New York Weight-Distance Tax

How the New York weight-distance tax works

You owe HUT once a truck runs over 18,000 lb gross on New York highways (Tax Law Article 21). Get a Certificate of Registration and decal, $1.50 per truck, and keep the decal physically affixed, or eat a civil fine of $500 to $2,000. File Form MT-903 monthly, quarterly, or yearly by your prior-year liability, due the last day of the following month, even a zero-mile period.

What you have to do before you drive

• Applies at: Gross weight over 18,000 lb. If you elect the unloaded-weight method instead, the trigger is a truck over 8,000 lb unloaded or a tractor over 4,000 lb unloaded.
• Rate: Per mile, graduated by weight and by the method you choose. The gross-weight method starts at $0.0084/mile (0.84 cents) for 18,001-20,000 lb and climbs through the brackets to about 5.5 cents/mile in the top 78,001-80,000 lb bracket, with gross weights over 80,000 lb figured by adding a per-ton amount. The unloaded-weight method has its own table. Pull the live rate schedule before you file.
• Register: A Certificate of Registration (C of R) plus a decal for each vehicle, $1.50 each, ordered through OSCAR. The decal must be physically affixed to the truck. Run New York only occasionally? Buy a $25 trip certificate instead, capped at 10 per calendar year.
• Filing: Form MT-903. Frequency is set by your prior-year HUT liability: over $12,000 monthly; more than $1,200 up to $12,000 quarterly; $1,200 or less annual. Due the last day of the month after the period. File even for a zero-mile period or you draw penalty and interest.

Running without it

Operate without a C of R, or with a decal not affixed: civil fine $500-$2,000 for a first violation, $1,000-$3,500 for a second within three years (N.Y. Tax Law § 512). Late or unfiled MT-903 returns pile penalty and interest on top.

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