How to File Form 2290

You must file Form 2290 for the July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 period if a highway motor vehicle with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more is registered, or required to be registered, in your name when it is first used on a public highway in the period. You may be an individual, an LLC, a corporation, a partnership or any other kind of organization.

Trucks, truck tractors and buses are the usual examples. Vans, pickups, panel trucks and similar trucks generally aren’t taxed, because they weigh less than 55,000 pounds.

Use means driving the vehicle under its own power on any public highway in the United States, and the IRS counts any road that isn’t private: federal, state, county and city roads alike. Driving a new truck home from the dealer is its first use.

A truck you expect to drive 5,000 miles or less on public highways in the period still needs a return, with no tax due. See Trucks driven 5,000 miles or less.

If a truck is registered in the names of both its owner and someone else, a leased truck included, the owner owes the tax.

Who doesn’t file

Some users are exempt and don’t file at all, among them the federal government, the District of Columbia, state and local governments, the American Red Cross, nonprofit volunteer fire departments, ambulance associations and rescue squads, certain mass transportation authorities, and Indian tribal governments using the vehicle for an essential tribal government function. Qualified blood collector vehicles and some specially designed mobile machinery are exempt too. The exact conditions are in the IRS instructions.

Not sure? The IRS’s short interview, Do I need to pay the heavy highway vehicle use tax? (opens in a new tab), walks you through it.

Gather these before you start, whether you e-file or mail the return.

• Your employer identification number (EIN). You can’t file Form 2290 with a Social Security number. If you don’t have an EIN, apply online at IRS.gov/EIN (opens in a new tab); the IRS never charges a fee for one. Allow about four weeks for a new EIN to reach the IRS’s systems before you e-file, or the return may be rejected.
• Your business name exactly as the IRS has it for your EIN. An e-filed return whose name doesn’t match the EIN is rejected.
• Each truck’s VIN, usually 17 letters and numbers, from the registration, the title or the truck itself. Use the truck’s VIN, not the trailer’s.
• Each truck’s taxable gross weight, worked out as shown below, and the gross weight you declared to your state when you registered it.
• The month each truck was first used on a public highway in the period. It sets both the tax and the due date.
• A way to pay the tax in full when you file. The four ways are below.

Form 2290 is due by the last day of the month after the month a truck is first used on a public highway in the tax period. If that day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, file by the next business day. This is the IRS’s chart for the July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 period, by the month of first use:

• July 2026: August 31, 2026
• August 2026: September 30, 2026
• September 2026: November 2, 2026
• October 2026: November 30, 2026
• November 2026: December 31, 2026
• December 2026: February 1, 2027
• January 2027: March 1, 2027
• February 2027: March 31, 2027
• March 2027: April 30, 2027
• April 2027: June 1, 2027
• May 2027: June 30, 2027
• June 2027: August 2, 2027

You can list all the trucks first used in the same month on one return, but you need a separate return for each month of first use. Trucks first used in July pay the full period’s tax; a truck first used later pays a prorated tax. The same filing rules apply to trucks you report as suspended.

Bought another truck after you filed? File a new Form 2290 listing only the new truck, by the due date for the month it was first used. Don’t refile your earlier return.

Each return covers one tax period, so you file again for each new period in which you have a taxable truck on the road.

Need more time to file? Before the due date, you can write to the IRS to ask for an extension, explaining the cause of the delay; for most filers it can be up to 6 months, and the address is in the IRS instructions. An extension of time to file doesn’t extend the time to pay.

The tax depends on each truck’s taxable gross weight and the month it is first used.

Taxable gross weight

For a truck or tractor, the taxable gross weight is the total of:

• the truck’s empty weight, fully equipped for service, with a full supply of fuel, oil and water,
• the empty weight of the trailers it customarily pulls, fully equipped, and
• the heaviest load it customarily carries, on the truck and those trailers.

If you declared a specific gross weight to register the truck in any state, proportional registration under IRP included, the taxable gross weight can’t be less than the highest weight you declared. A bus is figured differently; see the IRS instructions.

The tax for July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027

For trucks first used in July 2026, page 2 of Form 2290 gives the tax for the full period by weight category:

• Category A, 55,000 pounds: $100.00
• Categories B to U, 55,001 to 75,000 pounds: $122.00 for 55,001 to 56,000 pounds, then $22.00 more for each 1,000 pounds, up to $540.00 for 74,001 to 75,000 pounds
• Category V, over 75,000 pounds: $550.00
• Category W, suspended trucks: no tax

So an 80,000-pound truck first used in July 2026 owes $550 for the period. Logging vehicles pay lower rates, from $75.00 to $412.50.

A truck first used after July owes only for the months left in the period, from Table I in the IRS instructions (Table II for logging vehicles). For a truck over 75,000 pounds, that is $504.17 if it is first used in August 2026, $412.50 in October 2026, $275.00 in January 2027 and $45.83 in June 2027.

Every amount is in the Form 2290 tax table (opens in a new tab) (page 2) and in the partial-period tables at the end of the IRS instructions (opens in a new tab). Bought a used truck from a private seller who already paid this period’s tax? Your tax is figured differently; see the IRS instructions.

Filing

You can e-file or file on paper. E-filing is required for a return that reports and pays tax on 25 or more vehicles (suspended vehicles don’t count toward the 25), and the IRS encourages everyone to e-file: the stamped Schedule 1 can come back within minutes.

You can’t e-file Form 2290 on IRS.gov. You e-file through one of the commercial providers on the IRS’s list of approved Form 2290 e-file providers (opens in a new tab). Their services and fees differ, the IRS doesn’t endorse or recommend any of them, and a provider charges only its own fee, not the tax. The IRS’s E-file Form 2290 (opens in a new tab) page walks you through it.

To file on paper, sign the return (an unsigned return isn’t considered filed) and mail Form 2290 with both copies of Schedule 1:

• With a check or money order not drawn on an international bank: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 932500, Louisville, KY 40293-2500.
• With no payment due, or paid by EFTPS or card: Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Ogden, UT 84201-0031.
• With a payment from an international bank, or by private delivery service: see the IRS instructions.

Paying

You pay the tax in full with the return, in one of four ways:

• Electronic funds withdrawal (direct debit), set up as part of your e-filed return.
• EFTPS, the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. You must enroll first, so allow 5 to 7 business days, and a payment is on time only if you submit it by 8 p.m. Eastern the day before it is due.
• Credit or debit card, at IRS.gov/PayByCard (opens in a new tab), online, by phone or on a mobile device, whether you e-file or mail. The service providers charge a convenience fee.
• Check or money order with Form 2290-V, the payment voucher. Make it payable to “United States Treasury,” write your name, address, EIN, “Form 2290” and the date from the voucher on it, and don’t send cash.

If you pay by direct debit, EFTPS or card, don’t send the voucher.

Filing or paying late

Filing or paying late can bring IRS penalties and interest. If you get a penalty and had reasonable cause, you can ask for relief: send the IRS a letter explaining why, follow IRS.gov/PenaltyRelief (opens in a new tab), or call the number on the notice. Don’t attach an explanation to your return.

Schedule 1 lists every vehicle on your return by VIN and category. The IRS stamps it and returns it to you, and that stamped copy is your proof of payment. States generally won’t register a heavy vehicle without it, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection requires it for a Canadian or Mexican vehicle entering the United States.

If you e-file, your provider sends you Schedule 1 with an IRS e-file watermark, by email, and it can arrive within minutes of the IRS accepting your return. Check that the watermark prints clearly before you take it to your state, and reprint it with fresh ink or on another printer if it doesn’t. If you mail the return, expect the stamped copy within 6 weeks after the IRS receives it.

Why IRP needs it

Under the International Registration Plan (IRP), the base state that issues your apportioned plate must see proof of payment first; the other jurisdictions on your cab card don’t need it. The VIN of the truck you are registering must be on the Schedule 1, so a missing or wrong VIN can hold up your plates.

Other ways to show it, under the IRS rules:

• A photocopy of your stamped Schedule 1.
• Without the stamped copy: a photocopy of the Form 2290 you filed, with Schedule 1, and a photocopy of both sides of your canceled check.
• In July, August or September: last period’s stamped Schedule 1. You still have to file this period’s return by its due date.
• For a truck bought in the last 60 days: the bill of sale, in place of proof of payment. The return and the tax are still due.

In a few states, the DMV can forward your Form 2290 to the IRS for you. Your return isn’t filed until the IRS receives it, and you are responsible for any penalties or interest if it arrives late or gets lost.

Getting a copy of Schedule 1

If you e-filed, ask your provider for the original electronic copy. For the current period, once you have filed and paid in full, you can fax a request to the IRS at 855-386-5124 with a copy of the Form 2290 and Schedule 1 you filed, or write to Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Cincinnati, OH 45999-0031. The Trucking Tax Center (opens in a new tab) lists what the request must include. For an earlier period, write to Internal Revenue Service, 7940 Kentucky Drive, Florence, KY 41042-2915.

If you expect a truck to go 5,000 miles or less on public highways in the period (7,500 miles or less for an agricultural vehicle), its tax is suspended: you owe nothing for it, but you still file Form 2290 by the same due date and list the truck on Schedule 1 as category W. The limit counts all of the truck’s highway miles in the period, whoever owned it.

An agricultural vehicle is one used mostly for farming (more than half its miles) and registered under state law as a farm vehicle for the whole period. Miles driven on the farm don’t count toward its 7,500.

If a suspended truck goes over the limit, the tax becomes due, figured from the month it was first used in the period. File an amended Form 2290 by the last day of the month after the month it went over.

Keep a record of the truck’s actual highway miles, and for an agricultural vehicle, of its miles on the farm too.

Paid the tax, and the truck stayed under the limit after all? You can claim it back once the period ends. See Corrections, credits and refunds.

• A wrong VIN. A missing or wrong VIN on Schedule 1 can stop your state from registering the truck. Copy the truck’s VIN, not the trailer’s, from the title or registration, and check it.
• Filing with your Social Security number. Form 2290 takes an EIN only. Get yours early: a new EIN needs about four weeks before you can e-file with it.
• A name that doesn’t match your EIN. An e-filed return is rejected when the name doesn’t match the IRS’s records for the EIN.
• Filing late. The due date follows the month of first use, not your plate renewal date. Filing or paying late can bring penalties and interest.
• The wrong month of first use. It sets the tax and the due date. Use the month the truck first went on a public highway in this period, and put trucks first used in different months on separate returns.
• Refiling to add a truck. A truck you add after filing goes on a new return of its own. A return that repeats VINs you already filed can be rejected as a duplicate.
• Last period’s form. For July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, use the July 2026 revision; for an earlier period, use that period’s form.

Amended returns

Check the Amended Return box for only two reasons: a truck’s taxable gross weight went up into a higher category, or a suspended truck went over its mileage limit. Next to the box, write the month the change happened, and file by the last day of the following month. For a weight increase, you pay the difference for the rest of the period, on line 3.

Correcting a VIN

Check the VIN Correction box, list the corrected VIN on Schedule 1, use the Form 2290 for the period you are correcting, and attach a statement explaining the correction.

You can e-file a correction to weight, mileage or a VIN. Any other error on an accepted e-filed return is corrected on a paper Form 2290.

Credits and refunds

You can get back tax you paid on a truck that was sold, destroyed or stolen before June 1 and not used again in the period, or that went 5,000 miles or less in the period (7,500 for an agricultural vehicle).

Claim it as a credit on a later Form 2290 (line 5), or as a refund on Form 8849 (opens in a new tab) with Schedule 6, which is also where you claim an overpayment from a mistake on an earlier Form 2290. A low-mileage credit or refund can’t be claimed until the period ends: for tax paid for July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, that is after June 30, 2027. A refund claim generally must be filed within 3 years of filing the return, or 2 years of paying the tax, whichever is later.

There is no credit or refund for an occasional lighter load, or for changing or stopping how you use the truck.

Records, and your last return

Keep your records for every taxable truck for at least 3 years after the tax is due or paid, whichever is later, and for a suspended truck, at least 3 years after the end of the period. When you no longer have trucks to report, file a final return with the Final Return box checked.

For anything this page doesn’t cover, see the IRS instructions, or call the IRS’s Form 2290 line, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern: 866-699-4096 (toll free) in the United States, or 859-320-3581 from Canada or Mexico.

Form 2290 is one federal filing, and your stamped Schedule 1 is what an IRP base state needs before it issues apportioned plates. If you run in two or more jurisdictions, our IRP and IFTA course covers what comes next: who needs IRP and IFTA, how your base jurisdiction is set, how an apportioned fee comes from your miles, IFTA’s quarterly returns, and the distance and fuel records both depend on.

TruckRules is a course, not a filing or e-file service, and doesn’t file anything for you. You file Form 2290 yourself, by e-file or by mail.