Trucking Tax Deadlines Calendar
TruckMars Editorial · October 22, 2026
IFTA quarterly filing deadlines
IFTA returns are due the last day of the month following the end of each quarter, moved to the next business day when that date falls on a weekend or holiday. For 2026: Q1 was due April 30, Q2 was due July 31, Q3 is due November 2 (since October 31 falls on a Saturday), and Q4 2026 is due February 1, 2027. Use the [IFTA Calculator](/ifta-calculator) to work out what you owe before each one.
Form 2290 (Heavy Vehicle Use Tax)
The HVUT tax period runs July 1 to June 30. For a vehicle first used on a public highway in July, Form 2290 is due August 31 of that year. A vehicle put into service in a different month gets a deadline of the last day of the following month instead, so a truck that enters service in November is due by the end of December.
Quarterly estimated income tax
Self-employed owner-operators generally owe quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS: for 2026 income, those fall on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, 2027. Missing one can mean an underpayment penalty even if you pay everything owed by the April filing deadline. The [Trucking Tax Calculator](/trucking-tax-calculator) and [Per Diem Calculator](/per-diem-calculator) both help estimate what each payment should be.
UCR (Unified Carrier Registration) renewal
UCR registration for the coming year typically opens in the fall and carries a December 31 deadline for the current year's fees. It's an annual, not quarterly, requirement, but it's easy to lose track of alongside everything else on this list, since the enrollment window opens months before the deadline and quietly closes.
Building your own calendar from this one
These deadlines don't share a rhythm: IFTA runs quarterly, HVUT and UCR run annually on different clocks, and estimated taxes split the year into four uneven chunks. Pulling all four onto one calendar, with a reminder a week ahead of each, is the simplest way to stop any one of them from becoming a scramble.