The 2027 Unified Carrier Registration fees are final. They were published on 1 September 2026, they take effect on 1 October 2026, and they are up by an average of about 20 percent. Registration for the 2027 year opens on 1 October 2026 and closes on 31 December 2026. Here are the actual numbers, what drives them, and what to do about it.
The 2027 fee table
| Bracket | Vehicles | 2025 and 2026 fee | 2027 fee | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | 0 to 2 | $46 | $55 | +$9 |
| B2 | 3 to 5 | $138 | $167 | +$29 |
| B3 | 6 to 20 | $276 | $333 | +$57 |
| B4 | 21 to 100 | $963 | $1,163 | +$200 |
| B5 | 101 to 1,000 | $4,592 | $5,548 | +$956 |
| B6 | 1,001 and above | $44,836 | $54,165 | +$9,329 |
The 2025 and 2026 figures are the current fees at 49 CFR 367.40. The 2027 figures are codified at 49 CFR 367.50 and apply to the 2027 registration year and, unless changed again, to subsequent years. Brokers, freight forwarders and leasing companies without vehicles pay the bracket 1 fee.
Why they went up
UCR fees are not set to a budget target in the ordinary sense. The statute sets a total revenue entitlement for the participating states, currently 118 million dollars, and the fee schedule is calculated to collect it. When collections come in under that entitlement, the following year’s fees are raised to make up the gap.
That is what happened here. The rulemaking identifies a shortfall of roughly 21.79 million dollars against the revenue requirement, and the 2027 schedule is set to recover it. So the increase is not a policy statement about carriers, it is arithmetic on a collections gap, which also means it is not automatically permanent.
Who has to register
Any entity operating commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce, and that is broader than people assume. It covers motor carriers of property and passengers, private carriers hauling their own goods, brokers, freight forwarders and leasing companies. Not being for hire does not exempt you.
Your bracket is determined by the number of commercial motor vehicles you reported on your most recent MCS-150, counting vehicles operated in interstate commerce. That link to the MCS-150 is worth knowing: a stale vehicle count on that filing produces a UCR bill for a fleet you no longer run.
Registration is made in your base state, and if your base state does not participate in the UCR agreement you register in the nearest participating state.
The dates that matter
- 1 October 2026. The 2027 fee schedule takes effect and the 2027 registration period opens.
- 31 December 2026. Registration closes. From 1 January you are operating unregistered.
- Enforcement is roadside and immediate. There is no grace period written into the scheme, and states check.
Practically, register in October. The system is least congested then, the fee does not change by waiting, and December is when the support queues fill with people discovering their MCS-150 vehicle count is wrong.
Getting the bracket right before you pay
The brackets are wide, and the jumps between them are not. Moving from 5 vehicles to 6 costs 166 dollars a year. Moving from 20 to 21 costs 830. If your fleet is sitting on a bracket boundary, the vehicle count on your MCS-150 is worth checking before you register rather than after.
- Pull your current MCS-150 and read the interstate vehicle count on it.
- If it is wrong, update it. The update is free and it is a biennial obligation anyway.
- Then register, and keep the receipt with your other roadside documents.
One thing not to do: register through an unofficial site with hidden fees. Sites that add undisclosed charges on top of a 55 dollar fee are a persistent problem every autumn. If you would rather hand the filing off, our UCR renewal registration service shows the total before you pay and files the registration for you.
Related reading
The 2026 season, including how the fees and deadlines worked last year, is covered in UCR renewal 2026. If you are getting authority this autumn, UCR is one of several obligations landing at once, and the order they gate each other in is set out in the requirements checklist.
Sources
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement; Fees for 2027 and Subsequent Registration Years, final rule, published 1 September 2026, effective 1 October 2026.
- 49 CFR 367.40 (2025 and 2026 fees) and 49 CFR 367.50 (2027 and subsequent years).
