One of the new features of “REAL Women in Trucking” is “Pay it Forward” self-help advice proposed as a vision to help others back in 2009. The difficulty has always been time and resources to connect working Women truck drivers to help females who wish to move on into better trucking jobs and help those entering the industry.
In the short time since we launched the “Women Truckers Network” free weekly phone conference events, an abundance of helpful information has emerged. Our plan is to share information in short blog posts as we have the time and resources. The free replay sessions are posted each week on the WTN Archive Tab on this blog and the “Trucker Desiree” blog.
Many of the Women who have joined our conferences are owner operators that share valuable advice for new drivers. Often the dream of becoming an owner operator is packaged along with truck driver training. Frequently this is a costly set-up for failure in the trucking industry.
Shannon NeSmith, is an independent owner/operator of Happy Flats, Inc. She has offered valuable advice in several of our WTN phone conferences on the topic of becoming an owner operator and why being leased to one carrier may not be a good choice. This is especially true for student truck drivers who have very little experience with how some of the lease owner operator contracts are designed to benefit mostly the carrier.
Shannon has been an owner operator since 2000, she pulls a flatbed trailer. She has created numerous companies for fellow drivers who desire to have their own authority. She has also trained several drivers to pull flatbed trailers and on how to deal with the various situations that might occur with this equipment. In addition, she helps drivers learn the paperwork side of running their own business.
Shannon has taken the time to create the following authority checklist for fellow drivers to help them understand what steps are required to obtain their own authority and create their own company.
This authority checklist breaks down what is required to be filed annually and quarterly. We hope it will be helpful for you!
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact Shannon NeSmith directly at (352) 988-0252 or via email at happyflatsinc@gmail.com.
CHECKLIST FOR OPERATING AUTHORITY
Initial Setup
_____ Authority $300.00 one-time fee, takes about 2-3 weeks
_____ Process Agent $35.00 one-time fee (if you use an agent, that is a flat rate)
_____ UCR (Unified Carrier Registration) – This depends on number of trucks
_____ **Kentucky# (KYU#) Free to Obtain
_____ **New York HUT Sticker – $15.00 for the certificate due every 2-3 years
_____ **New Mexico Weight Distance Tax Number – $4.00 per vehicle
_____ TAG – Dept. of Motor Vehicles – varies depending on states
_____ IFTA license – Fee depends on state
_____ 2290 – IRS Highway Use Tax – IRS Office to pay or online $550.00 per truck _____ US DOT# – Free but must register for one.
_____ **Incorporation or LLC – Fee depends on state (Optional)
Quarterly Reports
_____ IFTA
_____ KYU#
_____ NMW.D.T.#
_____ NY Hut
Annual Reports
_____ Tag
_____ IFTA Stickers
_____ 2290 Highway Use Tax
_____ UCR
_____ Renewal of Corporation
** The asterisk indicates that these are optional. Only need to be obtained if you plan on running through those states. KYU # is mandatory but NY and NM can be obtained on a per trip basis. The Corporation is not required just depends on tax status.
thank you for providing and sharing this important information, especially in a format that is understandable and as a document people can use as a go to checklist. Very well done…again thank you for sharing.