Deadline calendar · 2026
DOT compliance deadlines calendar, month by month
The fixed calendar
January
Due January 31
Covers October through December. A return is required even for a quarter you did not run.
Due before January 1
If you missed it, the portal stays open, register late rather than running unregistered.
IFTA decal grace period
January 1 to the end of February
You may display last year's decals while renewing, under IFTA Articles of Agreement R655.200.
February
IFTA decal grace period ends
Last day of February
After this, prior-year decals no longer cover you. New decals must be on the truck.
March
No fixed federal deadline. A good month for annual inspections and MVR reviews.
April
Due April 30
Covers January through March.
May
No fixed federal deadline. A good month for annual inspections and MVR reviews.
June
Heavy vehicle use tax period ends
June 30
The Form 2290 tax year runs July 1 to June 30. Nothing is due today: this is the year rolling over.
July
Due July 31
Covers April through June.
Form 2290 filing opens
July 1
New tax period begins. File any time from July 1 for vehicles you run in July.
August
Form 2290 heavy vehicle use tax
Due August 31
For any vehicle first used in July. A truck first used later is due the last day of the month after its first use.
September
No fixed federal deadline. A good month for annual inspections and MVR reviews.
October
Due October 31
Covers July through September.
October 1
The portal for next year's registration opens: $55 for 0 to 2 trucks in 2027, up from $46. Paying early costs nothing extra.
November
UCR for next year
Before January 1
Nothing forces you to wait for December. Filing in November costs the same and avoids the year-end rush.
December
Before January 1
Registration must be complete for the coming year.
IFTA license and decals
Order before year end
Decals expire December 31. The grace period covers January and February, but only if you have applied.
The IFTA quarters are the dates most carriers file themselves: here is how IFTA returns work, or hand them to an IFTA filing service. Next year’s UCR opens October 1, with the fee for each bracket in UCR renewal 2027.
The ones with no date on the calendar
MCS-150 biennial update
Check your due date →Every 24 months
Your USDOT number sets the month, the last digit picks the month, the next-to-last picks odd or even year.
Medical examiner's certificate
If it already expired →Up to 24 months
Often shorter. An examiner can certify for 12 months or less for a condition that needs monitoring, and that shorter date is the one that counts.
Annual vehicle inspection
What the file needs →Every 12 months
A periodic inspection at least once in the preceding 12 months under 49 CFR 396.17, with documentation kept for each vehicle.
Annual MVR review
Driver file contents →Every 12 months
Pull and review each driver's motor vehicle record once every 12 months under 49 CFR 391.25, and document the review.
Clearinghouse limited query
How queries work →Every 12 months
At least one query per CDL driver per year under 49 CFR 382.701(b), including yourself, if you drive.
Random testing selections
Program requirements →Spread through the year
For 2026 the FMCSA minimums are unchanged: 50% of average driver positions for controlled substances, 10% for alcohol. Your consortium runs the draws.
IRP apportioned plates
Registrations we handle →Annual, staggered
Renewal month is set by your base state, not by a federal date. Check your cab card for the expiration date.
One thing on most of these lists that is not actually required
The annual certificate of violations. FMCSA rescinded 49 CFR 391.27 in a final rule published March 9, 2022, because the annual MVR review already captures the same information. It still appears on printed checklists, in software, and on invoices. If a service is charging you to collect one, they are charging you for a form that no longer exists.
The obligations that arrive without a date
- Random test selections. 49 CFR 382.305 requires selections to be unannounced and spread reasonably throughout the calendar year, and each driver selected must be tested during the selection period. Most consortia run selections quarterly: four interruptions a year that you cannot schedule.
- Roadside inspection reports. Under 49 CFR 396.9(d)(3) you have 15 days from the inspection to certify that the noted violations were corrected, return the form to the issuing state agency if it asks, and keep a copy for 12 months.
- Insurance. 49 CFR 387.7(a) prohibits operating without the required minimum levels in effect, cancellation runs on 35 days' written notice under 387.7(b)(1), and proof is kept at your principal place of business under 387.7(d). A lapse is not a paperwork problem; it is an automatic-failure item in a new entrant audit.
- Vehicle defects. Anything found on the truck that affects safe operation is repaired before the next trip, and the repair goes in the maintenance file under 49 CFR 396.3(b).
A month-by-month routine for one truck
- January: Q4 IFTA return and payment by the 31st. New IFTA decals displayed. UCR for the current year confirmed paid.
- February: A quiet month. Reconcile the fuel and mileage archive for the year just closed and confirm it is complete for the four-year retention period.
- March: Check the medical certificate expiration for anyone certified in the spring, and book the physical 60 days out rather than the week of.
- April: Q1 IFTA return and payment by the 30th.
- May: Pull the annual driving record if your hire anniversary sits in the first half of the year, and write the review note the same day.
- June: Annual inspection check. If a state program performed last June's inspection, it runs to the last day of this June, not to the anniversary of the signature (49 CFR 396.17(f)).
- July: Q2 IFTA return by the 31st. The Form 2290 tax period opens on the 1st.
- August: Form 2290 filed by the 31st for a truck first used in July, and the stamped Schedule 1 filed with your registration paperwork.
- September: Mid-year review of the safety data, the driver qualification file and the maintenance folder, while there is still time to fix anything before the year closes.
- October: Q3 IFTA return by the 31st. UCR collections for next year open on the 1st; register now.
- November: Order IFTA decals for next year, and confirm the insurance filing and the BOC-3 designation are current and in the right name.
- December: The annual Clearinghouse query if it is not already done, a look at whether an MCS-150 due in October was filed, and the year's records archived rather than left in a pile.
Some of those months also carry an item set by your own paperwork rather than the calendar: your MCS-150 month, and whichever months your medical certificate and annual inspection actually expire. Write them into the list above in pen, once, and the pattern stops shifting.
Why memory stops working at truck two
One truck is about fifteen recurring dates, most of them on this page. It is a lot, but a disciplined person driving one truck can carry it, and many do for years.
Truck two does not add fifteen. It adds a second inspection cycle, a second maintenance file, a second set of roadside reports with their own 15-day clocks, and a UCR bracket that may have changed. A second driver then adds a driver qualification file with its own hire anniversary, a medical certificate on its own cycle, an annual driving record inquiry and review note, an annual Clearinghouse query and a random pool position. The dates do not double so much as they interleave, and the interleaving is what breaks recall: you are no longer remembering a list, you are tracking two calendars that were never designed to line up.
That is the point at which most carriers discover they had a system all along: it was the owner’s memory, and it had no backup.
What a calendar system actually has to do
- Hold every date as an item with an owner and a source document, not as a reminder. Knowing a medical card expires is useless without knowing whose, and where the certificate is.
- Warn early enough to act. A physical, a shop appointment and a state filing all take longer than a day; sixty days is the shortest warning that is actually useful.
- Recur automatically. Anything that fires once and then goes quiet has already failed, because every item on this page comes back.
- Prove itself. When an auditor asks, the answer is a document with a date, not a screenshot of a reminder marked done.
- Survive a bad week. It has to work when the truck is broken down, the phone is dead and nobody is in the mood for paperwork, because that is when the dates keep moving.
A wall calendar meets all five requirements for one truck if you actually keep it. A spreadsheet meets them for two or three if someone opens it. Past that, the failure is not discipline. It is that nothing is watching the calendar while you are driving.
Two free tools for the two hardest dates
MCS-150 due date
Enter your USDOT number and get the exact month your biennial update is due. No signup.
Check my date →
Audit readiness check
Thirteen questions scored against the automatic failures in 49 CFR 385.321(b). No signup.
Run the check →
DOT deadline questions
What DOT deadlines does a one-truck carrier actually have?
Four IFTA returns a year if you are IFTA-registered (April 30, July 31, October 31, January 31), the UCR fee before January 1, Form 2290 by August 31 for a truck used in July, and the MCS-150 every 24 months on a schedule set by your USDOT number. Alongside those are the rolling ones with no fixed calendar date: your medical certificate, the annual vehicle inspection, the annual MVR review, and one Clearinghouse query per CDL driver per year.
When are IFTA returns due?
The last day of the month following the close of each quarter: April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31. When that last day falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the due date is the next business day (IFTA Articles of Agreement, R960.100). A return is required for every quarter you hold the license, including quarters you did not run at all.
Can I still run in January on last year's IFTA decals?
Yes, if you have applied for renewal. IFTA Articles of Agreement R655.200 gives a two-month grace period covering January and February, during which you may display either the current or the prior year's credentials. After the last day of February, the old decals no longer cover you.
When is Form 2290 due?
For a vehicle first used on public highways in July, the return is due by August 31. For a vehicle first placed in service in a later month, it is due the last day of the month following that first use, and the tax is prorated rather than charged as a full year.
Is there still an annual certificate of violations?
No. FMCSA rescinded 49 CFR 391.27 in a final rule published March 9, 2022, because the annual motor vehicle record review already captures the same information. You will still see it on checklists and in compliance-service marketing. It is not a requirement, and anyone billing you for it is billing you for a form that no longer exists.
How do I work out my MCS-150 month?
The last digit of your USDOT number sets the month (1 is January through 0 for October), and the next-to-last digit sets the year: odd means odd-numbered years, even means even-numbered years. The rule is 49 CFR 390.19T(b)(2) and (b)(3).
When exactly does my annual inspection expire?
If a state periodic inspection program performed it, 49 CFR 396.17(f) runs the 12 months from the last day of the month in which it was performed, so a March 3 inspection is good through March 31 of the following year. Treat the end of the month as the deadline and schedule 60 days before it.
What is the earliest I can register UCR for next year?
Collections begin on October 1 of the year before the fee year. There is no advantage to waiting, and December is when the system and the mailbox are both busiest.
What happens if I miss one of these?
It depends entirely on which one. A late IFTA return draws a penalty the base jurisdiction may assess of $50 or 10 percent of the delinquent tax, whichever is greater (IFTA Articles of Agreement, R1220.100), plus interest. A missed MCS-150 update can bring civil penalties, and its stated consequence, deactivation of your USDOT number, has been paused by FMCSA since June 1, 2026 while carriers move onto Motus; the update is still required. An expired medical certificate can put a driver out of service and downgrade a CDL. Some are a fine and some stop the truck, which is why the ones that stop the truck are worth a calendar entry rather than a memory.
Sources
- 49 CFR 390.19T: MCS-150 biennial update schedule
- 49 CFR 396.17: Periodic (annual) inspection
- 49 CFR 391.25: Annual inquiry and review of driving record
- 49 CFR 382.701: Clearinghouse query requirements
- DOT ODAPC: 2026 random testing rates
- IRS: Trucking Tax Center (Form 2290 deadlines)
- IFTA Articles of Agreement R655, grace period
- UCR Plan, registration portal and fee brackets
- Federal Register: 2027 UCR fees and the October 1 collection window
- 49 CFR 391.45: Medical certification intervals
- 49 CFR 382.305: Random testing selections
- 49 CFR 387.7: Financial responsibility required
- 49 CFR 396.9: Roadside inspections and the 15-day certification
Last reviewed October 2, 2026. Dates that fall on a weekend or federal holiday generally move to the next business day; confirm with the filing jurisdiction. State and local deadlines are not covered here. TenFour is a compliance service, not a law firm, and is not affiliated with FMCSA or any government agency.
Or let us watch the calendar for you.
Every date above tracked for your trucks and your drivers, with alerts at 60, 30 and 7 days and the filings done before they come due: one company, one monthly payment, one place for your compliance. $99/month for the first truck on the annual plan, $59/month for each additional truck, every driver included.
$99/month is the annual plan for one truck, billed $1,188 up front, about two months free against $119 month to month. Each additional truck is $59/month ($69 month to month), every driver included, up to six trucks. Cancel any month; remaining full months refunded.