When Is Your MCS-150 Due? The FMCSA Filing Schedule Explained

The MCS-150 due date is not a calendar anniversary of your USDOT registration — it is a schedule the FMCSA derives from the last two digits of your USDOT number under the standard biennial update cycle. One digit sets the month; the other sets the year. Here is exactly how to calculate yours.

The Two-Digit Rule

The FMCSA spreads MCS-150 filings across the calendar using a simple rule:

• Last digit (“ones” digit) → determines the month your MCS-150 is due.
• Second-to-last digit (“tens” digit) → determines whether you file in even-numbered years or odd-numbered years.

Once you read those two digits, your MCS-150 cadence is locked for the lifetime of the USDOT.

Month Lookup by Last Digit

Even Years vs Odd Years

The second-to-last digit decides which half of the 24-month cycle you file in:

• Even second-to-last digit (0, 2, 4, 6, 8) → file in even-numbered years (2024, 2026, 2028, 2030).
• Odd second-to-last digit (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) → file in odd-numbered years (2025, 2027, 2029, 2031).

Worked Examples

If you would rather not read the digits yourself, the free MCS-150 due-date checker does the same two-digit math in your browser and tells you the exact month and year of your next deadline.

Out-of-Cycle Filings

On top of the regular 24-month cycle, the FMCSA requires an MCS-150 update within 30 days of any material change to your operation, per FMCSA registration guidance:

• Change of principal place of business or mailing address.
• Change in operation type (intrastate ↔ interstate, for-hire ↔ private).
• Significant fleet change.
• Change in hazmat status.
• Change in legal entity name.

An out-of-cycle filing does not reset your regular biennial schedule — your next MCS-150 is still due on the calendar month keyed to your USDOT digits. Missing the regular biennial after an out-of-cycle update still results in USDOT deactivation.

How Early Can You File?

FMCSA does not publish an early-filing window for the biennial update, so you can file an MCS-150 at any time. An update filed inside your biennial window satisfies that cycle, but it does not reset the schedule — under 49 CFR §390.19T the cycle stays fixed by your USDOT digits, so your next due date remains the same digit-determined month and year. Filing a few weeks before the deadline helps you avoid last-minute sign-in issues with the FMCSA registration system.