UCR Fees Rise About 20% for the 2027 Registration Year

Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) fees are going up for the 2027 registration year. FMCSA published a final rule on September 1, 2026 (Docket FMCSA-2025-0655) adopting the UCR Board's recommended increase without changes. The rule took effect October 1, 2026.

The new fees average about 20% more than the schedule used for 2025 and kept for 2026. Depending on the bracket, the increase runs from $9 to $9,329 per entity.

The 2027 fee table

UCR fees are set by fleet size. The count is the number of commercial motor vehicles owned or operated by the motor carrier, motor private carrier or freight forwarder. Brokers and leasing companies pay the bottom-bracket fee.

| Bracket | Vehicles | 2025–2026 fee | 2027 fee | Increase | |---|---|---|---|---| | B1 | 0–2 | $46 | $55 | $9 | | B2 | 3–5 | $138 | $167 | $29 | | B3 | 6–20 | $276 | $333 | $57 | | B4 | 21–100 | $963 | $1,163 | $200 | | B5 | 101–1,000 | $4,592 | $5,548 | $956 | | B6 | 1,001 and above | $44,836 | $54,165 | $9,329 |

Brokers and leasing companies go from $46 to $55.

The new table is in a new 49 CFR 367.50. It applies to registration year 2027 and stays in place for later years until another rulemaking changes it. The old 2025–2026 schedule moves to section 367.40, and the closed 2023 schedule is removed.

Why fees are rising

UCR revenue goes to the 41 participating states and to the cost of running the UCR Plan. The states' shares are fixed by statute, so when collections fall short, fees have to rise. When there's a surplus, fees have to come down.

FMCSA says the excess from past years has now run out and the Plan has been collecting less than it projected. The increase is meant to cover a projected $21.79 million shortfall and meet the overall statutory revenue requirement of $118 million. The agency notes that even with the increase, 2027 fees are still lower than the fees charged from 2019 through 2022.

FMCSA also clarified that this is a single increase, not 20% a year. The 2027 table remains until a future rule adjusts it.

What commenters said

The proposal was published April 7, 2026. The comment period was extended from May 7 to May 26 because the Board's supporting documents had not been put in the docket when the proposal came out. FMCSA received 34 comments, 33 of them in scope, including filings from OOIDA, the National Propane Gas Association and the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC).

• General opposition. Several commenters called the fees an unnecessary tax. FMCSA said Congress created the UCR fees by statute and neither the agency nor the Board can stop collecting them.
• Pending litigation. SBTC asked the D.C. Circuit to stay the rulemaking. FMCSA says the court denied that motion on June 17, 2026.
• Small carriers. OOIDA said single-truck and small-fleet operators pay disproportionately more. FMCSA said the smallest carriers in each bracket pay roughly $54.11 to $55.67 per truck under the new schedule. It found the increase is less than 1% of revenue for small entities.
• Large brokers. SBTC argued that big brokerages should pay more than the bottom-bracket fee. FMCSA said the statute requires brokers to pay the smallest-bracket fee.
• Legal and platform costs. Some commenters objected to a $250,000 legal defense allocation and to platform costs being paid by registrants. FMCSA said the statute funds the Plan's administrative costs through fees, and Congress has never appropriated money for UCR programs.