Post-grant operations
Your first 30 days with new authority
The grant letter is a starting gun, not a finish line. In your first month you confirm the authority is active, register for UCR, stand up drug and alcohol testing, get IRP plates and an IFTA license, put Form 2290 on the calendar, and start building the records the new entrant audit will read. Here is the order.
By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 7, 2026
The checklist at a glance
Every step below is unpacked further down the page, with a source on each deadline and rule. If your grant has not landed yet, see how long authority takes for what happens between filing and the grant.
- Confirm your authority is actually active. FMCSA grants authority by issuing a certificate, permit, or license. An assigned docket number alone does not establish an effective grant. Confirm the authority has been issued and remains active before hauling under it. Review registration actions and current filings in Motus. FMCSA also publishes authority records and daily decisions through its registration pages. If the agency’s records disagree, contact FMCSA before relying on the status.
- Register for UCR. Every entity subject to UCR must register annually with its base state and pay the annual fee to that state. The fee bracket table covers motor carriers, freight forwarders, brokers, and leasing companies. UCR registration must be completed and the fee paid before January 1 of the registration year. After that date the fee is still due and a non-registrant may be subject to state enforcement action.
- Set up drug and alcohol testing and the Clearinghouse. All employers of CDL drivers must register in the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse and purchase a query plan; query plans are sold only by the FMCSA Clearinghouse. Consortia and third party administrators (C/TPAs) cannot purchase queries on an employer's behalf. Working with a C/TPA to manage the drug and alcohol testing program is required for all owner-operators (employers who employ themselves as CDL drivers, typically single-driver operations).
- Get IRP plates and an IFTA license through your base state. Apportioned plates and the fuel tax license both come from your base state, and both need to be in place before you run interstate lanes. Processing times vary by state, so start these applications early in the month.
- Install a compliant ELD and start clean logs. Put a compliant electronic logging device in the truck before the first dispatched load and keep hours of service records from the very first trip, because those records feed the new entrant audit.
- Put Form 2290 on the calendar. The federal Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) is reported on IRS Form 2290 for highway motor vehicles with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more. File by the last day of the month following the month of first use on a public highway. For vehicles first used in July, file between July 1 and August 31.
- Build the file the new entrant audit will read. FMCSA conducts a safety audit within 12 months after the New Entrant begins operations, generally at the principal place of business, and monitors safety performance through roadside inspections. Permanent authority is granted if the carrier operates safely. Every record you create this month is evidence for it.
- Line up loads and cash flow. Set up your load sources and decide how you will cover fuel and payroll while broker invoices pay out, whether that is savings, quick pay, or factoring.
Day one: make sure you are allowed to move
FMCSA grants authority by issuing a certificate, permit, or license. An assigned docket number alone does not establish an effective grant. Confirm the authority has been issued and remains active before hauling under it.
Review registration actions and current filings in Motus. FMCSA also publishes authority records and daily decisions through its registration pages. If the agency’s records disagree, contact FMCSA before relying on the status. That same public record is what every broker's carrier setup system reads, so checking it yourself first costs nothing and prevents surprises. What brokers check when they pull your MC walks that record flag by flag, and brokers that work with new authority lists the minimums each one publishes, so you know which setup desks to call in week one and which to leave for month three.
Week one: UCR and the testing program
Two registrations come due almost immediately, and both are on the automatic checklists roadside inspectors and auditors work from.
- UCR: Every entity subject to UCR must register annually with its base state and pay the annual fee to that state. The fee bracket table covers motor carriers, freight forwarders, brokers, and leasing companies. UCR registration must be completed and the fee paid before January 1 of the registration year. After that date the fee is still due and a non-registrant may be subject to state enforcement action. The walkthrough lives in the UCR registration guide, and the current bracket amounts are on the UCR fees table.
- Drug and alcohol testing: All employers of CDL drivers must register in the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse and purchase a query plan; query plans are sold only by the FMCSA Clearinghouse. Consortia and third party administrators (C/TPAs) cannot purchase queries on an employer's behalf. Working with a C/TPA to manage the drug and alcohol testing program is required for all owner-operators (employers who employ themselves as CDL drivers, typically single-driver operations). The Clearinghouse guide covers registration, queries, and what owner-operators do differently.
Weeks one and two: plates, fuel tax, and the ELD
Interstate lanes need two state-issued credentials: IRP apportioned plates and an IFTA fuel tax license, both issued by your base state. Neither is instant, and both sit in line behind whatever backlog your state agency is running, so file early. Start with IRP registration by state and IFTA rates by state for your base state's agency and process.
Before the first dispatched load, install a compliant ELD and start keeping hours of service records from the first trip. The ELD mandate guide walks who must comply and every exemption, and the device itself must appear on FMCSA's registered ELD list. Clean logs from day one matter because the new entrant audit reads them.
If a broker, shipper, or border filing asks for a SCAC in these first weeks, that code comes from a private body, not FMCSA; what it is and who actually needs one is in the SCAC code guide.
The tax clock: Form 2290
The federal Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) is reported on IRS Form 2290 for highway motor vehicles with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more. File by the last day of the month following the month of first use on a public highway. For vehicles first used in July, file between July 1 and August 31.
Putting a truck on the road starts that clock, which is why this belongs on the first-month calendar and not the someday list. The Form 2290 guide covers the tax scale, the stamped Schedule 1, and why IRP offices ask for it.
The whole month: build the file the audit will read
FMCSA conducts a safety audit within 12 months after the New Entrant begins operations, generally at the principal place of business, and monitors safety performance through roadside inspections. Permanent authority is granted if the carrier operates safely. The monitoring window runs 18 months, but the records that decide it are the ones you create now: testing program enrollment, insurance on file, driver qualification files, inspection reports, and logs. The new entrant audit guide lists the violations that fail it automatically. One more email to keep current: the address on your MCS-150 is where a broker's FreightGuard report notice would arrive, and the response window is short.
Cash flow: loads in, money in
Compliance keeps you legal; freight keeps you solvent. Once the paperwork above is moving, the search for revenue starts, and it has its own quirks for a fresh MC number. Start with find your first loads for the load boards and brokers a fresh authority can use. Because brokers pay on invoice terms, many new carriers also look at factoring to get paid before 30-day terms catch up with the fuel card.
Set up the records for each trip
Use the DOT and authority lookup guide to read your published carrier record and status. An inspection entry is not a formal safety rating.
Keep inspection and maintenance records organized by vehicle. Before the load leaves, review cargo securement and open a freight paperwork folder from booking through payment.