Trucking compliance in Tennessee

A carrier whose principal place of business is in Tennessee registers UCR with Tennessee as its base state. For IFTA, Tennessee taxes special diesel at $0.2700 a gallon in 4Q2026, in the middle half of listed rates, number 33 of 46 US jurisdictions shown here.

UCR fee calculator IFTA calculator

1Diesel tax 4Q2026 $0.2700
2UCR base state TN
3UCR 2027, 0–2 trucks $55
4Form 2290 at 80,000 lb $550

TN special-diesel rate against the 4Q2026 median, lowest and highest of 46 US IFTA jurisdictions shown here, bars to scale.

UCR

Participates

IFTA diesel, 4Q2026

$0.2700

UCR 2027, 0–2 / 3–5 / 6–20

$55 / $167 / $333

HVUT, 55,000 lb / over 75,000

$100 / $550

UCR in Tennessee

Tennessee participates in the Unified Carrier Registration Agreement, which makes it the base state for any interstate carrier, broker, freight forwarder or leasing company whose principal place of business is here. You register once a year, through the national UCR system, and the fee is the same six-bracket federal schedule used everywhere: $55 for 0–2 vehicles, $167 for 3–5 and $333 for 6–20 in the 2027 registration year, rising to $54,165 above 1,000. The fee is set by federal rule (49 CFR 367), so it is the same whichever state you register through; what Tennessee adds is enforcement — roadside officers in a participating state can check UCR status during an inspection.

Tennessee also serves as a base state for carriers from non-participating jurisdictions — specifically, a carrier based in Florida that has no office in a participating state may choose Tennessee.

IFTA fuel tax in Tennessee

Under the International Fuel Tax Agreement you owe Tennessee fuel tax on every gallon you burn inside the state, worked out from your miles here and your fleet's average miles per gallon, and you get credit for tax paid on fuel you bought here. Tennessee reported a special-diesel rate of $0.2700 per gallon for 4Q2026.

That puts Tennessee at number 33 of 46 US IFTA jurisdictions shown here, 14 percent below the median of $0.3150. At a mid-table rate, fuel-stop decisions in Tennessee matter less than pump price; the return will roughly net out as long as purchases track miles. The closest rates to Tennessee's are Nevada ($0.2700), Arizona ($0.2600), Kansas ($0.2600).

A worked example

Run 1,000 miles in Tennessee at 6.5 mpg and you burned 153.8 gallons here, which at $0.2700 is $41.53 of Tennessee tax. If you bought 153.8 gallons in Tennessee on that trip you have already paid $41.53 at the pump and owe nothing more; if you bought none, the whole $41.53 is due on the return. The IFTA calculator does this for every state on a trip.

Federal filings that apply in Tennessee as everywhere

Heavy Vehicle Use Tax, IRS Form 2290: $100 a year for a 55,000 lb vehicle, $550 for anything over 75,000 lb, logging vehicles at 75 percent; due the last day of the month after first use.
Operating authority: $300 per authority type under 49 CFR 360.3T, a USDOT number at no charge, $10 per insurance filing.
Medical certificate: the 49 CFR 391.41 standards (20/40 vision, 70-degree field, forced whisper at 5 feet), renewed every 24 months, or 12 for some conditions.
Carrier lookup: check any USDOT or MC number in FMCSA's SAFER system before you lease on or hire.

Not on this page yet

Tennessee's IRP apportioned-plate fees, intrastate operating-authority rules, size and weight limits and state DOT contacts are not published here, because they were not available from a source this site could cite on 2026-10-23. They are listed as gaps in the methodology and will be added when they can be sourced.

Sources: UCR Plan — FAQ; IFTA, Inc. tax rate matrix 4Q2026 (updated 2026-10-21; not final until 2026-12-04); FMCSA final rule, 49 CFR 367.50 (FR Doc. 2026-17893, Docket FMCSA-2025-0655); IRS Form 2290 (Rev. July 2026), Tax Computation. Checked 2026-10-23.