Form 2290 isn't only for trucks. A highway motor vehicle is any self-propelled vehicle designed to carry a load over public highways, and the IRS lists buses alongside trucks and truck tractors as examples. A bus with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more is taxable, and its operator files the same return on the same deadlines.
How a bus's taxable gross weight is figured
For trucks, taxable gross weight is the empty vehicle plus customary trailers plus the maximum load customarily carried. Buses use a different rule. The taxable gross weight of a bus is:
- Its actual unloaded weight, fully equipped for service; plus
- 150 pounds for each seat provided for passengers and the driver.
For a bus, fully equipped for service includes the equipment for accommodating passengers or others — the IRS gives air conditioning and sanitation facilities as examples — along with the body, all accessories, operating and maintenance equipment carried on the bus, and a full supply of fuel, oil, and water.
Seats count whether or not they're filled. The 150 pounds is added for every seat provided, including the driver's.
Once you have the weight, the category follows from the Form 2290 weight categories and rates, from A at 55,000 pounds up to V over 75,000. For the truck version of this calculation, see taxable gross weight for Form 2290.
Enter it with the month the bus was first used and see the tax and the deadline.
Bus operators who are exempt
The use of a highway motor vehicle isn't taxed — and isn't reported on Form 2290 — when the vehicle is used and actually operated by any of these:
- The federal government, the District of Columbia, or a state or local government.
- A mass transportation authority created under a statute that gives it certain powers normally exercised by the state.
- An Indian tribal government, but only if the use involves an essential tribal government function.
- The American National Red Cross, or a nonprofit volunteer fire department, ambulance association, or rescue squad.
The exemption turns on who uses and actually operates the bus. A bus operated by a private company isn't on this list, so it is taxed by weight like any other vehicle. The full list of exemptions is in do I need to file Form 2290.
When a bus's Form 2290 is due
The same rule as every vehicle: by the last day of the month after the month the bus was first used on a public highway during the July-to-June period. Buses in service in July are due by August 31; a bus added in October is due by the end of November and taxed only for the months left. Check any month with the Form 2290 due date calculator.
How to file Form 2290 for a bus
- Create your account and add the business — legal name, address, and EIN.
- Start an original return for the month the buses were first used.
- Add each bus's VIN and weight category. An operator with many buses can import them from a spreadsheet.
- Review the tax, pay, e-sign, and submit. The accepted return gives you a stamped Schedule 1 listing every VIN.
A bus expected to run 5,000 public-highway miles or less during the period can be reported as suspended, with no tax, under category W.