About Haul Handbook

Haul Handbook exists to answer a question that is surprisingly hard to research: what does it actually take to start and run a trucking company in your state? The federal steps live at FMCSA, the state steps are scattered across DOT, DMV, and revenue department sites, and most of what ranks in search is written by companies selling a filing service. The rules read differently when the writer wants your credit card.

We put the free, neutral version in one place: the federal spine, from getting your own authority to the annual UCR filing, plus per-state facts like intrastate authority requirements and the quarterly IFTA fuel tax rates, with a source and a verification date on every fact.

Who is behind this site

Evan Reid

Founder, Haul Handbook

Evan Reid is the founder of Haul Handbook. His role is research and sourcing: he compiles and maintains the site's state and federal trucking compliance data from primary sources, meaning federal regulations and official state agency publications, and cites each fact to the agency it comes from. He is not an attorney or a financial advisor, and Haul Handbook does not provide legal or financial advice; the authority on this site comes from the cited sources, not from him.

Email Evan · How we source every fact

This is a deliberately small, independent project, not a permit service or a filing agency. One person compiling public agency data in the open, with a source on every fact, is the whole model. If you spot an error, the fastest way to get it fixed is to email it.

What makes this site different

• Sourced. Every legal and financial fact links to the agency that owns it, a federal regulation, a state statute, or an official agency page, with the date we last verified it. The full standard is on the methodology page.
• Neutral. We do not file anything for you and we do not sell a course. We describe the public process plainly and let you decide who, if anyone, to pay.
• Current. Fuel tax rates change every quarter, and stale rates are the most common failure of trucking content. We re-verify the IFTA matrix on a fixed cadence, and an automated check blocks publishing when a rate table is out of date.

How we make money

The site is free. Some outbound links to commercial services, such as business formation or financing, may become affiliate links, and we may earn a commission if you sign up through them, at no extra cost to you. That never changes a fee, a rate, or a requirement on any page. See the affiliate disclosure and the editorial process for the details.

A necessary caveat

Haul Handbook publishes educational information, not legal, financial, or tax advice. Filing mistakes cost real money, and rules change. Always confirm the current requirement with the issuing agency before you file or pay, and read the full disclaimer.

Contact

Found an error, or want to suggest a state or topic? Email [email protected] or use the contact page. Corrections are welcome and we act on them quickly. We also publish an accessibility statement.