# What Is IRP? Apportioned Registration Explained for Fleets

The International Registration Plan lets a truck carry one plate and one cab card across 59 US states and Canadian provinces, with the registration fee split by where the truck actually drives. Here's how apportioned registration works, how it differs from IFTA, and where the distance figures come from.

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

## One Plate, Every Jurisdiction

Before the International Registration Plan, a truck that ran through six states needed six registrations, or a stack of trip permits bought at each border. IRP replaced that with a single apportioned registration: the carrier registers once, in its base jurisdiction, receives one apportioned plate and one cab card, and the cab card lists every jurisdiction the vehicle may operate in. Since the Full Reciprocity Plan took effect in 2015, that is all of them — every apportioned vehicle is registered for the 48 contiguous states, the District of Columbia and the ten Canadian provinces, whether or not it ever goes there.

The fee is what makes it 'apportioned'. Each member jurisdiction sets its own registration fee for a vehicle of a given weight. The base jurisdiction collects the carrier's total by multiplying each jurisdiction's fee by the percentage of the fleet's distance travelled there, then distributes the money to the other members. A tractor that spends 60% of its miles in Ontario, 30% in Quebec and 10% in New York pays 60% of Ontario's fee, 30% of Quebec's and 10% of New York's, on one invoice.

## IRP Is Not IFTA, Though They Look Alike

IRP and IFTA are separate agreements administered by separate agencies, and carriers hold both. IFTA is fuel tax: it settles the per-litre or per-gallon tax owed to each jurisdiction, filed quarterly with a revenue or finance department. IRP is registration: it apportions the annual plate fee, renewed once a year with a motor vehicle or transportation department. Both use the same threshold — over 26,000 pounds gross or registered weight, or three or more axles, operating in two or more member jurisdictions — and both need distance by jurisdiction, but they read the distance differently. IFTA wants the quarter just ended. IRP wants a reporting period of twelve months ending the June 30 before the registration year begins.

In Quebec the SAAQ administers IRP while Revenu Québec administers IFTA; in Ontario it is the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Finance respectively; in most US states the DMV handles IRP and the revenue department handles IFTA, though Florida, Virginia and Vermont run both out of the DMV. A carrier that misses IFTA filings can find its IRP renewal held, so the two are linked in practice if not in law.

## Where the Distance Comes From

The IRP renewal is built on a distance schedule: actual distance in each jurisdiction during the reporting period, for every vehicle in the fleet. A first-year registrant with no history uses the base jurisdiction's average per-vehicle distance chart instead; after that, the fleet reports its own numbers, and the base jurisdiction can audit them for three years after the close of the registration year they support. The audit looks for individual vehicle distance records: trip-level distance by jurisdiction tied to a unit, a date and a route.

That is the same record IFTA audits ask for, and telematics produces it as a report. A GO device logs each vehicle's position continuously, the platform assigns every stretch of travel to the province or state it occurred in, and the distance-by-jurisdiction report for any period — the IFTA quarter or the IRP reporting year — comes out of the same data. Fleets that reconstruct IRP distance from trip sheets once a year are the ones whose apportioned fees get recalculated at audit.

## What Happens at the Roadside

An apportioned vehicle carries its cab card, and an inspector at a weigh station checks it against the plate and the registered weight. A vehicle over its registered weight in a jurisdiction, or a non-apportioned vehicle operating interjurisdictionally without a trip permit, is the citation. The cab card is not the whole story: the ELD, the IFTA decals and the IRP credential are checked together, and a fleet that keeps all three current from one telematics dataset has fewer roadside surprises.

## FAQ

### What does IRP stand for?

The International Registration Plan, an agreement between the 48 contiguous US states, the District of Columbia and the ten Canadian provinces that apportions commercial vehicle registration fees by the distance travelled in each jurisdiction.

### What is an apportioned plate?

The single licence plate an IRP-registered vehicle carries, valid in every member jurisdiction, with fees split among them according to the fleet's distance in each.

### 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 agreements filed with separate agencies.

### What is a cab card?

The registration document issued with an apportioned plate. It lists the vehicle, its registered weight and every jurisdiction it may operate in, and it must be carried in the vehicle.

### How long must IRP records be kept?

Distance records supporting an application can be audited for three years after the close of the registration year, so keep them at least that long.

## Sources

- [IRP, Inc.: The Plan](https://www.irponline.org/)
- [SAAQ: International Registration Plan (IRP)](https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/vehicle-registration/heavy-vehicles/international-registration-plan-irp)
- [FMCSA: Apportioned Registration](https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/international-registration-plan)