By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 27, 2026
Nebraska has been an IRP member since 1975, and the Department of Motor Vehicles Motor Carrier Services Division in Lincoln issues apportioned plates and cab cards. The Nebraska share of the fee is 33.50 dollars per ton of combined gross weight a year, apportioned by the fleet's Nebraska mileage; carriers with no actual miles pay all 59 jurisdictions from the Department's Average Per Vehicle Distance Chart. New carriers must pay by certified funds, a free 45-day temporary authority covers added vehicles, and the apportioned plate goes on the front of a power unit.
Nebraska IRP administration
- Office
- Motor Carrier Services, 301 Centennial Mall South, P.O. Box 94729, Lincoln, NE 68509-4729; the Division's One-Stop Shop administers IRP, IFTA, and UCR for interstate carriers
- Process
- Title the vehicle in Nebraska if you are a Nebraska resident (owner-operators leasing to a Nebraska carrier without a Nebraska title send a copy of the foreign title), provide a Nebraska Sales/Use Tax and Tire Fee Statement (Form 6) for newly purchased vehicles, a copy of current county registration if the vehicle was county registered, the NE IFTA/IRP online application, and a receipted IRS Form 2290 Schedule 1 for vehicles over 55,000 pounds. The Department calculates the apportioned fees and sends an invoice; new carriers must pay by certified funds only, and plates and cab cards issue on payment.
- Fee structure
- Registration fees depend on the type of operation, the percentage of miles traveled in each member jurisdiction, and each vehicle's registered combined gross weight. Nebraska's own fee is 33.50 dollars per ton of combined gross weight per year, multiplied by the Nebraska mileage percentage; the fees for every jurisdiction are summed into one invoice.
- Fees: nebraska rate
- 33.50 dollars per ton, set by Neb. Rev. Stat. 60-3,198(1)(b)(ii) beginning July 1, 2024 (35 dollars per ton before that date).
- Fees: plate and credential fees
- A 3 dollar fee the first time a power unit is registered in the fleet and issued a permanent plate, then a 2 dollar annual renewal fee while it stays; a 6 dollar fee the first time a trailer is issued a permanent plate and cab card, then 2 dollars a year; 1 dollar per cab card; 4.10 dollars per plate issued; and 7 dollars postage per plate mailed.
- Fees: proration
- Fees are reduced monthly and assessed from the date Motor Carrier Services receives the supplement or the date temporary authority was issued, whichever is first; a vehicle in the fleet for the preceding year pays the annual fees. Additional fees may apply depending on acquisition date, prior registration, and outstanding property tax.
- Cab card
- Motor Carrier Services issues an apportioned plate and a cab card for each vehicle on payment; renewed cab cards appear online once payment processes, fleets of more than 50 units receive credentials by batch email, and cab cards can be reprinted at any time from the reprint tile in the IRP section of the online system.
- Cab card: plate placement
- The permanent apportioned plate stays on the front of the truck or truck-tractor, or the rear of the trailer or semitrailer, for as long as the vehicle remains registered to the original applicant (Neb. Rev. Stat. 60-3,203(3)). Nebraska apportioned plates are not transferable, and plates and cab cards of deleted units must be returned.
- Process: USDOT and prism
- Nebraska is a PRISM state: the USDOT number and taxpayer identification number of the carrier responsible for safety must be reported for each power unit, the carrier's safety fitness is checked before plates issue, and unfit carriers may be denied registration. A vehicle leased for 30 days or less lists the registrant's USDOT number; a vehicle leased for more than 30 days lists the lessee carrier's.
- Process: no actual miles
- A new fleet with no actual distance during the July through June reporting period uses the Average Per Vehicle Distance Chart (updated April 2026) and pays fees to all 59 member jurisdictions; the chart estimates 11,185 Nebraska miles per vehicle out of 87,777 total. Vehicles that accrued apportioned mileage under another carrier must report those actual miles.
| Item | Fee USD |
|---|---|
| Lost power plate, or power plate and cab card | 10.6 |
| Lost trailer plate, or trailer plate and cab card | 11.1 |
| Lost cab card only, or corrected cab card | 1 |
| Change of ownership within the fleet, power unit | 2.5 |
| Change of ownership within the fleet, trailer | 1 |
To work through your mileage inputs, calculate each jurisdiction’s share of your fleet miles. The estimator apportions any full-year fees you enter; it does not contain state fee schedules or issue an official quote.
More Nebraska IRP rules
- Temporary credentials: summary
- Nebraska issues 45-day temporary registration authority for vehicles added to an established fleet while apportioned registration is processed, one per unit at no fee, emailed to the carrier after the Add Vehicle request is reviewed; the carrier must be in good standing. Temporaries cover newly acquired vehicles and weight increases, and lost vehicle identification for 20 days only.
- Temporary credentials: unladen weight permit
- Owner-operators previously leased to a Nebraska-based carrier may buy a 30-day, non-renewable unladen weight (hunter's) permit to run empty: 20 dollars for a power unit, 40 dollars for a power unit and trailer, 60 dollars for three or more in combination.
- Temporary credentials: trip permit
- A nonresident truck without Nebraska apportioned plates may run on a 72-hour prorate trip permit bought online before entering the state for 25 dollars per truck, truck-tractor, bus, or combination (Neb. Rev. Stat. 60-3,198(10)), plus a processing fee.
- Contact: note
- The phone is the Motor Carrier Services number printed on the Department's Motor Carriers/Trucking page, its contact page, and the IRP audit and unladen weight permit pages; office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central, and fax is 402-471-4024. The Department publishes no IRP email address; written questions go through the Email the Motor Carrier Division web form at https://dmv.nebraska.gov/mc/contact. The 402-471-0034 line belongs to the Nebraska Department of Transportation permit office (oversize and overweight permits), not the IRP unit.
Base jurisdiction, renewal, and audit in detail
The rules that decide whether Nebraska can be your base jurisdiction, what qualifies, and what happens at renewal and audit. Each one is sourced.
- Base jurisdiction rules: Summary
- To base in Nebraska a carrier must maintain an established place of business in Nebraska with operational records kept or made available there and mileage accrued in Nebraska, or have the fleet most frequently dispatched, garaged, serviced, maintained, operated, or otherwise controlled from Nebraska. Motor Carrier Services makes the final decision.
- Base jurisdiction rules: Established place of business
- A building or office in Nebraska whose physical address appears on the application, open during regular business hours, with one or more permanent employees doing trucking-related business there.
- Base jurisdiction rules: Residency alternative
- A carrier with no established place of business in any jurisdiction must prove Nebraska residency with a Nebraska driver's license plus at least two of: a federal or Nebraska income tax return, a real estate or personal property tax statement, a utility bill, a personal vehicle title or registration, each showing a Nebraska physical address, or a residential rental or lease agreement.
- Qualifying vehicles: Summary
- To qualify for IRP the carrier must travel in two or more IRP jurisdictions (including Nebraska) with vehicles used to transport persons or property that have a registered gross weight or actual weight over 26,000 pounds, or three or more axles regardless of weight, or that are used in combination with an actual combination weight over 26,000 pounds. Apportioned registration is optional in Nebraska: a fleet may instead be fully registered at the county level.
- Renewal: Summary
- Eligible Nebraska-based carriers renew online starting 45 days before the fleet's expiration date; renewal notices go out by email or mail on the 15th of the month before expiration. The renewal covers carrier and ownership information, mileage for the IRP reporting period (July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 for registrations effective January through September 2026; July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026 for October and November 2026), and vehicle information, with a receipted Form 2290 uploaded where required. Plates not renewed must be returned immediately on expiration. County-registered and apportioned trucks are enforced from the first day of the month after expiration.
- Reciprocity: Summary
- Nebraska has open city agreements with Iowa and South Dakota. Properly licensed commercial non-apportioned vehicles get full registration reciprocity within South Sioux City and Dakota City (Nebraska) and North Sioux City and Yankton, including a three-mile radius (South Dakota). Under the Iowa agreement, such vehicles also skip interstate fuel tax reporting and decal display when using tax-paid fuel within Omaha and its federal commercial zone, Bellevue, Dakota City, South Sioux City, and Nebraska City (Nebraska) and Council Bluffs and its commercial zone, Carter Lake, Port Neal, Sioux City, and Hamburg (Iowa), but may not haul intrastate. Bellevue and Carter Lake are exempt from fuel tax only.
- Reciprocity: Limits
- The agreements do not affect insurance or authority requirements or size and weight limits, and do not extend to reduced-fee plates other than farm plates.
- Audit: Summary
- Every IRP registrant is subject to audit. Distance source documents must be kept five years to support three previous registration years, GPS systems must log a position at least every 15 minutes with the engine on (raw data kept five years in XLS, XLSX, or CSV), and all carriers sign and return the Audit Recordkeeping Notice. Unacceptable records bring an additional 20 percent in registration fees, and findings may be appealed by written request within 30 days of the final notice.
What the Nebraska share of the fee is built from
An IRP bill is the base jurisdiction's own registration fee for the vehicle, apportioned by mileage, plus the same for every other jurisdiction on the cab card. These are the Nebraska inputs to that calculation, each with its official source.
- Nebraska rate
- 33.50 dollars per ton, set by Neb. Rev. Stat. 60-3,198(1)(b)(ii) beginning July 1, 2024 (35 dollars per ton before that date).
- Plate and credential fees
- A 3 dollar fee the first time a power unit is registered in the fleet and issued a permanent plate, then a 2 dollar annual renewal fee while it stays; a 6 dollar fee the first time a trailer is issued a permanent plate and cab card, then 2 dollars a year; 1 dollar per cab card; 4.10 dollars per plate issued; and 7 dollars postage per plate mailed.
- Proration
- Fees are reduced monthly and assessed from the date Motor Carrier Services receives the supplement or the date temporary authority was issued, whichever is first; a vehicle in the fleet for the preceding year pays the annual fees. Additional fees may apply depending on acquisition date, prior registration, and outstanding property tax.
Who qualifies for IRP in Nebraska
A fleet qualifies when it travels in two or more IRP jurisdictions with power units above the federal weight line, three or more axles, or a heavy combination. Nebraska lets such fleets choose full county registration instead.
To base here, keep an established place of business in Nebraska: a building with a posted address, regular hours, and at least one permanent employee doing trucking work. Carriers without one can prove Nebraska residency instead.
How to apply
Title the vehicle in Nebraska if you live here, file the sales and use tax and tire fee statement for newly bought trucks, and send the combined application with a receipted Form 2290 for the heaviest vehicles. The Department calculates fees and invoices you.
Nebraska is a PRISM state. Each power unit lists the USDOT number of the carrier responsible for safety, and plates can be refused to an unfit carrier.
How fees are calculated
Fees turn on the operation, each jurisdiction's share of your miles, and each vehicle's registered combined weight. Nebraska's own fee is a per-ton rate times the Nebraska mileage percentage, and plate, cab card, and postage fees add small amounts.
A new fleet with no actual miles uses the Department's average distance chart and pays every member jurisdiction. Fees prorate monthly from the date the supplement or temporary authority arrives.
Plates, renewals, and temporary authority
The apportioned plate goes on the front of a truck or tractor and stays there while the vehicle is registered to the original applicant. Plates do not transfer, and deleted units return plates and cab cards.
Renewal opens online weeks before the fleet expires, with notices mailed or emailed the month before. Vehicles added mid-year run on a free temporary authority while plates process, and owner-operators leaving a Nebraska carrier can buy an unladen weight permit to run empty.
Open city agreements and audits
Nebraska has open city agreements with Iowa and South Dakota. Properly licensed non-apportioned trucks get registration reciprocity in named border cities, and under the Iowa agreement also skip fuel tax reporting in the Omaha and Council Bluffs zones and other listed towns. They may not haul intrastate, and insurance, authority, and size rules still apply.
Every registrant is subject to audit. Keep distance records five years, because unacceptable records add a surcharge to registration fees.
Reach the Nebraska IRP office
Account problems, supplement filings and credential replacements all route through the office that holds the account. Everything below is the agency's own published channel; where it publishes no phone line, the note says so rather than pointing at a permit vendor's number.
- Notes
- The phone is the Motor Carrier Services number printed on the Department's Motor Carriers/Trucking page, its contact page, and the IRP audit and unladen weight permit pages; office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central, and fax is 402-471-4024. The Department publishes no IRP email address; written questions go through the Email the Motor Carrier Division web form at https://dmv.nebraska.gov/mc/contact. The 402-471-0034 line belongs to the Nebraska Department of Transportation permit office (oversize and overweight permits), not the IRP unit.
What pairs with IRP
The same interstate operation that needs apportioned plates almost always needs an IFTA license through Nebraska, and heavy power units owe the federal Form 2290 heavy vehicle use tax before plates renew. To compare how other states run IRP, see the national IRP registration table.