Compliance
The calendar
The filings and inspection weeks a carrier running in the United States has to plan around. Each one says the rule that sets its date, and where that came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
The recurring filings
CVSA International Roadcheck
Every driver and vehicle on the road during the blitz
A 72-hour inspection push across the United States, Canada and Mexico, with a declared focus area each year. Inspectors are looking hardest at whatever that focus is, and the results are published afterwards.
- How often
- Once a year, usually in May. CVSA announces the dates and the focus in advance.
- Source
- CVSA · verified against the source September 15, 2026
CVSA Brake Safety Week
Every driver and vehicle on the road during the week
A week of inspections concentrating on brake systems, with vehicles put out of service for defects found. Worth a pre-trip that pays particular attention to the brakes in the run-up.
- How often
- Once a year, usually in August. CVSA announces the dates in advance.
- Source
- CVSA · verified against the source September 15, 2026
IFTA quarterly fuel tax return
Carriers running a qualified vehicle in more than one IFTA jurisdiction
The quarterly return and payment go to your base jurisdiction, covering every mile run in every member state and province. A late return is a penalty and interest, and a repeatedly late account can lose its licence and its decals.
- How often
- Every quarter, due the last day of the month after the quarter ends — 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January.
- Source
- IFTA, Inc. · not yet verified against the source
Unified Carrier Registration (UCR)
Every carrier, broker, freight forwarder and leasing company operating interstate
An annual fee based on how many power units you run. Registration for the coming year opens in the autumn, and enforcement begins on 1 January whether or not you have paid.
- How often
- Every year. Registration opens 1 October for the following year and should be done by 31 December.
- Source
- UCR Plan · not yet verified against the source
Form 2290 — Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax
Anyone running a vehicle at 55,000 lbs gross weight or more on public highways
The federal use tax. The stamped Schedule 1 is what a state wants to see before it will register or renew the plate, so filing late holds up the tag as well as costing a penalty.
- How often
- Every year. The tax period runs 1 July to 30 June, and the return is due by the last day of the month after the month a vehicle is first used — 31 August for a vehicle running in July.
- Source
- IRS · not yet verified against the source
Everything with a date, soonest first
The filings above, and every federal comment period and effective date the news wire has picked up — including the ones nobody wrote an article about, because the date is a fact whether or not it was worth an article. The front page shows the first four.
Passed in the last year (17)
Kept as a record. A comment period that has closed cannot be reopened, and an effective date that has arrived is simply the rule now.
Announced each year
These do not have a fixed date. Somebody publishes them annually, and this page would rather say so than print a date nobody has announced — a guessed date for an inspection blitz is worse than no date at all.
CVSA Operation Safe Driver Week
Drivers — this one is about behaviour rather than equipment
A week of enforcement aimed at unsafe driving by both commercial and passenger drivers: speed, following distance, seat belts, phones.
- How often
- Once a year, usually in July. CVSA announces the dates in advance.
- Source
- CVSA
Set by your own numbers, not by a calendar
These two have no date this page could print. One comes from your USDOT number and the other from the state you plate in, so what follows is the rule rather than a day.
MCS-150 biennial update
Every carrier with a USDOT number, whether or not anything has changed
The update FMCSA requires every two years. It is free, it is filed at FMCSA, and leaving it unfiled deactivates the USDOT number — which stops the trucks rather than costing a fee. It is due even in a year when nothing about the business has changed.
- How it is set
- Every 24 months, in a month FMCSA assigns from your USDOT number. Check yours on the FMCSA site — the schedule is not the same for two carriers who filed on the same day.
- Source
- FMCSA
IRP apportioned plate renewal
Carriers running apportioned plates in more than one jurisdiction
The renewal of your apportioned registration through your base jurisdiction, priced on the distance run in each member jurisdiction over the reporting period.
- How it is set
- Every year, on a date your base jurisdiction sets — it is not the same in every state, so it is the one deadline on this page you have to get from your own DMV.
- Source
- IRP, Inc.
What this page is not
It is a diary, not advice, and it is not exhaustive — a state or a base jurisdiction can require things that are not on it. Your own MCS-150 month, and your IRP renewal date, come from FMCSA and your own DMV respectively; nobody can work them out from this page.
3 of 8 entries have been checked against their source by the office. Anything unchecked carries the link it came from — follow it before you plan around it, and tell us if it has moved.