Depreciation and Section 179 for work vehicles

What Section 179 does for a work vehicle

Section 179 lets an LLC expense a vehicle in its first year instead of spreading the cost over five or more. For a trades business buying a truck, that is the difference between a slice each April and the whole bite now.

The limits are far above any single truck. For tax years beginning in 2025, the maximum Section 179 deduction is $2,500,000, reduced by costs over $4,000,000. For 2026 the ceiling is $2,560,000 over $4,090,000. No vehicle-based business in this fleet's trades reaches either number on trucks alone.

The business must have income to use it against: the deduction is limited to the aggregate taxable income from the active trades or businesses. A profitable year with a new truck is the case Section 179 was built for; a loss year carries the cost forward instead.

$2,500,000For tax years beginning in 2025 the maximum Section 179 deduction is $2,500,000, reduced by costs over $4,000,000; for 2026 it is $2,560,000 over $4,090,000. — IRS Publication 946, How to Depreciate Property, retrieved 2026-09-29

The 50 percent business-use gate

Section 179 asks one question first: is the vehicle used more than 50 percent for business in the year it is placed in service? Below that, the election is off the table for that vehicle.

For a truck titled to the LLC and working every day, the answer is easy. For the owner's SUV that doubles as the family car, it is the question that decides the whole method. A contemporaneous mileage log is the only evidence that answers it.

Above 50 percent, the deductible cost is the purchase price multiplied by the business-use percentage. The LLC's books and the log need to agree, which is what the personal-use page covers in detail.

more than 50%The Section 179 election is available only if property is used more than 50% for business in the year it is placed in service, and is figured on the business-use percentage of the cost. — IRS Publication 946, How to Depreciate Property, retrieved 2026-09-29

The 6,000-pound line that splits the trades

A passenger automobile is a four-wheeled vehicle rated at 6,000 pounds or less of unloaded gross vehicle weight, 6,000 pounds or less of gross vehicle weight rating for trucks and vans. Those vehicles are subject to the annual depreciation dollar caps.

A truck or van rated over 6,000 pounds is not a passenger automobile, and vehicles used to transport persons or property for pay or hire are not either. A mover's box truck and a landscaper's dump truck sit outside the caps entirely, while a cleaner's hatchback and a light cargo van sit inside them.

This single line explains most of the tax divergence between trades. The same $40,000 recovers on completely different schedules on either side of 6,000 pounds, and it is worth checking the rating on the door jamb before the purchase, not after.

6,000 lbsUnder IRS Publication 946, a passenger automobile is a four-wheeled vehicle rated at 6,000 pounds or less, and vehicles rated above that line are not passenger automobiles. — IRS Publication 946, How to Depreciate Property, retrieved 2026-09-29

The SUV cap at 32,000 dollars for 2026

One vehicle class has its own Section 179 cap. A heavy sport utility vehicle, a four-wheeled vehicle primarily designed to carry passengers, rated over 6,000 pounds and not more than 14,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, cannot be expensed past a fixed figure.

That figure is $31,300 for vehicles placed in service in tax years beginning in 2025, and $32,000 for 2026. Above the cap, the rest follows the normal rules.

The cap does not apply to a vehicle designed to seat more than nine passengers behind the driver, or one with a cargo area. A crew van with an enclosed cargo box escapes it; an owner's heavy SUV does not. An LLC buying the owner's personal SUV into the fleet hits this cap first.

$32,000 in 2026The maximum Section 179 deduction for sport utility vehicles is $31,300 for tax years beginning in 2025 and $32,000 for 2026. — IRS Publication 946, How to Depreciate Property, retrieved 2026-09-29

The work trucks the rules name directly

The IRS does not leave "work vehicle" to interpretation. Bucket trucks (cherry pickers), cement mixers, dump trucks, flatbed trucks, refrigerated trucks, and delivery trucks with seating only for the driver are named among the qualified nonpersonal use vehicles.

That naming matters twice. These vehicles are not subject to the passenger automobile limits. As qualified nonpersonal use vehicles, the listed-property rules that track personal versus business miles also apply differently than for an ordinary car or van.

An electrician's bucket truck is on that list. A landscaper's dump truck is on that list. A mover's box truck with a walk box is on that list in substance through the pay-or-hire rule. The trades' actual fleets are the vehicles the rulebook was written around.

bucket trucksUnder IRS Publication 946, bucket trucks (cherry pickers), cement mixers, dump trucks, flatbed trucks and refrigerated trucks are named among the qualified nonpersonal use vehicles. — IRS Publication 946, How to Depreciate Property, retrieved 2026-09-29

Bonus depreciation at 100 percent again

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reinstated the 100 percent special depreciation allowance for certain qualified property acquired and placed in service after January 19, 2025.

For a trades LLC buying trucks and equipment from 2025 onward, that is the second first-year bite. Section 179 takes the cost up to its limits, then the 100 percent allowance takes the remainder, then regular depreciation takes whatever is left.

The order matters, and so does the acquisition date. Property acquired before January 20, 2025 and placed in service during 2025 is limited to a 40 percent allowance instead, with 60 percent for long-production property and certain aircraft. The purchase invoice's date, not the filing date, decides which rule applies.

100% after Jan 19, 2025The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reinstated the 100% special depreciation allowance for qualified property acquired and placed in service after January 19, 2025. — IRS Publication 946, How to Depreciate Property, retrieved 2026-09-29

Depreciation is the actual-expenses half of a choice

Choosing depreciation locks the vehicle into the actual-expenses method: fuel, repairs, insurance and depreciation each claimed as spent. The alternative is the standard mileage rate, which needs no receipts and no recovery schedule, at 70 cents a mile for 2025 and 72.5 cents for the first half of 2026.

Heavy vehicles reward the depreciation side, because a truck over 6,000 pounds escaping the caps plus the 100 percent allowance can recover tens of thousands of dollars in year one. A cheap, high-mileage car rewards the cents-per-mile side.

The two methods cannot be mixed on one vehicle, and the choice made in the first year constrains later years, so make it deliberately. The mileage page runs the comparison with the current rates, and the cost page keeps the purchase prices in view.

70 to 76 centsThe IRS standard mileage rate for business use was 70 cents per mile in 2025, 72.5 cents per mile for January through June 2026, and 76 cents per mile for July through December 2026. — IRS, retrieved 2026-09-29

What to keep, and when to ask a pro

The file that supports a first-year write-off is the purchase invoice, the placed-in-service date, the gross vehicle weight rating from the door jamb, and the mileage log. The GVWR is what proves which side of the 6,000-pound line the vehicle sits on.

Keep the West Virginia title paperwork with the tax file too. The titling tax and the fees are part of the vehicle's basis story, and the DMV's book-value rules can affect what the basis actually is.

A mixed-use SUV, a heavy recovery truck and any vehicle near the 50 percent business-use line are the cases where a CPA earns their fee. Bring the log, not a story. The equipment page covers the tools that ride in the truck, which follow these same rules without the vehicle thresholds.

commuting excludedUnder IRS Publication 946, no depreciation deduction is allowed on a car used only for commuting, personal shopping, family vacations, or driving children to school. — IRS Publication 946, How to Depreciate Property, retrieved 2026-09-29

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