Form 2290 for Car Haulers and Auto Transporters

A car hauler carries its cargo on the outside, but the tax works the same as any other heavy combination. The cars you load are the load, and a full rack of them adds up fast.

Does a car hauler file Form 2290?

An over the road auto transporter with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more files Form 2290. A seven car or nine car rig loaded to capacity clears that threshold with room to spare, so most commercial car haulers file every period.

The cars on the rack are your load

Taxable gross weight is the unloaded weight of the tractor and trailer plus the heaviest load you customarily carry. For a car hauler, that load is the vehicles on the deck. A rack of full size trucks and SUVs weighs far more than a rack of compacts, so use the heaviest configuration you actually run when you choose your weight category.

What to have ready

• An active EIN matched to your legal business name.
• The VIN of the powered tractor or straight truck.
• Your taxable gross weight category with a full load figured in.
• The month you first used the rig on the highway this period.

Source

Definitions and the weight threshold come from the IRS Instructions for Form 2290 (irs.gov/instructions/i2290).