Who Must File
contd from home...
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:
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?