Guides· Filings & deadlines

The MCS-150 due-date decoder: your DOT number already tells you the deadline.

Updated July 13, 2026 · 6 min read

Every carrier has to re-confirm their company information with the FMCSA every two years. It's called the biennial update (the form behind it is the MCS-150), and here's the part almost nobody tells you: your deadline is encoded in the last two digits of your USDOT number.No letter, no lookup service, no guessing. Ten seconds and you'll know your month and year.

The other thing almost nobody tells you: filing it is completely free at the FMCSA. Those letters offering to handle your “required DOT update” for $100–150 are charging you to fill in a web form the government gives you for nothing.

Step 1: The last digit is your month

Look at the final digit of your USDOT number. That's the month your update is due, counted in order — with one quirk: zero means October, because the FMCSA doesn't schedule updates in November or December.

The deadline is the last day of that month, not the first.

Step 2: The next-to-last digit is your year

Now look at the second-to-last digit. If it's odd (1, 3, 5, 7, 9), you file in odd-numbered years. If it's even (0, 2, 4, 6, 8), you file in even-numbered years. That's the whole rule.

Worked example: USDOT number 4 1 2 3 7 6 8. Last digit 8 → August. Next-to-last digit 6 → even years. So the update is due by August 31 of 2026, 2028, 2030, and so on.

One more example with the quirk: USDOT ending in …5 0. Last digit 0 → October. Next-to-last digit 5 → odd years. Due by October 31 of every odd-numbered year.

You file even if nothing changed

This is the rule that catches people. The biennial update is due on your schedule whether or not anything about your operation changed— same trucks, same address, same everything, you still file. It also applies if you've stopped operating: the FMCSA wants to hear that too, so they can mark your record accordingly instead of chasing a carrier that no longer exists.

And if something big does change between updates — your address, your legal name, the size of your operation — you don't wait for your biennial month. You can update your record any time, as many times as you need.

Cost: free, every time. There is no government fee for the biennial update or for any other MCS-150 change, ever.

How to actually file it (2026: it's in Motus now)

As of May 14, 2026, the FMCSA retired its old registration tools and moved everything — including the biennial update — into a new system called Motus. You sign in with a Login.gov account, open the Registration tab, choose Biennial Update (MCS-150), confirm or correct your company information, and submit. Most updates show up in the FMCSA's public systems within a few business days.

If you haven't touched FMCSA's systems since the switch, the login part is honestly the hardest step — we wrote a separate plain-English walkthrough: Motus: FMCSA's new registration system, explained.

What happens if you miss it

Straight from the FMCSA's own rules: a carrier that doesn't file can have its USDOT number deactivated, and federal law allows civil penalties of up to $1,000 per day, capped at $10,000. In practice, the deactivation is what actually bites — a deactivated number means you're not authorized to operate until you fix it, and brokers and shippers check.

The fix is the same as the filing: submit the update. If you catch it late, file it late — the path back is the same free form. This isn't a trap designed to hurt you; it's a census question the FMCSA needs answered every two years. Put your month in your calendar twice (a reminder two weeks out, one on the deadline) and it's a ten-minute task every other year.

About the letters offering to file it for you

Because biennial-update due dates are public information (they're derivable from every USDOT number, as you now know), compliance-services companies mass-mail carriers in their due month with urgent-looking “final notice” letters and $100–150 fees. The service they're selling is typing your information into the free government form. Some are legitimate businesses with unfortunate marketing; some are outright scams. Either way, you don't need them — and we've got a whole guide on telling real FMCSA mail from the lookalikes.

EntrantReady is an independent compliance-readiness service, not affiliated with the FMCSA or any government agency. Anything the government provides for free, we tell you it's free — the biennial update is free at fmcsa.dot.gov. Penalty figures are from FMCSA's published guidance (49 U.S.C. 521(b)(2)(B) and 14901(a); 49 CFR 390.201). This guide is general information, not legal advice — requirements can vary by state and operation type.