If you own and run your own truck, Form 2290 is a federal return you file every period — usually once, by August 31. It reports and pays the Heavy Vehicle Use Tax, and it produces the stamped Schedule 1 your state wants before it will register the truck.
Do you have to file?
You must file if a taxable highway motor vehicle is registered, or required to be registered, in your name at the time of its first use during the period, and it has a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more. It doesn't matter whether you operate as an individual, an LLC, or a corporation.
Taxable gross weight isn't the empty weight. It's the truck fully equipped for service, plus the trailers you customarily pull with it, plus the maximum load you customarily carry. A tractor pulling loaded trailers usually lands in a high category. See how to work out taxable gross weight.
Leased on to a carrier? Who pays
The filing obligation follows registration. The IRS rule on dual registration: if a taxable vehicle is registered in the name of both the owner and another person, the owner is liable for the tax — and the same rule applies to dual registration of a leased vehicle.
So if you own the truck and it's registered in both your name and the carrier's, the tax is yours. Whoever actually sends the payment, the owner is the one the IRS holds liable — keep your own stamped Schedule 1 on file.
What your truck owes
The tax depends on the weight category and the month the truck was first used in the July-to-June period. A truck over 75,000 pounds (category V) in service in July owes $550.00 for the full period — the highest annual amount on the form. A logging truck in the same category owes $412.50.
A truck first used after July pays only for the months left in the period. Put your numbers into the Form 2290 tax calculator to see the exact figure, or browse the full rate table.
Running 5,000 miles or less this period (7,500 for an agricultural vehicle)? Report the truck as suspended under category W. No tax is due, but you still file and the truck still appears on your Schedule 1.
When it's due
By the last day of the month after the month the truck was first used on a public highway. A truck already running in July is due by August 31; a truck bought and first driven in November is due by December 31. The deadline isn't tied to your registration renewal date. Check yours with the due date calculator.
That's all you need to see the tax. Creating an account is free; you only pay when you file.
How an owner-operator files online
- Enter your business details: legal name, EIN, address, and the name control from your IRS EIN letter. No EIN yet? See EIN for Form 2290 — an SSN won't work.
- Choose Form 2290 as the return type.
- Add your truck: VIN, weight category, and the month it was first used. Mark it logging or suspended if that applies.
- If you sold a truck you'd already paid on, claim the credit — see the credit for a sold, destroyed, or stolen truck.
- Review the tax and pay it by electronic funds withdrawal, EFTPS, or credit/debit card.
- E-sign and submit, then download your stamped Schedule 1 once the IRS accepts the return.
The step-by-step version is in how to file Form 2290 online.
After you file
- Take the stamped Schedule 1 to your state when you register or renew.
- Moved to heavier loads mid-year and into a higher category? That's an amendment, due by the end of the following month.
- Typed a VIN wrong? File a VIN correction.
- Keep your records for at least 3 years after the tax is due or paid, whichever is later.