FMCSA Registration Guide
MCS-150 Biennial Update: When It's Due and Why Insurers Read It
Every interstate motor carrier with a USDOT number owes FMCSA a refreshed record every two years. That filing is the MCS-150 biennial update. It's free. Skip it, and FMCSA says your USDOT number gets deactivated.
This guide shows how to find your due month from the last two digits of your number, how to file now that FMCSA has moved registration into Motus, and which five entries on the form sit beside your insurance application: mileage, operation type, cargo, trucks and drivers.
What the MCS-150 is and who has to file it
The MCS-150 is the Motor Carrier Identification Report. FMCSA's page for the form says carriers use it "to update their existing U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) number company record," most often for the update that comes due every two years.
The rule lives in 49 CFR 390.19T. A motor carrier operating in interstate commerce files Form MCS-150 before it begins operations and every 24 months after that.
Intrastate-only carriers fall outside the federal rule unless they hold a hazardous materials safety permit. FMCSA's Motus job aid says only interstate carriers, intrastate carriers with that permit and intermodal equipment providers see the biennial update section.
Here's the catch. "Nothing changed" doesn't get you out of it. FMCSA's Updating Your Registration page says you owe the update "even if your company has not changed its information, has ceased interstate operations since the last update, or is no longer in business and you did not notify FMCSA." A parked truck still has a filing deadline.
The update costs nothing, and FMCSA's page says so in five words: "Updating your information is free."
When is my MCS-150 due?
Your USDOT number answers that. The last digit sets the month. The digit before it sets the year.
| USDOT number ends in | File by the last day of |
|---|---|
| 1 | January |
| 2 | February |
| 3 | March |
| 4 | April |
| 5 | May |
| 6 | June |
| 7 | July |
| 8 | August |
| 9 | September |
| 0 | October |
If the next-to-last digit is odd, you file in every odd-numbered calendar year. If it's even, you file in every even-numbered year.
A worked example
Say your USDOT number ends in 37. The 7 puts your deadline on the last day of July. The 3 is odd, so you file in odd-numbered years: July 31, 2027, then July 31, 2029. A number ending in 40 files by October 31 of even years, so 2028, then 2030.
The schedule stops at October. No USDOT number comes due in November or December, which may be the only holiday gift in Title 49.
You don't have to wait for your month. FMCSA's registration FAQ says an update completed "at any time during the 12 months immediately preceding the biennial update due date" satisfies the requirement. The same FAQ says FMCSA mails a warning letter to the address on file at least 30 days before the deadline. That only helps if the address on file is still yours.
The two-year clock isn't the only trigger. FMCSA's FAQ also says to update your registration within 30 days of any change, and its examples include address, telephone number, email and number of power units.
The five entries your insurer compares with your application
Much of what you put on the MCS-150 is public. SAFER's Company Snapshot, which FMCSA describes as a record of a company's "identification, size, commodity information, and safety record," can be searched free, one carrier at a time. SAFER's help page lists the fields: power units, drivers, cargo carried, the MCS-150 form date and the MCS-150 mileage.
An insurance application asks for the same facts. Our trucking insurance quote checklist asks for a vehicle schedule, a driver list, annual mileage, the commodities you haul and your radius. It also says what happens to your USDOT and MC numbers once you hand them over: the carrier pulls your FMCSA record from them.
When the two records disagree, underwriters ask about it. A truck you sold that still shows on your USDOT record is one example, and it's in our FAQ.
| Form item | What the form asks | What the application asks |
|---|---|---|
| Item 21: Carrier mileage | Total mileage of all commercial motor vehicles in your operation for the previous 12 months, to the nearest 10,000 miles. In business less than 12 months: mileage to date. | Annual mileage, current and projected. |
| Item 23: Operation classifications | The type of business you're in: authorized for-hire, exempt for-hire, private property and others. You can fall under more than one. | The operation you describe: hauling for hire or hauling your own goods. |
| Item 24: Cargo classifications | The types of materials you transport. Select every category that applies. | Commodities hauled, with a percentage for each. |
| Item 26: Number of vehicles | Straight trucks, truck tractors and trailers, counted as owned, term leased or trip leased. | The vehicle schedule, with VINs and values. |
| Item 27: Driver information | Drivers on an average workday, split interstate and intrastate, within and beyond a 100 air-mile radius, plus how many hold a CDL. Part-time, casual and leased drivers count. | The driver list and your radius of operation. |
One note on item 21. The form wants mileage to the nearest 10,000 miles. That's FMCSA inviting you to round. It isn't inviting you to guess.
Items 21 and 26 have a second reader. FMCSA's Safety Measurement System methodology (version 3.21, revised May 2026) names Form MCS-150 as a primary source of a carrier's mileage figure, and says average power units "are used in part to account for each carrier's level of exposure" when a safety measure is calculated. So the truck count and mileage you last filed go into the math behind your safety percentiles. We cover the insurance side of those in how CSA scores affect a trucking insurance premium.
What this actually means: before you file, pull the numbers you'd hand your agent. Twelve months of mileage. Today's truck and trailer list. Today's driver list, part-timers included. Then put the same numbers on both documents.
How to file the update in Motus
FMCSA launched Motus, its new USDOT registration system, on May 19, 2026. FMCSA's registration FAQ says the registration options in the old FMCSA Portal stopped being available on May 14, 2026 at 8:00 PM ET. Some FMCSA help pages written before the switch still point to the Portal, so start from FMCSA's Move into Motus page instead.
1.Sign in at motus.dot.gov
FMCSA says to use the same Login.gov email the company official used in the FMCSA Portal. First time in, FMCSA has you create a user profile and verify your identity.
2.Claim your USDOT number
Claiming links your existing record to a new Motus company account and imports your company data. FMCSA's words for the next part are "review, update, and certify."
3.Open Biennial Update Information and click Start
FMCSA's job aid shows this section on your company account page, with a Start button. Operation Details, on the same page, lists your cargo classifications, vehicles and drivers.
4.Enter this year's numbers
Mileage for the previous 12 months, then today's trucks, trailers, drivers, cargo and operation type. Don't copy the last filing forward.
5.Keep proof and tell your agent
Take a dated screenshot once your record shows the new MCS-150 date. Send it to your insurance agent with any numbers that changed, so the application on file matches.
The paper form still exists. For an update, its instructions say to mark "Biennial Update or Changes" and complete items 1-16, 21, 30 and 31, plus any others that changed. FMCSA's Updating Your Registration page lists upload through the Ask FMCSA website or mail, but it was last updated October 22, 2025, before Motus. Ask FMCSA whether paper is still accepted before you rely on it.
If Motus shows something you didn't expect once you're in, our guide to an authority showing inactive in Motus walks through telling a record error from a real lapse.
What a missed update does to your USDOT number
The regulation is blunt. Under 49 CFR 390.19T(b)(4), a carrier that fails to complete its biennial update is subject to penalties set by federal statute "and deactivation of its USDOT Number." FMCSA's page puts a number on the penalties: "up to $1,000 per day, not to exceed $10,000."
A deactivated number is visible to anyone who looks you up. SAFER's help page defines the operating status "Inactive USDOT Number" as "Inactive per 49 CFR 390.19(b)(4); biennial update of MCS-150 data not completed." A broker vetting you for a load can see that. So can an underwriter opening your record before a quote. You can pull your own federal record with our free carrier lookup.
The 2026 pause
There's a temporary exception, and it has a date on it. In a notice last updated September 10, 2026, FMCSA says it has "temporarily suspended enforcement of biennial updates and the inactivation of USDOT Numbers" while carriers move to Motus. Registrants whose update was due on or after June 1, 2026 "will receive additional time" and won't have the number inactivated for missing it. The notice gives no new deadline and says more guidance will follow.
Read the notice itself before you rely on it, and file anyway. The pause covers enforcement. It doesn't refresh the mileage and truck count that brokers and underwriters read.
If the number is already inactive
FMCSA's Move into Motus page lists "Inactivate or reactivate your USDOT Number" among the things a registrant can do in Motus.
A missed update isn't the only way a USDOT number goes inactive. If yours went inactive after an insurance filing was cancelled, that's a different repair, covered in USDOT inactive after an insurance filing was cancelled.
Frequently asked questions
What are the responsibilities that come with getting a DOT number?
There are several, and this page covers one. Among them: under 49 CFR 390.19T, an interstate motor carrier files Form MCS-150 before it begins operations and again every 24 months, and it must display the USDOT number on each self-propelled commercial motor vehicle. The MCS-150 biennial update is the easy one to forget, because it comes due only every second year.
Do I have to file the biennial update if nothing has changed?
Yes. FMCSA says you owe it every two years even if your company's information hasn't changed, you've stopped interstate operations, or you're out of business and never told FMCSA.
How do I find out when my MCS-150 is due?
Look at the last two digits of your USDOT number. The last digit sets the month, from 1 for January through 9 for September, with 0 for October. The next-to-last digit sets the year: odd digit, odd-numbered years; even digit, even-numbered years.
Does it cost anything to file the MCS-150?
No. FMCSA's Updating Your Registration page says updating your information is free.
Can I file my biennial update early?
Yes. FMCSA's registration FAQ says an update completed at any time during the 12 months immediately before your due date satisfies the biennial update requirement.
Is the biennial update suspended in 2026?
Enforcement is paused. An FMCSA notice last updated September 10, 2026 says registrants whose update was due on or after June 1, 2026 will receive additional time and will not have their USDOT number inactivated for failing to submit it. More guidance is promised, so read the current version on FMCSA's site.
Related resources
Does your FMCSA record match your insurance application?
Start with your USDOT number. Send it to us with the date of your last MCS-150 update, your current vehicle schedule and your driver list.