The call comes in December. A client with one truck and his own authority is selling the truck and wants the company closed by Jan. 1.
Behind that request sit eight accounts: operating authority, USDOT number, fuel tax license, apportioned plates, federal heavy highway vehicle use tax, Unified Carrier Registration, a state weight-distance tax and the IRS account. Canceling one trucking license does not automatically cancel all the others; each account closes under its own rules, on its own schedule.
Kentucky’s Division of Motor Carriers puts it plainly: “Cancellation of a single license/Permit … will not automatically cancel all related license/Permit you hold.” A carrier that does not notify the division faces a delinquency fee.
State examples come from Kentucky, New York, New Jersey and Oregon; other states use their own forms. The last returns land on your desk.
Two federal filings, two insurance clocks
Two filings with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, or FMCSA, end the federal registration. On paper, Form OCE-46, notarized or signed in front of FMCSA staff, requests voluntary revocation of the operating authority, and an MCS-150 marked “Out of Business Notification” inactivates the USDOT number. Motus, FMCSA’s online registration system, takes both requests.
A USDOT number “may not be sold, transferred, rented, or leased,” so the buyer of a sole proprietor’s business needs its own.
Once authority is granted, FMCSA requires proof of insurance and the process agent designation, Form BOC-3, to stay on file “to avoid revocation proceedings.” If the insurance filing lapses first, FMCSA revokes the authority itself. FMCSA’s Oct. 23, 2026, Federal Register notice says both revocations have the same effect.
The insurer’s filing cannot be canceled until 30 days after FMCSA actually receives the notice of cancellation, Form BMC-35 (49 CFR 387.313T(d)). Canceling the policy itself takes 35 days’ written notice from the insurer or the carrier, counted from the day the notice is transmitted (49 CFR 387.7(b)(1)). Keep proof of transmission.
Fuel tax ends with a return, plates go back
A December shutdown still leaves one return under the International Fuel Tax Agreement, or IFTA: the fourth quarter of 2026, due Feb. 1, 2027. On request, the base state may cancel the license if the carrier has complied with the agreement, including paying all fuel tax for the license period; on cancellation, the license, copies and decals are to be destroyed (IFTA Articles of Agreement R410.100). Kentucky instead wants unused decals mailed back.
In New York, a carrier that will not renew its International Registration Plan, or IRP, registration sends the apportioned plates and cab card with Form IRP-6 marked “DELETE VEHICLE.”
Form 2290 has a Final Return box
With no vehicles left to report, the client files a final Form 2290:
“Check the Final Return box on Form 2290, sign the return, and mail it to the IRS.”
For a truck sold before June 1 and not used again in the period, the tax for the unused months can be claimed as a credit on the next Form 2290. The credit cannot exceed the tax on line 4, so a client with no trucks left claims a refund on Schedule 6 (Form 8849).
Say the client paid the full $550 on an 80,000-pound tractor for the period that began July 1, 2026, and sold it in December. Counting the month of sale, that is six months of use. The partial-period tax for six months is $275, so the Schedule 6 claim is $275 of the $550. The claim needs the buyer’s name and address, best collected at the sale.
State road taxes and the truck sale
New York’s highway use tax, or HUT, closes with a Form MT-903 marked final, the HUT certificate (Form TMT-7, plus TMT-7.1 for automotive fuel carriers) and decals mailed to the HUT Registration Unit, open bills paid and missing returns filed. “Filing a return does not cancel delinquencies or bills,” the instructions add. The return for the period ending Dec. 31, 2026, is due Feb. 1, 2027. A sold truck’s HUT decal goes back within five days of the sale.
New York’s DMV will not renew the registration of a truck that was subject to the HUT, or transfer its registered ownership, without a Certificate of Tax Clearance, Form MT-370.1 or MT-370.2. The Tax Department issues one only after the HUT balance is paid.
Kentucky closes a weight-distance tax account in good standing when the last return is filed with “Ceased Operations” marked and nothing is delinquent. In Oregon, “a vehicle is enrolled until the motor carrier cancels the vehicle’s enrollment.”
Unified Carrier Registration and the 2027 fee
To cancel Unified Carrier Registration, or UCR, Kentucky requires nothing beyond an inactive USDOT number. If 2027 is already paid, a refund request goes into the National Registration System no later than 60 days after the registration was paid and validated, subject to base-state and UCR Board approval. Under the auto-renew policy, a renewal the client confirmed is not refunded “unless proven otherwise.”
The IRS account and the entity
The IRS says it cannot cancel an EIN, only deactivate it. A letter with the legal name, EIN, address and reason, plus the EIN assignment notice if kept, asks the IRS to close the business account, which happens only after every return is filed and every tax is paid.
If the company ran payroll, the last Form 941 or 944 needs the closing box checked (line 17, or line 14 on Form 944), the date wages were last paid and a statement naming who keeps the payroll records and where.
A corporation, S corporations included, files Form 966 within 30 days after adopting the resolution or plan to dissolve and marks its last Form 1120 or 1120-S final. A sole proprietor files a final Schedule C; the truck sale goes on Form 4797 whatever the entity.
In New Jersey, a corporation that stops doing business files corporation business tax returns and owes the minimum tax every year until it legally dissolves through the Division of Revenue: with New Jersey gross receipts under $100,000, $500 for a C corporation and
$375 for an S corporation. An officer or director who distributes assets to shareholders before those taxes are paid is personally liable for them (N.J.S.A. 14A:6-12, 54:50-18).
The closing checklist
1. Authority: Form OCE-46.
2. USDOT number: MCS-150, out of business.
3. IFTA: the last return, then cancellation.
4. IRP: plates and cab card returned.
5. Form 2290: final return, Schedule 6 claim.
6. UCR: if 2027 is paid, a refund request within 60 days of payment.
7. State road taxes: final returns; New York tax clearance before the sale.
8. IRS: final returns, then the closing letter.
What to keep after the last return
Carrier records under 49 CFR Part 379 may be destroyed “after business is discontinued and the company is completely liquidated,” but not “until dissolution is final and all pending transactions and claims are completed” (49 CFR 379.9); other agencies’ longer periods still apply (49 CFR 379.3). IFTA records stay at least four years (IFTA Procedures Manual P510); Form 2290 records, at least three years; employment tax records, at least four.
The last returns come due in 2027. The records stay for years.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dmitry Borovoy founded TruckerNavi, an FMCSA compliance service for new motor carriers, and places first policies as a New Jersey-licensed property and casualty insurance producer with SafeBridge Insurance. He is the author of “Safety Manager: From Zero to Expert.” His Aug. 31 data column on FMCSA pending authority ran in Commercial Carrier Journal.
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