The federal government raises additional revenue by imposing excise taxes on certain goods and activities. Generally, if your construction company owns heavy trucks that use the public highways, it is required to pay the federal highway vehicle use tax. Your company may also receive a credit or refund for fuel excise taxes paid on fuel used for certain off-road uses.
The heavy highway vehicle use tax is imposed on trucks and truck tractors if they are:
- Highway motor vehicles – defined as vehicles moved by their own motors and designed to transport a load over the public highways, even if the vehicles are designed to do other things
- Registered and required to be registered for highway use
- Used on a public highway, and
- Vehicles with a taxable gross weight of at least 55,000 pounds
The tax applies to the first use of a taxable vehicle on a public highway during the taxable period – July 1 through June 30. If you have a truck that is subject to this tax, you have to pay the tax by the last day of the month following the month in which the vehicle is first used during the taxable period.
Fuel Excise Taxes
The federal government also imposes an excise tax on various types of fuel. For gasoline, the tax is $.184 per gallon. The tax is $.244 per gallon for both clear diesel fuel and clear kerosene. However, the amount your business pays can be credited or refunded if the fuel is used for off-road purposes. Examples of off-road purposes include using the fuel as heating oil, in stationary engines, in non-highway vehicles, and in separate engines mounted on highway vehicles.
When you claim a credit or refund for fuel excise taxes, you’ll need supporting records. The records should show the number of gallons used during the period covered by the claim, the dates of purchase, names and addresses of suppliers and amounts purchased from them, the purposes for which you used the fuel, and the number of gallons used for each purpose.
