Form 2290 (HVUT)
The federal Heavy Vehicle Use Tax return, filed once a year for any truck rated at 55,000 pounds or more.
Form 2290 is the IRS return for the Heavy Vehicle Use Tax, or HVUT. If your truck is rated at 55,000 pounds gross weight or more, you file it once a year and pay the tax. For most Class 8 trucks running at full weight, that tax is $550 a year.
The tax year runs from July 1 to June 30, and the return is due by the end of August for trucks in service that July. When you file and pay, the IRS sends back a stamped Schedule 1. That stamped copy is the proof you filed, and you need it to register or renew your plates, so states will ask for it.
If you buy a truck partway through the year, you file for the months that are left, not the whole year. Miss the deadline and you are looking at penalties plus interest, and no stamped Schedule 1 means you cannot get your tags.
Related: IRP, USDOT number.