The UCR Program The Unified Carrier Registration program is unusual. It is essentially a state revenue program, but it is established under federal law. Unlike such state programs as the International Registration Plan and International Fuel Tax Agreement, in which the member jurisdictions, acting collectively, set the policies of those two organizations, UCR policies are determined (to the extent not set out in federal law) by a governing board that consists of representatives of participating states, but also of private industry and the federal government. While the fees and taxes imposed under IRP and IFTA are determined by the individual states, the fees charged under the UCR program are uniform across all the participating states and are set by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation upon the recommendation of the UCR Board. Notwithstanding these features, the UCR program in many respects resembles the other state tax programs. Like IRP and IFTA, the UCR is a base-state program; that is, every business subject to UCR requirements deals for UCR purposes only with the state in which it is based – commonly the state in which the business has its principal place of business. Interstate motor carriers of nearly every type are subject to UCR, as are interstate transportation brokers and freight forwarders, and companies that lease or rent rolling stock to interstate carriers. Each entity subject to UCR is required to register annually with its base state and to pay an annual fee. The fees imposed on motor carriers that operate commercial motor vehicles – are graduated through a system of brackets, based on the number of vehicles they have operated; brokers, freight forwarders and leasing companies, which operate no vehicles themselves, pay a fee at the level that applies to the smallest motor carriers. No UCR credential is issued to a UCR registrant; enforcement is accomplished through on-line data checks and various types of audit. A further unusual feature of the UCR program is its limitation on the revenue that is collected and the manner in which collections are distributed among the states. you manage your day-to-day tasks and free up your time to focus on your core business.
UCR may commonly be regarded as a program for interstate motor carriers, but it’s broader than that, and encompasses several other categories of transportation businesses. This section identifies those businesses, and provides some details. In addition, UCR’s rules for a business that is registered with U.S. DOT to perform more than one transportation function are covered here. See the next section for the definition of “interstate” applicable to UCR, and the sections on Calculating UCR Fees for details on what types of transportation operations and vehicles are included under UCR. Categories of Operation Subject to UCR The following categories of operation are subject to the fees and other rules imposed under the UCR program, once they operate or designate interstate commerce on their MCS-150 Profile or have an active Motor Carrier Number: Motor carriers of property, both for-hire and private, whether or not they are considered exempt carriers for purposes of federal regulation; For-hire passenger motor carriers; Freight forwarders; Brokers; and Leasing companies that lease vehicles without drivers to interstate motor carriers. This encompasses carriers, freight forwarders, brokers, and leasing companies operating or designating interstate commerce on their MCS-150 Profile in the U.S., no matter where they are based, whether in a participating or nonparticipating state, in a territory of the United States, or in a foreign country. It should be noted that private carriers of passengers are not included in the categories subject to UCR. Private passenger carriers is a category defined somewhat narrowly. It does not include commercial entities such as hotels, who provide shuttle service for their customers ancillary to their primary business. Nor would it include a children’s camp that provides shuttle service to and from the camp for the children, where there might be no separate charge, but where the camp recovers the cost through the overall fees for the camp. Such operations are considered for-hire transportation. On the other hand, a business that solely carries its own employees without direct or indirect charge to them, is not considered a for-hire carrier by virtue of such a service.consistency, and confidentiality in all our document preparation services.
For purposes of the UCR program, the definition of the terms “interstate” or “interstate commerce” is broad, and follows the definitions of those concepts as they have been developed by U.S. federal law and rulings of the U.S. DOT and the former Interstate Commerce Commission. In general, interstate or interstate commerce refers to the movement of goods or passengers across state lines or across the borders of the United States. This includes all movements of goods or passengers across state or national boundaries, but also a movement entirely within a state, when that movement is the beginning or continuation of a movement across a state or national border. For instance, nearly all intermodal drayage movements by truck are considered to be interstate in nature, though the truck portion of such a movement may not cross any state line. The determination whether a movement is interstate goes to the intent of the shipper of freight or of the passenger being moved. Although this is an objective determination, to be made according to the circumstances of each case, it can on occasion be difficult. The performance of any interstate movement makes a motor carrier, freight forwarder, or broker involved in it subject to the authority of the US DOT and – generally – subject to UCR requirements as well. For purposes of the UCR, movements that are wholly within one state and that are not interstate are intrastate. It might be noted that the definition of interstate for UCR purposes is broader than that employed in dealing with IRP and IFTA. In those two agreements, “interstate” refers solely to movements of vehicles across state or international borders. For this reason, many motor carriers which are not required to register their vehicles under IRP or report their operations through IFTA may still be subject to requirements of the UCR program. Moreover, although many interstate carriers operate vehicles that never cross a state line, if those vehicles ever carry interstate freight or passengers, those vehicles are considered to be interstate for purposes of UCR. There are many instances of this in the trucking industry, with two of the major ones being drayage haulers who take intermodal containers to and from a port, and agricultural haulers who carry farm produce to a railhead or barge terminal. But vehicles involved in the in-state continuation of interstate shipments are also in interstate commerce.
Enforcement of UCR Despite the absence of a UCR credential, the participating states enforce the payment of UCR fees in a variety of ways. Some states, particularly those states where the International Registration Plan is combined with the UCR program in a single agency, deny a motor carrier its vehicle registration until it has completed its UCR registration. Additionally, some states deny a non-IRP registrant’s commercial registration if the registrant lists interstate commerce on its USDOT profile until UCR registration has been paid. Second, the UCR Board requires that each participating state audit a certain proportion of its UCR registrants to ensure that they have paid the appropriate fees. The audit program makes use of states’ IRP records to highlight discrepancies between the number of vehicles a motor carrier has registered under the Plan and the size of the fleet it has declared for purposes of UCR. A carrier that is found to have underpaid its UCR fees will be treated as if it has not registered, a status that appears on the public portion of FMCSA’s website, and subjects the carrier to enforcement actions. Third, falsely completing the UCR registration form is subject to the penalties for perjury that may be imposed by a registrant’s base state. Finally, enforcement officials at all levels may access data bases of the FMCSA in order to ascertain whether an entity associated with a particular DOT number has a current UCR registration. That check may be carried out at roadside during a traffic stop as well as in other settings.
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