By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Aug 5, 2026
The launch sequence
Federal first, then Louisiana. The federal side is identical in every state and is covered in depth by how to get your own authority; the state facts below come from our sourced Louisiana data.
- Settle the federal registration first. Get your USDOT number, and federal operating authority plus insurance filings if you will haul for hire across state lines. Louisiana does not force an intrastate-only carrier onto a USDOT number, but apportioned plates will demand one.
- Check whether the Commission reaches you at all. Only household goods, waste, saltwater serving oil well work, passengers and non-consensual towing need a Public Service Commission certificate. General freight needs none, and that answer decides whether the rest of the Commission steps apply to you.
- Register the trucks with the Office of Motor Vehicles. An intrastate-only truck takes regular commercial plates priced by gross weight and license class. Pick the class carefully, because the same truck is priced very differently across the general freight, forest products, gravel, city use and farm classes.
- Open an apportioned account if you cross state lines. Apportioned plates run through LA Trucks Online and the new account checklist is long: the federal heavy vehicle use tax receipt, paid Unified Carrier Registration, insurance at the tier your weight sits in, and verification of your USDOT number and active authority.
- License for IFTA with the Department of Revenue. If your qualified vehicles run in Louisiana and at least one other member jurisdiction, file the application through LaTAP or on paper, order two decals per vehicle, and put the quarterly return dates in the calendar before the first one arrives.
- Set up a LaGeaux account before your first over-limit load. Oversize and overweight permits, routing and the annual permits all live in LaGeaux, and the Truck Permit Office wants a certificate of insurance on file before it issues anything. Weigh stations do not sell permits.
- Calendar the recurring dates. IFTA returns land the last day of the month after each quarter, apportioned registration renews twelve months after the account opened, and IFTA decals have a grace window that closes at the end of February.
The order that works in Louisiana
Federal first. Get the USDOT number, and if you will haul for hire across state lines, the federal operating authority and insurance filings that go with it. Louisiana does not force an intrastate-only carrier onto a USDOT number, so this step is about the federal rules and about what apportioned registration will ask for later.
Then plates. A truck that stays inside Louisiana registers through the Office of Motor Vehicles on the regular commercial channel, priced by gross weight and license class. A truck that crosses state lines takes apportioned plates through LA Trucks Online instead, and the office wants proof of a USDOT number, active authority, paid Unified Carrier Registration, insurance and a stamped federal heavy vehicle use tax receipt before it issues anything.
Then fuel tax. If your qualified vehicles run in Louisiana and at least one other member jurisdiction, license for IFTA with the Department of Revenue and file one return each quarter. Permits come last, and only if your loads run over the legal limits.
Where Louisiana differs from other states
The missing certificate is the headline. Louisiana deregulated general freight by definition rather than by exemption: the statute that defines a common carrier by motor vehicle names household goods, passengers and waste, and adds tow trucks. Certificates issued before the mid-nineties and caught by federal preemption were declared null and void with no continuing value. A general freight carrier holds nothing from the Commission and pays it nothing.
The compensating oddity sits in permits. Louisiana publishes every weight and height limit twice, once for Interstate highways and once for everything else, and it prices an overweight trip permit from a matrix of distance bands crossed with weight bands, across three schedules chosen by axle count. A carrier that plans routes on Interstate numbers alone will get the wrong answer on a state highway.
What comes back every year
Three calendars matter. IFTA returns are quarterly, due the last day of the month after each quarter closes, and a return is required even in a quarter with no travel and no fuel purchases. Apportioned registration renews on a staggered date twelve months after you opened the account, and the renewal packet carries a federal MCS-150 to update and return.
The fourth calendar only reaches carriers the Commission certificates. Those five classes renew a per-vehicle intrastate identification stamp each year, file annual reports with the Transportation Division, and owe a quarterly inspection and supervision fee on their gross receipts, collected by the Department of Revenue on a payment schedule that runs a quarter behind. A general freight carrier owes none of it.
The Louisiana facts you will need
- State filing fee
- $0 (A Louisiana general freight carrier pays the state nothing for operating authority, because the state issues none. The regulated classes pay a $200.00 non-refundable common carrier application filing fee, or $150.00 for a passenger contract carrier permit, plus $10.00 per vehicle per year for the intrastate identification stamp under La. R.S. 45:169. La. R.S. 45:169 itself fixes the statutory filing fee at $50.00 for a common carrier certificate or contract carrier permit and $25.00 for a permit; the Commission's own current application packets publish $200.00 and $150.00, so both figures are recorded below rather than reconciled silently. Regulated carriers also owe the quarterly inspection and supervision fee on gross receipts under La. R.S. 45:1177, which is recorded in the state rules page.)
The complete tables live on the dedicated pages: intrastate authority, IRP registration, IFTA, and trucking permits.
Budget the launch before you file
The trucking startup cost calculator builds a line-item estimate from the sourced fee data, and the cost pillar explains every line. Neither replaces a quote for your truck and insurance, which are the two biggest variables.
Common mistakes when launching in Louisiana
Paying a service for Louisiana intrastate authority you do not need
A general freight carrier holds no Public Service Commission certificate and pays no state authority fee, because the statute never reached general freight. Any quote for Louisiana intrastate authority on general commodities is a quote for nothing.
Planning a route on Interstate limits and then leaving the Interstate
Louisiana publishes legal height and every legal axle weight twice. Height drops off the Interstate and the axle allowances rise, while the gross allowance for a combination with a tridum or larger axle group moves the other way. Plan against the road you will actually run.
Pricing an overweight permit on weight alone
Louisiana prices an overweight single trip from a matrix of distance bands crossed with weight bands, so the same load costs more the further it runs inside the state. A quote that ignores mileage is a quote for the wrong band.
Trusting a permit page that quotes pre-2019 amounts
An act of the 2019 regular session raised every figure in the permit fee schedules by half, including the over-limit formulas and the three structural evaluation charges. A third-party page still showing the older numbers is quoting repealed law.
Booking an annual permit move without registering the route
Since September 2025 every new annual oversize and overweight heavy equipment permit needs a route registered and approved before each move, through LaGeaux or by phone. Routes automate when nothing is restricted, but the step is not optional.
Assuming a trip permit settles the fuel tax as well
The Louisiana trip permit answers for registration only. Fuel tax sits with the Department of Revenue, and Louisiana publishes no temporary fuel permit at all, so a non-IFTA carrier meets it through an interstate motor fuel user license and bond or by buying enough fuel in state and keeping the invoice.
Skipping a quarterly IFTA return because the truck stayed parked
Louisiana requires the return even when the licensee did not operate in any member jurisdiction or buy any taxable fuel that quarter. Filing late starts a penalty that steps up in thirty-day blocks, plus interest that cannot be waived.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need state operating authority to start a trucking company in Louisiana?
- Not for general freight. The Public Service Commission certificates household goods, waste, saltwater, passenger and non-consensual towing carriers only. Everyone else skips the certificate, the state carrier number and the authority fee, and goes straight to plates, fuel tax and permits.
What does it cost to start a trucking company in Louisiana?
- The state side is truck registration priced by gross weight and license class, an IFTA license fee plus decals if you cross state lines, and permit fees only if your loads run over the legal limits. Each amount sits on our Louisiana pages as a sourced field.
Can I skip apportioned plates if I only leave Louisiana now and then?
- Yes. Louisiana treats apportioned registration as a choice: a qualifying vehicle traveling interstate needs either an apportioned plate or a trip permit bought before it enters the state. The trip permit runs a short window, so it suits the occasional load rather than a regular lane.
Who handles fuel tax for Louisiana carriers?
- The Department of Revenue Excise Tax Section, through the LaTAP portal. The Office of Motor Vehicles runs apportioned plates and the Department of Transportation and Development runs permits, so fuel tax sits with a third agency and a third login.
Does Louisiana require a state carrier number on the door?
- There is no general state carrier number to display. The marking rule Louisiana enforces rides on fuel: a vehicle using taxable special fuels displays the company name and address, or the company name and USDOT number, on both cab doors in letters of a published minimum height.
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.