Form 2290 Highway Vehicle Use Tax on a Suspended Vehicles

Customers typically question whether it is necessary for them to e-file Form 2290 for their suspended vehicles seeing that they would not have to pay the heavy vehicle use tax anyway. Well, the Customer Support Team of Tax2efile asserts that filers should prepare to tax for all vehicles under their authority, regardless of the fact that some of the vehicles may be considered “suspended.” The Internal Revenue Service attempts to keep a running list of all the heavy vehicles in our nation, whether they are in operation or not. Therefore, it is important that heavy vehicle operators file Form 2290 for every single vehicle that they own. Although vehicles that are not in use are considered “suspended” vehicles, if at any point they are used for transporting goods again and exceed 5,000 miles in a year, then the heavy vehicle use tax (HVUT) must be paid on those vehicles’ behalf.

To keep customers safe and clear of penalization by the Internal Revenue Service, Tax2efile suggests that filers prepare a Form 2290 for all of their vehicles through our e-filing service. There is, in fact, a benefit for filing for all vehicles: in the circumstance that a vehicle exceeds more than 5,000 miles in a year (7,500 miles for agricultural vehicles), a heavy vehicle owner/operator will have to pay the heavy vehicle use tax and they can do so easily through our service by creating an “Amended Return.” An “Amended Return,” is basically a revision of a previously filed form as it relates to an increase in a vehicle’s taxable gross weight or the exceeding of mileage for a suspended vehicle. “Amended Returns” are a lot easier to complete when there is already a record of vehicles.

Tax2efile maintains the objective of making e-filing easy, efficient and safe for our customers. With that being said, it should be assumed that we have made and continue to improve our e-filing system with our customers’ best interest in mind. We would not lead our customers astray on this one because it is of no benefit for us to have our customers penalized by the IRS.  Therefore, we encourage all customers to file Form 2290 for all their vehicles, even if they are out of operation.