Just one day left to eFile your 2290 returns before the IRS deadline. Are you ready? Check out this guide to review your 2290 returns in detail and eFile your 2290 tax returns before the deadline.
Deadlines. Deadlines. Deadlines.
If you’re in the trucking industry and you’ve been following similar spaces, you must have come across this word a LOT in the past few days.
And there’s a reason for it.
The IRS HVUT 2290 form is due by the end of this August and trucking businesses are in a hurry to prepare and file their 2290 tax returns before the IRS deadline.
If you haven’t filed your 2290 tax returns, be smart about your HVUT compliance now and file your 2290 truck tax forms before the due date to prevent late filing penalty assessments from the IRS.
And if you have already prepared your 2290 returns and you’re just here to double-check if you’ve got everything right on your 2290 HVUT tax forms, this read will be useful to you as well.
Follow this quick checklist below to eFile your 2290 forms before the IRS deadline.
Let’s get started.
Attention!
The IRS 2290 deadline for 2022-23 is August 31, 2022.
Checklist Overview
- Check your business name
- Validate your TIN/EIN
- Look for incorrect vehicle identification numbers (VINs)
- Double-check the vehicle category
- Validate suspended vehicles
- Compute HVUT accurately
- Fill out both copies of Schedule 1
- eFile Form 2290 before the IRS deadline
Review Your 2290 Returns Before The IRS HVUT 2290 Deadline In Detail
- Check your business name
Entering the correct name of the business on the 2290 form is crucial to getting your returns accepted by the IRS. If you happen to report an incorrect name (even if the error is as small as misspelled words or missed letters), you will need to file a fresh 2290 form.
Further, you’ll be required to pay the tax again, and file a Form 8849 to claim a refund on the previous tax paid.
- Validate your TIN/EIN
Verify your employer identification number (EIN) before you report it on your 2290 tax return. While you’re at it, make sure that the business name and the EIN match the IRS records. Use the real-time TIN Matching tool from the IRS to verify your TIN + legal name information.
Remember that TIN discrepancies could be very expensive for your business. Each incorrect TIN could hit you with a $280 penalty + interest.
It’s easier to just validate the business name + TIN information before you report it on Form 2290.
Note: The IRS does not accept social security numbers as TINs. You’ll need an EIN to file a 2290 form.
- Look for incorrect vehicle identification numbers (VINs)
Validate your vehicle identification numbers using free VIN checking tools. Verify and then report the VINs on your 2290 tax returns.
Reporting an incorrect VIN will not automatically result in a file rejection because the IRS doesn’t keep a track of the VINs you report.
However, you’re paying taxes for a VIN which is incorrect. So, it’s best to verify your VINs and report them correctly on your 2290 forms before filing them to the IRS.
Note: If you report an incorrect VIN, you will need to file a 2290 VIN Correction form to correct the VINs.
- Double-check the vehicle category
There are a total of 23 vehicle categories in the HVUT 2290 reporting regime. Each of these vehicle categories is identified with alphabets.
In the following screengrab from the IRS HVUT 2290 Form, you have vehicles from Category A to Category W.
Category A to Category V vehicles are represented by the gross taxable weight of the vehicle and they’re taxed accordingly. However, Category W vehicles are exempt from HVUT taxes because they do not meet the HVUT-qualifying mileage use limit (even though they meet the taxable gross weight metrics).
- Validate suspended vehicles
Vehicles that are exempt from HVUT taxes are known as tax-suspended vehicles or just suspended vehicles in the 2290 HVUt reporting regime.
If you have one or more tax-suspended vehicles to report, you need to validate the mileage use limit of the vehicle, which is 5000 miles for regular vehicles and 7500 miles for agricultural vehicles.
If the mileage use limit is below these ranges, then the highway vehicle is suspended from taxes.
The mileage use limit is calculated from the month of first use in the tax period. And the mileage utilized must be calculated accurately to claim the tax-suspension status for your vehicle.
Even if the vehicle is suspended from HVUT taxes, it must still be reported on Form 2290.
Note: The tax-suspended vehicles are only suspended from tax implications, not IRS filings.
- Compute HVUT accurately
Calculate the 2290 tax you owe to the IRS using EZ2290’s automatic HVUT tax calculator.
Just enter the data on your 2290 form and watch the calculator compute the tax in the background.
The total tax you owe will dynamically change as you enter more data to your returns.
This is the easiest way to calculate HVUT online easily.
- Fill out both copies of Schedule 1
More often than not, filers fill out one of the 2 copies of Schedule 1, forgetting to fill out the second copy of Schedule 1.
If you want the IRS to send the stamped Schedule 1, then you must fill out both copies of Schedule 1. The IRS will stamp and send one copy back to the filer to confirm the receipt of tax.
Well, this has been the case for those who file by paper.
If you’re e-filing with an IRS-authorized eFile provider like EZ2290, you don’t have to worry about this. Your electronic returns are automatically populated when you upload the data using our Bulk Upload feature.
Further, you will receive the digitally signed copy of Schedule 1 from the IRS, minutes after successful submission.
- eFile Form 2290 before the IRS deadline
eFile your 2290 returns with an IRS-authorized eFile provider like EZ2290, trusted by 10,000+ trucking businesses like yours.
EZ2290 offers:
- Quick and easy bulk data import
- Dynamic form completion
- Automatic HVUT tax calculations
- Secure & encrypted eFile transmissions
- Free 2290 VIN corrections
- Free Re-file for rejected returns
- Convenient tax payment options
- Priority 2290 tax support
And much more.
