August 27, 2018
The Biennial Update: When to Update Your MCS-150
If you already have your operating authority, your trucking company is good to go, right? Not quite. If you’ve been in the trucking industry for a while as an owner operator or the owner of your own company and you have a USDOT number, you are required by the FMCSA to participate in the biennial update. Here’s a brief overview of what the biennial update is and why it’s important.
What Is the Biennial Update?
The biennial update is a requirement set by the FMCSA to update your MCS-150 Form (also called the Motor Carrier Identification Report) every two years, keep in mind some states actually require you to update it every year as part of renewing your truck/fleet registration. You are required to update the form even if no business information has changed.
What Happens If You Don’t Update Your MCS-150?
If you don’t update your MCS-150 form, your USDOT number will be deactivated and you could be faced with a $1,000 fee per day up to $10,000. Note: You will be charged this fee even if none of your business information has changed within the past two years. It is rare to see such a hefty fine, but the FMCSA commonly deactivates USDOT numbers that do not do the update, which can cause you to be placed out of service, forcing your trucks to be parked.
When Is the MCS-150 Submission Deadline?
The deadline to submit your updated MCS-150 varies based on the last two digits of your USDOT Number. The year you are required to update the form is based on the second to last number of your USDOT number.
- If the number is odd: You file your biennial update every odd-numbered year.
- If the number is even: You file your biennial update every even-numbered year.
The month you have to file your MCS-150 is determined by the last number of your USDOT number. You can figure out when to update your form based on the table below:
| USDOT Number Ending In | Deadline to Update MCS-150 Form | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | January | |
| 2 | February | |
| 3 | March | |
| 4 | April | |
| 5 | May | |
| 6 | June | |
| 7 | July | |
| 8 | August | |
| 9 | September | |
| 0 | October |
How Do You Update Your MCS-150?
Don’t get fined or have your trucks get stopped for not updating your MCS-150 Form! The easiest way to do the update is to let Motor Carrier HQ take the stress out of it by letting us take care of it for you. Give us a call today at 866-739-2032 to see how we can help your company stay compliant with the FMCSA.
Once we’ve completed the form, we’ll provide you a copy of the form for your records.