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Start and run a trucking company in Indiana

Indiana runs almost every motor carrier program through one office. The Department of Revenue's Motor Carrier Services division owns intrastate authority, oversize and overweight permits, fuel tax, apportioned plates and commercial base plate registration. Only the commercial driver license sits elsewhere, at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Every figure below comes from an Indiana agency page, form, rule or statute.

By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Aug 9, 2026

The short answer

State authority
Required
State filing fee
Not confirmed

The Form IOA-1 intrastate registration itself carries no fee: none is stated on the Department of Revenue checklist, none appears on the form or in its instructions, and IC 8-2.1-24, the chapter governing intrastate property-carrier certification, sets no fee. The money is in the passenger and household goods regime, where IC 8-2.1-22-40(b) fixes a $100 filing fee for an application for a certificate to operate motor vehicles intrastate and the Department of Revenue describes the same amount as a $100 non-refundable application fee. The full statutory fee list is in the fee schedule.

Issued by Indiana Department of Revenue, Motor Carrier Services

Credential Intrastate Operating Authority (Form IOA-1 registration), plus a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for carriers of passengers or household goods

Every figure above is a sourced agency fact, checked Aug 9, 2026.How we verify

Everything Indiana requires, in order

Each step is its own page, with the Indiana figures read from the agency that publishes them.

First, the federal side

Identical in every state, and not part of the Indiana sequence below: get your own authority, USDOT number, Form 2290, and what it all costs.

Before you file

  1. Start a trucking companyFederal steps plus this state, in order
  2. DOT numberState USDOT triggers and carrier numbers
  3. CDLLicense fees, testing, endorsements

State credentials

  1. Intrastate authorityState operating authority: rule, agency, fee
  2. Insurance requirementsState liability minimums and insurer filings

Plates, fuel tax and trip permits

  1. IRP registrationApportioned plates and cab cards
  2. IFTAFuel tax license, decals, filing
  3. Trip and fuel permitsTemporary IRP and IFTA permits

Permits and state taxes

  1. Trucking permitsEvery state permit a carrier may need
  2. Oversize permitsLegal limits, permit fees, escorts

How Indiana organizes trucking compliance

One agency, one login, most of the work. Motor Carrier Services issues the intrastate operating authority acknowledgment, sells oversize and overweight permits, licenses carriers for fuel tax, registers apportioned fleets and now handles commercial base plate registration that used to sit with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles keeps the driver side. It issues the commercial learner permit and the commercial driver license, sets the fee chart for both, and publishes the list of authorized skills examination sites.

Expect three online surfaces rather than one. Motor Carrier Services runs a transaction system for registration and authority, a separate Fuel Tax System for quarterly returns and renewals, and an oversize permitting system that wants Google Chrome with a single tab open.

What you will find here

The intrastate authority page owns the two-regime answer: which carriers file the operating authority form, which ones need a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity first, what the filing fees are and how the November renewal cycle works.

The permits pages cover legal size and weight limits, the single-trip and annual permit menu, escorts, curfews and the superload review. The fuel tax page covers both Indiana licenses, because a carrier that never leaves the state uses a different one from a carrier that does. The apportioned registration page covers the plate, the cab card and the mileage reporting year.

Every figure on those pages is a data field tied to the agency page, form, administrative rule or Indiana Code section it was read from. Where Indiana publishes nothing, we say so plainly instead of guessing.

Indiana filing walkthroughs

Step-by-step articles for the recurring Indiana filings, written against the same sourced records as the pages above.

Free calculators that cover Indiana

Frequently asked questions

Does Indiana require its own operating authority?

Yes, and it comes in two shapes. Every carrier operating only inside Indiana files State Form IOA-1 with the Department of Revenue to obtain or renew its intrastate credential. A carrier hauling passengers or household goods for hire also needs a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity before it moves anything.

Which agencies handle trucking compliance in Indiana?

The Department of Revenue's Motor Carrier Services division handles intrastate authority, oversize and overweight permits, fuel tax, apportioned registration and commercial base plate registration. The Bureau of Motor Vehicles issues the commercial driver license. The Indiana State Police arrange superload escorts and write the vehicle examination reports that trigger civil penalties.

Do I need a USDOT number before the Indiana paperwork?

Not as a precondition. Form IOA-1 is itself how an Indiana intrastate carrier obtains or renews a USDOT number, and the smallest intrastate for-hire property carriers receive an Indiana ID Number instead. Interstate carriers take the federal route, filing Form MCS-150 and registering through the Unified Carrier Registration system.

Where do the numbers on these Indiana pages come from?

Each fee, limit and deadline is a data field tied to the agency page, form, administrative rule or Indiana Code section it was read from, with a source marker you can open. Anything Indiana leaves unpublished is labeled as unconfirmed rather than guessed at.

Sources for this page

The official pages behind the figures above. Fees and rules change, so check the source before you file.

  1. UCR USDOT Numbers and Indiana Operating Authority Checklist · Indiana Department of Revenue, Motor Carrier Services

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.