Truckers perplexed by Arkansas Carrier Data Form

For small-business truckers in states surrounding Arkansas, recently receiving a 2023 Carrier Data Form has led to some confusion.

The form relates to a tax called ad valorem that the state of Arkansas charges any motor carriers who conduct for-hire transportation in or through the state. It applies to both Arkansas-based motor carriers and out-of-state motor carriers.

The reason for the confusion is that the state hasn’t sent out this particular form since 2018, and it goes only to motor carriers not currently set up with a motor carrier profile on the Arkansas Public Service Commission Online Services.

The information provided via the form is used to set up a motor carrier’s profile in Arkansas’s Motor Carrier Assessment System. Another way of putting it: The form is Arkansas’ attempt to reach out to carriers who previously have not been set up in the system and assessed for an ad valorem tax.

There is no penalty per se for not filing this form, and nothing will happen if you don’t run in Arkansas. But if you do and you fail to return the 2023 Carrier Data Form, you will initially receive a warning during an inspection that you need to register. Continuing to run in Arkansas without registering will result in unpaid fees and penalties, which could result in impounded equipment. The impound would last until you straighten things out with the Arkansas Public Service Commission. So, if you were stopped and impounded on a weekend, you’d have to wait until business hours on a Monday.

The ad valorem taxation is a three-year process. For example, mileage in 2023 will be assessed in 2024 and invoiced in 2025.

In January, any motor carriers who report on the 2023 Carrier Data Form that they run in the state of Arkansas – along with motor carriers already set up in the state’s system – will receive an Annual Motor Carrier Report. This report will ask for things like:

• A list of equipment owned as of Jan. 1, including manufacture year
• Total for-hire miles
• Total Arkansas for-hire miles

That information is due by March 31, 2024.

It’s used to calculate the ad valorem tax owed for 2023, and a statement will be sent the following year, 2025. Failing to return the Annual Motor Carrier Report results in a penalty or a default assessment on the statement.

The ad valorem tax is calculated on the percentage of total for-hire miles in Arkansas, the value of the equipment owned by the motor carrier and a millage tax rate (a mil is 1/10 of a penny). So motor carriers with more expensive equipment and/or more miles in Arkansas will have a higher ad valorem tax than motor carriers with less expensive equipment and/or fewer miles in the state.

If you don’t run any miles in Arkansas, you should declare that on a 2023 Carrier Data Form if you receive one. For carriers already in the system who did not run any miles in the state in 2023, make sure to report that on the Annual Motor Carrier Report you’ll receive in the first part of 2024. If you fail to return the form, you will receive a default assessment and penalty. LL