By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Jul 25, 2026
Georgia sells both temporary credentials through the same Department of Revenue system, the Trip Permit application on the Georgia Trucking Portal. One stands in for apportioned registration and one stands in for the IFTA license. Both are bought before the truck reaches the state line, and the trip permit has a catch most states do not: Georgia sells it only to out-of-state carriers.
The trip permit (registration side)
This credential answers for registration. Without it, a vehicle whose cab card does not list Georgia has no legal registration standing in the state.
- Fee
- $30 (Sold online through the Trip Permit application on the Georgia Trucking Portal. The permit covers both interstate and intrastate operation while it is in force.)
- Who needs it
- Out-of-state based vehicles that meet the requirements for apportionment and either carry a current non-apportioned tag or carry an IRP tag not apportioned for Georgia. The permit is secured before entry into Georgia and stays with the vehicle the whole time it is in the state; a duplicate or a photocopy is not accepted. Georgia does not sell trip permits to Georgia-based carriers, so a Georgia fleet that is not apportioned for another IRP jurisdiction buys that permit from the other jurisdiction or from a wire service.
- Caught without one
- A vehicle that has not been apportioned for a given IRP jurisdiction and travels there without that jurisdiction's trip permit may be charged full registration fees in that state, or fined, or both. Georgia states the rule for its own carriers going elsewhere; the same exposure runs in reverse for a carrier entering Georgia unpermitted.
- Statute
- The Department of Revenue publishes the trip permit rule in its Georgia Trucking Portal guidance rather than as a numbered rule. Subject 560-10-31 (Commercial Vehicles) and the rest of Chapter 560-10 at the Georgia Secretary of State rules site carry no apportioned-registration or trip-permit rule, and the O.C.G.A. is published only through a JavaScript-driven LexisNexis portal linked from legis.ga.gov, so no citation is asserted here.
The fuel permit (tax side)
This credential answers for the state's highway or fuel tax when there is no IFTA license (or, in the weight-distance states, no tax account) behind the truck.
- Fee
- $16 (Available online through the Trip Permit application. Bought instead through a permitting service, the same permit costs the same amount plus that service's processing charge.)
- Who needs it
- One permit is issued for each unregistered motor vehicle entering Georgia. A vehicle already IFTA registered in any jurisdiction needs no temporary permit, even when Georgia was not listed on the IFTA registration as a state normally traveled. A carrier waiting on its Georgia IFTA credentials buys the permit before reentering the state. The permit is carried in the vehicle it was issued to for the whole 10 days, and no fuel use tax report is filed for it.
- Where to buy
- Online through the Trip Permit application on the Georgia Trucking Portal; Through a permitting service or professional preparer, which adds its own processing fee
- Caught without one
- The Department of Revenue states that operating a qualified vehicle that should be registered, without carrying an IFTA license and decals or a 10-day permit, exposes the operator to a penalty of at least $145.00 per incident. The Department attributes the registration requirement to OCGA 48-9-38 and the penalty to OCGA 48-9-45; those section catchlines could not be read at an official current Georgia code source during this pass, so both are recorded as agency-cited references.
Worth knowing
Georgia sells a third temporary credential from the same application that most states do not offer: the Unladen Vehicle Registration Hunter Permit, $30.00 for seven days, which lets a Georgia-based owner-operator move an empty truck around while looking for work after a lease with a carrier ends. Georgia honors another state's valid hunter permit and other states honor Georgia's. In an emergency the Commissioner may also authorize a vehicle to operate without an annual license or a temporary permit, by mail or fax, for no more than 30 days, with the letter carried in the vehicle.
Where these fit in the Georgia permit stack
Temporary permits are the exception path. The standing credentials they replace are IRP apportioned registration and the Georgia IFTA license. Oversize loads use a different permit family entirely, covered in Georgia oversize and overweight permits, and the full picture of every state permit lives in Georgia trucking permits.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a trip permit or a fuel permit for Georgia?
- Usually both, and they are separate purchases. The trip permit stands in for apportioned (IRP) registration and the fuel permit stands in for the IFTA license. If your cab card lists Georgia and your IFTA decals are current, you need neither; the tables on this page carry each permit's terms with the official source.
When does buying temporary permits stop making sense?
- Temporary permits price a single trip. A carrier running Georgia lanes on a regular schedule comes out ahead adding the state to its IRP cab card and holding an IFTA license, because permit fees repeat on every trip while the annual credentials do not.
Can I buy these permits after entering the state?
- No. Each credential on this page must be in place before the vehicle operates on Georgia highways, and enforcement happens at roadside inspections and weigh stations. Buying from the state's own channel before the trip is the cheapest clean path.
Are permit-service prices the state fee?
- No. Wire services and permit companies resell state permits with a service markup. The fees on this page are what Georgia itself charges on its primary pages; anything above that is the middleman's fee, not the state's.
Haul Handbook publishes educational information about trucking registration and compliance requirements. This is not legal, financial, or tax advice. Rules, fees, and deadlines change; confirm with the agency before you file or pay.