MCS-150 biennial update checker

Schedule computed from 49 CFR 390.19T(b). Filing dates come from FMCSA's Company Census File via data.transportation.gov — an unofficial mirror. Verify at FMCSA SAFER before acting.

49 CFR 390.19T(b)(2) requires the form to be filed before operations begin and then every 24 months, on a month set by the last digit of the USDOT number:

The next-to-last digit picks the year. Quoting § 390.19T(b)(3): "If the next-to-last digit of its USDOT Number is odd, the motor carrier or intermodal equipment provider shall file its update in every odd-numbered calendar year. If the next-to-last digit of the USDOT Number is even, the motor carrier or intermodal equipment provider shall file its update in every even-numbered calendar year."

Read the two digits separately. USDOT 285838: the last digit, 8, sets the month to August; the next-to-last digit, 3, is odd, so the year is odd-numbered. That carrier files by August 31 of every odd-numbered year. USDOT 1234560 ends in 0, so its month is October, and its next-to-last digit, 6, is even — October 31 of every even-numbered year.

The cadence is set by the number, not by whether anything about the business changed. Section 390.19T contains no exception for a carrier whose information is unchanged since its last update.

Per § 390.19T(a), the identification report is filed by:

• Any U.S.-, Canada-, Mexico-, or non-North America-domiciled motor carrier operating in interstate commerce — Form MCS-150.
• An intrastate carrier that needs a hazardous materials Safety Permit under 49 CFR part 385, subpart E — Form MCS-150B.
• Any intermodal equipment provider offering equipment for interstate transportation — Form MCS-150C.

One carve-out is written into the rule: § 390.19T(i) exempts a carrier that registers its vehicles in a state participating in the PRISM program, provided it files all the required information with the appropriate state office.

§ 390.19T(b)(4), verbatim: "A person that fails to complete biennial updates to the information pursuant to paragraph (b)(2) of this section is subject to the penalties prescribed in 49 U.S.C. 521(b)(2)(B) or 49 U.S.C. 14901(a), as appropriate, and deactivation of its USDOT Number."

We do not publish a dollar figure for those penalties here: the statutory maximums are adjusted for inflation and we have not verified a current amount against a primary source. The citations above are the ones the rule itself gives.

We ran the arithmetic against FMCSA's own census on 2026-08-28. Of 739,180 census records that are active (status_code = A) and hold a docket number, 179,011 — 24.2% — carry a last MCS-150 update date earlier than August 2024, more than 24 months before the query date.

A further 59,404 (8.0%) of those records carry no MCS-150 date at all. Those are excluded from the 24.2% rather than counted as stale, so the real figure for "not demonstrably current" is higher than the number above.

Method: counts from the FMCSA Company Census File (dataset az4n-8mr2) on data.transportation.gov, queried 2026-08-28 against the snapshot the publisher timestamped 2026-08-28 12:12 UTC. "Stale" = the census mcs150_date field is earlier than 2024-08. A stale census date is not proof of a missed filing — see the caveats below.

File directly with FMCSA. The agency is mid-migration: on April 29, 2026 FMCSA published notice of Motus, its new registration system replacing the Unified Registration System and the FMCSA Portal, and listed "complete their biennial update, to ensure their USDOT Number and operating authority information with FMCSA is current" among the transactions existing registrants will perform in Motus Phase II (91 FR 23144). That notice directs registrants to FMCSA's Registration Modernization Resources Hub for current status and instructions. Per § 390.19T(c)–(d), the forms and filing instructions come from fmcsa.dot.gov, from FMCSA Service Centers and Division offices, or by calling 1-800-832-5660.

Caveats that matter for the verdict above:

• The census is a daily mirror, not FMCSA's system of record. A filing submitted in the last few days may not appear yet, and a blank date field is not evidence that nothing was ever filed.
• We compare against the date recorded in the census. FMCSA determines compliance from its own records, which can differ.
• How we decide. A recorded update dated after the deadline before last is treated as covering the most recent deadline. That is the lenient reading of a 24-month cycle, chosen deliberately: we would rather show "appears current" for a borderline record than tell a compliant carrier it is delinquent.
• PRISM-state filings made through a state office (§ 390.19T(i)) may not land in this field the way a direct federal filing does.
• Nothing here is legal advice. If the verdict says "appears overdue," confirm with FMCSA before assuming anything about your operating status.

49 CFR 390.19T — Motor carrier, hazardous material safety permit applicant/holder, and intermodal equipment provider identification reports. Text retrieved 2026-08-28 from the eCFR API (title 49, part 390, as in effect 2026-08-01); human-readable at ecfr.gov. Note that the parallel section § 390.19 is suspended indefinitely and applies only to certain Mexico-domiciled carriers; § 390.19T is the operative text and carries the identical schedule.

49 CFR part 360 — Fees for motor carrier registration and insurance (§ 360.3(f) and the operative § 360.3T(f)). Retrieved 2026-08-28 from the eCFR API, same snapshot.

91 FR 23144 — "Availability of Motus, FMCSA's New Registration System," published 2026-04-29, retrieved 2026-08-28 from federalregister.gov.

FMCSA Company Census File (az4n-8mr2), data.transportation.gov, updated daily. Powers the filing dates in the checker and the counts above.

Carrier authority & insurance lookup — the full census and Motus insurance record for a USDOT or MC number.

UCR 2026 fee calculator — the other annual filing carriers routinely overpay for.

Carrier data by state — active registrations, authority, fleet mix, and MCS-150 currency for every state.