# IRP in Kentucky: Apportioned Registration, Fees and the Distance Schedule

Kentucky carriers that run qualified vehicles into other states or provinces register under IRP with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's Division of Motor Carriers, and pay an apportioned fee split by where the fleet actually drives. Here's how the credential works in Kentucky, what drives the fee, and where the distance figures come from.

Source: https://www.highpointgps.com/resources/irp-kentucky-apportioned-registration
By Israel Margulies, CEO & Founder — published 2026-09-18, updated 2026-09-18

## Who Administers IRP in Kentucky

Kentucky administers IRP through the Transportation Cabinet's Division of Motor Carriers, which also runs the state's IFTA program and the KYU weight-distance tax — one office for all three, which is unusual and convenient. A Louisville or Lexington carrier is interjurisdictional on ordinary routes, with Indiana and Ohio across the river and Tennessee an hour south, and registers with Kentucky as its base jurisdiction.

The threshold is the Plan's: a power unit over 26,000 pounds gross or registered weight, or with three or more axles, or in a combination over 26,000 pounds, operating in two or more member jurisdictions. Trailers are not apportioned; they carry an ordinary plate and travel on the power unit's cab card.

## What Drives the Kentucky Apportioned Fee

The fee is the sum of every jurisdiction's registration fee for the vehicle's weight class, each weighted by the fleet's percentage of distance there over the twelve months ending June 30 before the registration year. Registered weight is the largest lever, and the distance split is the second.

Kentucky's distinctive obligation is the KYU: a weight-distance tax on Kentucky miles for vehicles over 59,999 pounds, filed quarterly and separate from both IRP and IFTA. A Kentucky carrier files all three from the same odometer, and an out-of-state carrier crossing Kentucky files KYU too. The IRP schedule for a Kentucky fleet typically covers Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Illinois and West Virginia, with the long I-65 and I-75 corridors adding the Southeast and the Great Lakes. Telematics distance-by-jurisdiction reporting, from continuously logged position, produces the July-to-June schedule, the IFTA quarter and the KYU miles from one dataset.

## Roadside and Audit

Kentucky State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement checks cab cards, KYU numbers and IFTA decals at the weigh stations on I-65, I-75 and I-64, and a truck missing any of them is the one pulled in. A fleet with all three current from one telematics record is the one waved through.

The base jurisdiction can audit the distance behind an application for three years after the registration year closes, and asks for trip-level distance by jurisdiction tied to a unit and a date. GPS trip logs behind a distance report answer that; reconstructed trip sheets get the fee recalculated.

## FAQ

### Who handles IRP registration in Kentucky?

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's Division of Motor Carriers. Applications, renewals and supplements for the apportioned plate and cab card go through that office.

### Does a Kentucky truck that never leaves the jurisdiction need IRP?

No. IRP applies to qualified vehicles operating in two or more member jurisdictions. A vehicle that stays home registers the ordinary way, and an occasional trip can use a trip permit instead.

### What distance does the Kentucky IRP renewal use?

Actual distance in each jurisdiction for the twelve months ending June 30 before the registration year, per vehicle. A first-year fleet with no history uses the base jurisdiction's average distance chart.

### Is IRP the same as IFTA?

No. IRP apportions the annual registration fee; IFTA settles quarterly fuel tax. They share a weight threshold and both need distance by jurisdiction, but they are separate credentials, and in many jurisdictions separate agencies.

### How long must IRP distance records be kept?

At least three years after the close of the registration year they support, since that is the audit window.

## Sources

- [Kentucky Transportation Cabinet: IRP](https://drive.ky.gov/motor-carriers/Pages/IRP.aspx)
- [IRP, Inc.: The Plan](https://www.irponline.org/)