Kentucky KYU Weight Distance Tax Explained: The Tax Every Carrier Over 59,999 Pounds Meets in Kentucky

The Kentucky KYU weight distance tax is a per-mile tax on motor vehicles with a combined licensed weight over 59,999 pounds travelling on Kentucky highways. It takes the name KYU from its licence prefix. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's Division of Motor Carriers administers it (the same office runs Kentucky's IRP and IFTA programs), and you file it quarterly on the IFTA calendar. The rate is a flat amount per mile, currently 2.85 cents, whatever the fuel or the weight above the threshold.

Any carrier, based anywhere, that runs a qualifying vehicle on Kentucky highways with any regularity applies for a KYU licence and gets a KYU number. The number goes on the vehicle, and Kentucky weigh stations check it. A carrier that crosses Kentucky once, say a Tennessee fleet on a single Cincinnati run or an Ontario fleet on one trip south on I-75, can buy a temporary KYU permit for that trip instead. If you expect to come back, get the licence; permits add up fast in a corridor state.

Each quarter, you report Kentucky miles per qualifying vehicle and pay the per-mile tax through the Cabinet's online system. A quarter with no Kentucky miles still needs a zero return, and a lapsed KYU account causes trouble at roadside before it becomes a tax problem. Keep the records behind each return for audit. A Kentucky auditor compares your KYU miles with the Kentucky line of your IFTA return for the same quarter, and a mismatch between the two is the finding that costs money.

The KYU return needs the same figure as the Kentucky line of your IFTA return: miles in the state, per vehicle, for the quarter. Telematics produces it from continuously logged position, and one report answers both filings with matching numbers. Fleets running Louisville, Lexington or the I-65 and I-75 corridors routinely file KYU from the High Point GPS platform jurisdiction report. High Point GPS sets up that report for carriers across Canada and the United States whose runs cross Kentucky.

The main points for any carrier that runs Kentucky. The rate is set by statute and rarely changes, but confirm it with the Division of Motor Carriers before each return.