By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 27, 2026
Maryland splits the two temporary credentials across two agencies. The MVA sells the 72-hour trip permit that stands in for apportioned registration, directly on the myMVA Business Portal and through authorized wire-service vendors. The fuel side is an IFTA trip permit whose payment Tax-General 9-219 fixes at the motor carrier tax on a set gallon count of special fuel rather than a flat fee, valid 15 consecutive days for the specific vehicle, sold through the Comptroller's authorized vendors. A carrier that runs only between Maryland and the District of Columbia needs one path or the other, because the District does not participate in IFTA.
The trip permit (registration side)
This credential answers for registration. Without it, a vehicle whose cab card does not list Maryland has no legal registration standing in the state.
- Fee
- $15 (The MVA IRP Manual prices the 72-hour permit at $15, bought before entering Maryland. The same amount is recorded on the temporary credentials block of the IRP record.)
- Who needs it
- Vehicles eligible for apportioned registration but not apportioned with Maryland: a power unit with two axles over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, a power unit with three or more axles regardless of weight, or any combination used over 26,000 pounds, plus charter buses running out of state. Enforcement treats a vehicle without current apportioned credentials, a valid Temporary Apportionment Authorization or a valid trip permit as in violation.
- Where to buy
- myMVA Business Portal, Motor Carrier panel (mymva.maryland.gov/TAP/BUS/); Authorized wire-service vendors: Comdata, Custom Permit, J.J. Keller, Nova Permits, State Permits, T-Check Systems, Highway Permits, West Coast Services (vendor phone numbers belong to the wire services, not the MVA)
The fuel permit (tax side)
This credential answers for the state's highway or fuel tax when there is no IFTA license (or, in the weight-distance states, no tax account) behind the truck.
- Fee
- Tax-General 9-219 does not set a flat dollar fee: it sets the trip permit payment at the motor carrier tax on 174 gallons of special fuel, so the amount moves with the fuel tax rate, which Maryland adjusts each July under the CPI-indexed formula in Tax-General 9-305. No flat figure is recorded rather than computed.
- Who needs it
- Carriers that qualify as IFTA licensees but choose not to participate, entering or returning through Maryland, must carry trip permits for each member jurisdiction they run in, Maryland included on any return trip. A motor carrier operating exclusively in Maryland and the District of Columbia must either hold an IFTA license and decals or run on a trip permit, because the District of Columbia does not participate in IFTA.
- Where to buy
- Authorized IFTA trip permit vendors named by the Comptroller: Comdata, Custom Permit Company, J.J. Keller, Nova Permits, T-Check Systems, Highway Permits, West Coast Services, among others; Maryland Motor Carrier Connect and the Comptroller's Field Enforcement Bureau Licensing Unit handle IFTA licensing itself, the permanent alternative to repeated permits
Worth knowing
Two further MVA temporary credentials serve other situations and are recorded on the IRP topic file: the Hunter's Permit for unladen operation after a lease termination, and the Temporary Apportionment Authorization for adding a vehicle or weight while permanent credentials are processed.
Where these fit in the Maryland permit stack
Temporary permits are the exception path. The standing credentials they replace are IRP apportioned registration and the Maryland IFTA license. Oversize loads use a different permit family entirely, covered in Maryland oversize and overweight permits, and the full picture of every state permit lives in Maryland trucking permits.