The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has proposed reducing some annual registration fees for truckers, freight brokers, freight forwarders and leasing companies for 2024 in anticipation of the same fees going up in 2025.
The fees apply to the national United Carrier Registration (UCR) Plan which was created by Congress in 2005. It requires these companies operating in interstate commerce to submit annual fees based on fleet size to supplement funding for state highway motor carrier registration and safety programs in 41 states.
FMCSA said it’s planning to reduce the fees for 2024 by 9% after having granted a fee reduction of 31% in 2023 as well.
Depending on the number of power units that are owned or operated by the motor carrier or truck leasing company (from 0 to 1,001 and over), the dollar amount reduced from 2023 will vary between $4 and $3,453.
According to FMCSA, the reductions came after a change had been made earlier in how the fees would be calculated by the UCR Plan Board, which is responsible for supervising the UCR and for establishing the rate for payments.
“The UCR Plan Board did not make a fee recommendation for the 2025 registration year, but the recommendation for the 2024 registration year anticipates an increase in fees for 2025, following the large fee decreases in the previous years,” FMCSA explained.
Because the state UCR revenue entitlements would remain unchanged, FMCSA contends that the states participating in the program would not be impacted by this rule. In addition, the UCR agreement does not affect a participating state’s annual registration of interstate and intrastate hazardous materials carriers or hazardous waste carriers.