Who Must File

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the vehicle has a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more. See the examples under When To File later.

You may be an individual, limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or any other type of organization (including nonprofit, charitable, educational, etc.).

Disregarded entities and qualified subchapter S subsidiaries. Qualified subchapter S subsidiaries (QSubs) and eligible single-owner disregarded entities are treated as separate entities for excise tax and reporting purposes. QSubs and eligible single-owner disregarded entities must pay and report excise taxes, register for excise tax activities, and claim any refunds, credits, and payments under the entity’s employer identification number (EIN). These actions cannot take place under the owner’s taxpayer identification number (TIN). Some QSubs and disregarded entities may already have an EIN. However, if you are unsure, please call the IRS Business and Specialty Tax line at 1-800-829-4933. For more information on applying for an EIN, see Employer Identification Number (EIN) later.

Generally, QSubs and eligible single-owner disregarded entities will continue to be treated as disregarded entities for other federal tax purposes (other than employment taxes). For more information, see Regulations section 301.7701-2(c)(2)(v).

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. This rule also applies to dual registration of a leased vehicle.

Dealers

Any vehicle operated under a dealer’s tag, license, or permit is considered registered in the name of the dealer.

Used vehicle

If you acquire and register or are required to register a used taxable vehicle in your name during the tax period, you must keep as part of your records proof showing whether there was a use of the vehicle or a suspension of the tax during the period before the vehicle was registered in your name. The evidence may be a written statement signed and dated by the person (or dealer) from whom you purchased the vehicle.

CAUTION!

If you acquire a vehicle and use it on the public highways in any month other than July, you are liable for the tax for the prorated tax period. You must file Form 2290 and pay the tax by the last day of the month after the month you first use the vehicle, or by November 30, 2011, whichever date is later.

If there is an unpaid tax liability for the months before you acquire and use the vehicle during the tax period, you are liable for the total tax for the entire period, to the extent not paid. In that case, you must file Form 2290 and pay the tax by the last day of the month after the month notification is received from the IRS that the tax has not been paid in full.

Logging vehicles

A vehicle qualifies as a logging vehicle if:

1. It is used exclusively for the transportation of products harvested from the forested site, or it exclusively transports the products harvested from the forested site to and from locations on a forested site (public highways may be used between the forested site locations), and
2. It is registered (under the laws of the State or States in which the vehicle is required to be registered) as a highway motor vehicle used exclusively in the transportation of harvested forest products. A vehicle will be considered to be registered under the laws of a state as a highway motor vehicle used exclusively in the transportation of harvested forest products if the vehicle is so registered under a state statute or legally valid regulations. In addition, no special tag or license plate identifying a vehicle as being used in the transportation of harvested forest products is required.

Products harvested from the forested site may include timber that has been processed for commercial use by sawing into lumber, chipping or other milling operations if the processing occurs before transportation from the forested site.

TIP

Logging vehicles are taxed at reduced rates. See Logging vehicles later.

Taxable Vehicles

Highway motor vehicles that have a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more are taxable.

A highway motor vehicle includes any self-propelled vehicle designed to carry a load over public highways, whether or not also designed to perform other functions. Examples of vehicles that are designed to carry a load over public highways include trucks, truck tractors, and buses. Generally, vans, pickup trucks, panel trucks, and similar trucks are not subject to this tax because they have a taxable gross weight less than 55,000 pounds.

A vehicle consists of a chassis, or a chassis and body, but does not include the load. It does not matter if the vehicle is designed to perform a highway transportation function for only a particular type of load, such as passengers, furnishings, and personal effects (as in a house, office, or utility trailer), or a special kind of cargo, goods, supplies, or materials. It does not matter if machinery or equipment is specially designed (and permanently mounted) to perform some off-highway task unrelated to highway transportation except to the extent discussed below under Vehicles not considered highway motor vehicles.

Use means the use of a vehicle with power from its own motor on any public highway in the United States.

A public highway is any road in the United States that is not a private roadway. This includes federal, state, county, and city roads.

Exemptions. To be exempt from the tax, a highway motor vehicle must be used and actually operated by:

• The Federal Government,
• The District of Columbia,
• A state or local government,
• The American National Red Cross,
• A nonprofit volunteer fire department, ambulance association, or rescue squad,
• An Indian tribal government but only if the vehicle’s use involves the exercise of an essential tribal government function, or
• A mass transportation authority if it is created under a statute that gives it certain powers normally exercised by the state.

Also exempt from the tax (not required to file Form 2290) are:

• Qualified blood collector vehicles (see below) used by qualified blood collector organizations, and
• Mobile machinery that meets the specifications for a chassis as described under Specially designed mobile machinery for nontransportation functions, later. Qualified blood collector vehicle. A qualified blood collector vehicle is a vehicle at least 80% of the use of which during the prior tax period was by a qualified blood collector organization for the collection, storage, or transportation of blood. A vehicle first placed in service in a tax period will be treated as a qualified blood collector vehicle for the tax period if the qualified blood collector organization certifies that the organization reasonably expects at least 80% of the use of the vehicle by the organization during the tax period will be in the collection, storage, or transportation of blood.

Vehicles not considered highway motor vehicles.

Generally, the following kinds of vehicles are not considered highway vehicles.

1. Specially designed mobile machinery for nontransportation functions. A self-propelled vehicle is not a highway vehicle if all the following apply.
   • The chassis has permanently mounted to it machinery or equipment used to perform certain operations (construction, manufacturing, drilling, mining, timbering, processing, farming, or similar operations) if the operation of the machinery or equipment is unrelated to transportation on or off the public highways.
   • The chassis has been specially designed to serve only as a mobile carriage and mount (and power source, if applicable) for the machinery or equipment, whether or not the machinery or equipment is in operation.
   • The chassis could not, because of its special design and without substantial structural modification, be used as part of a vehicle designed to carry any other load.
2. Vehicles specially designed for off-highway transportation. A vehicle is not treated as a highway vehicle if the vehicle is specially designed for the primary function of transporting a particular type of load other than over the public highway and because of this special design, the vehicle’s capability to transport a load over a public highway is substantially limited or impaired.
   To make this determination, you can take into account the vehicle’s size, whether the vehicle is subject to licensing, safety, or other requirements, and whether the vehicle can transport a load at a sustained speed of at least 25 miles per hour. It does not matter that the vehicle can carry heavier loads off highway than it is allowed to carry over the highway.
3. Nontransportation trailers and semi-trailers. A trailer or semi-trailer will not be treated as a highway vehicle if it is specially designed to function as an enclosed stationary shelter for carrying on a nontransportation function at an off-highway site. For example, a trailer that is capable only of functioning as an office for an off-highway construction operation is not a highway vehicle.

When To File?