles have two registration options for the intrastate vehicles:

1. Any vehicles reported on the MCS-150 form that are used only in intrastate commerce to transport property may be deleted from the total number of commercial vehicles on the UCR Registration Form; or
2. Certain vehicles may be added to the UCR vehicle total, including self-propelled motor vehicles operating in intrastate or interstate commerce that have a GVW or GVWR of 10,000 lbs. or less, transport 10 or less passengers including the driver and transport property or passengers for hire.

Intrastate carriers also engaged in interstate motor carriage must comply with any state requirements for initial application for intrastate authority and submit any necessary fees. Such carriers are subject to the UCR; however any intrastate vehicles included in the UCR registration are not subject to annual renewal of the intrastate authority.

When motor vehicle(s) used solely in intrastate operations are not included in the vehicle count under the UCR annual submission, the vehicles may be subject to an annual renewal with the state of operation.

Intrastate carriers. Solely intrastate carriers (never crossing state lines, never engaging in interstate commerce) are not subject to the UCR. Intrastate only carriers must comply with the authority registration requirements of the state of operation.

How to register for the UCR. The UCR Board of Directors has established a National UCR System. All UCR registrants may use this official online system, regardless of base state, and it is the recommended method to register. J. J. Keller’s UCR filing service is also available.

UCR due date. The UCR filing period opens October 1 with registration fees due by December 31 each year.

For several filing years (2018, 2019, and 2020) the filing start date and due dates were delayed. The cause of the delay was approval of the registration fees. The UCR board acknowledged that this caused confusion and frustration on the part of motor carriers and law enforcement. Also noting that the approval process can take up to 12 months, the board made changes to its process, creating a timeline that should allow fee approval each year by October 1.

UCR recordkeeping. UCR registrants are required to preserve the UCR records upon which the annual applications and renewals are based for two years from the due date or filing date, whichever is later, plus any time period included as a result of State decisions or inquiries. The two-year period is the current calendar year and the prior calendar year.

Records may be kept on paper, microfilm, microfiche, or other computerized or condensed record storage system as required by the Base State.

The UCR provides two recordkeeping documents for carriers that should be retained by the carrier and provided to the base state upon request:

• UCR-1 Form: If you subtracted vehicles used exclusively for intrastate transportation when you registered for UCR, you must maintain a list of the vehicles you subtracted. You must also provide this information to your base state on this form upon request.
  • In order to subtract a commercial motor vehicle under this option, during the UCR registration year:
    • The vehicle did not or will not travel outside the state;
    • The vehicle did not or will not carry property, waste, or recyclable material that originated outside the state or is destined for a location outside the state; AND
    • The vehicle was not or will not be registered under the International Registration Plan (IRP) (vehicle must not have an apportioned plate).
• UCR-2 Form: If you obtained the vehicle count from the number of vehicles you owned and operated for the 12-month period ending June 30 of the previous year (Option B), and your fleet count using this method places you in a bracket with a lower fee than if you had selected Option A on the UCR Registration Form, you must maintain a list of vehicles covered by your UCR registration and provide this information on Form UCR-2 to your base state upon request. More information on J. J. Keller’s UCR filing service is available online.

Exceptions. Three types of carriers are not subject to UCR fees:

1. Entities that receive USDOT numbers under the PRISM program as “registrants” but have no interstate operating authority; and
2. Purely intrastate carriers, that is, those that do not handle interstate freight or make interstate movements, (unless the State has elected to apply the provisions of the UCR Agreement to such intrastate carriers); and
3. Motor private carriers transporting passengers in interstate commerce (e.g., church buses) are not required to register under UCR.