Can You Write Off 100% of a 6,000 lb Vehicle?

A vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating above 6,000 pounds can be written off in full during its first year of service, provided it is used entirely for business and acquired after January 19, 2025. That is the short answer to the 6,000 lb vehicle tax deduction question, and it depends on stacking two provisions of the tax code: Section 179 expensing and 100 percent bonus depreciation, which the One, Big, Beautiful Bill permanently restored for qualifying property.¹ Whether you get the whole cost in year one, or only part of it, comes down to what kind of heavy vehicle you bought and how much you actually drive it for business.

What “Over 6,000 Pounds” Actually Means

The threshold is measured by gross vehicle weight rating, the maximum loaded weight the manufacturer assigns to the vehicle, including passengers, cargo, and towing equipment. For trucks and vans the tax code uses GVWR directly; for other four-wheeled vehicles it uses unloaded gross vehicle weight. The rating must exceed 6,000 pounds. A vehicle rated at exactly 6,000 pounds falls under the stricter depreciation caps that apply to passenger cars.²

You can find the GVWR on a label inside the driver’s-side door jamb or in the manufacturer’s specifications. Full-size pickups like the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, and RAM 1500 typically clear the mark, as do large SUVs such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford Expedition, GMC Yukon, and Toyota Land Cruiser. Most commercial cargo and passenger vans qualify too.

Two rules apply no matter which heavy vehicle you buy. Business use must exceed 50 percent of total use during the tax year.³ And the deduction only covers the business-use share of the cost. If you use the vehicle 80 percent for business, 80 percent of the purchase price is your deductible basis; the other 20 percent is personal and never comes back.

A few vehicles sit outside these rules entirely. Anything designed to seat more than nine passengers behind the driver, or used directly in a for-hire business like a taxi, shuttle, or delivery carrier, is governed by separate depreciation rules and does not fit the standard heavy-vehicle framework described here.⁴

Truck vs. SUV: The Cap That Changes Everything

Not every heavy vehicle gets the same treatment. Section 179 imposes a separate dollar cap on SUVs. For 2025, the maximum Section 179 expense for a qualifying SUV is $31,300, adjusted annually for inflation.⁵ The cap applies to any four-wheeled vehicle rated above 6,000 pounds but at or below 14,000 pounds GVWR that is primarily designed to carry passengers over public roads. Most full-size SUVs fall inside that description.

The SUV cap does not apply to three categories of heavy vehicles:⁵

Pickup trucks with a cargo area at least 6 feet in interior length that is not directly accessible from the passenger compartment.
Enclosed cargo vehicles with an integral enclosure covering the driver and load area, no seating behind the driver, and no body section protruding more than 30 inches ahead of the windshield.
Passenger vehicles designed to seat more than nine people behind the driver.

A pickup with a 6-foot bed can be fully expensed under Section 179 up to the overall annual limit. An SUV cannot, no matter how expensive. That single distinction changes the math on tens of thousands of dollars.

How Section 179 and Bonus Depreciation Combine

Section 179 lets a business deduct the purchase price of qualifying equipment in the year it is placed in service, rather than depreciating it over several years. For 2026, the overall Section 179 limit is $2,560,000, with a phase-out starting at $4,090,000 in total equipment purchases.⁶ Most small businesses will never approach either ceiling, but the SUV-specific cap still applies on top of them.

Section 179 has one limitation you cannot design around: the deduction cannot exceed your total taxable income from all active trades or businesses for the year. Buy a $60,000 truck with only $40,000 of business income and Section 179 gives you $40,000 this year. The unused $20,000 carries forward until you have income to absorb it.⁷

Bonus depreciation under Section 168(k) is the second tool, and for property acquired after January 19, 2025, it is back at 100 percent.¹ That replaced the phase-down schedule that had cut bonus depreciation to 60 percent in 2024 and 40 percent in 2025 under the old rules.⁸ Bonus depreciation applies to whatever basis remains after Section 179 and, unlike Section 179, is not capped by business income. It can create or increase a net operating loss.

The acquisition date matters as much as the placed-in-service date. A vehicle acquired before January 20, 2025 but placed in service in 2026 falls under the old phase-down and gets only 20 percent bonus depreciation on the remaining basis. New and used vehicles both qualify for both provisions, as long as the vehicle is new to your business.

Worked Examples

These assume acquisition after January 19, 2025, placement in service during 2026, and a GVWR above 6,000 pounds.

Pickup Truck, 100 Percent Business Use

A contractor buys a $75,000 heavy-duty pickup with a 6.5-foot bed and uses it only for business. The SUV cap does not apply because the bed is 6 feet or longer and not accessible from the cab. Section 179 covers the full $75,000. Remaining basis: zero.

SUV, 100 Percent Business Use

A real estate broker buys a $75,000 Chevrolet Tahoe used entirely for business. The SUV cap limits Section 179 to $31,300. The remaining $43,700 qualifies for 100 percent bonus depreciation. First-year deduction: $75,000. The restored bonus rate closes the gap the SUV cap opens.⁵

Partial Business Use

A consultant buys the same $75,000 Tahoe but drives it 70 percent for business, 30 percent personal. Deductible basis: $52,500. Section 179 covers $31,300 (the SUV cap), bonus depreciation covers the remaining $21,200. First-year deduction: $52,500. The $22,500 personal share is never deductible.

Low Business Income

A sole proprietor buys a $60,000 qualifying truck used 100 percent for business but earns only $35,000 in net business income for the year. Section 179 is capped at $35,000 by the income limit. Bonus depreciation, which has no such limit, covers the remaining $25,000. First-year deduction: $60,000.⁶

Timing and How to Claim It

A vehicle is placed in service when it is ready and available for use in your business, even if you haven’t driven it for a business trip yet.⁹ A truck delivered to your lot on December 28 and ready to use counts for that tax year. The deduction is claimed on Form 4562, filed with your business return, listing the cost, placed-in-service date, business-use percentage, and method elected.¹⁰ Miss the Section 179 election on a timely filed return (including extensions) for the year of placement and the election is gone for that asset permanently.⁵

Vehicles rated at 6,000 pounds or less are a different world. They fall under the Section 280F passenger-car caps, which limit annual depreciation regardless of purchase price and typically stretch the write-off across five or more years.² That is the mechanism the 6,000-pound rule exists to escape.

When You Have to Give the Deduction Back

A big first-year write-off creates an ongoing obligation. If business use drops to 50 percent or less in any year during the vehicle’s five-year recovery period, you trigger recapture and have to report the excess depreciation as ordinary income.² The recapture amount is the difference between what you actually deducted and what you would have been allowed under the slower Alternative Depreciation System. For a fully expensed $60,000 truck, a drop below 51 percent business use in year two can add $40,000 or more of ordinary income to that year’s return.

Selling a fully depreciated vehicle produces the same kind of tax event. Any gain is recaptured as ordinary income under Section 1245 and reported on Form 4797. Write off $75,000 in year one, sell three years later for $35,000, and the entire $35,000 is ordinary income because the depreciation reduced your adjusted basis to zero.¹¹

The Mileage Log Is Not Optional

The IRS expects contemporaneous written records supporting your business-use percentage. Contemporaneous means kept at or near the time of each trip, not reconstructed at tax time. A log should show the date, destination, business purpose, and miles for each trip. Digital tracking apps work as long as they capture the same information.

The burden of proof is on you. Claim 90 percent business use without records to back it up and the IRS can disallow the whole deduction, not just the unsupported part. On a five-figure first-year write-off, the log is the cheapest insurance you can carry.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Treasury, IRS Issue Guidance on the Additional First Year Depreciation Deduction Amended as Part of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 280F – Limitation on Depreciation for Luxury Automobiles; Limitation Where Certain Property Used for Personal Purposes
3
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property
5
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 4562 (2025)
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 179 – Election to Expense Certain Depreciable Business Assets
7
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.179-2 – Limitations on Amount Subject to Section 179 Election
8
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2026-11 Interim Guidance on Additional First Year Depreciation Deduction under 168(k)
9
Internal Revenue Service. Depreciation – Frequently Asked Questions
10
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization
11
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 4797 (2025)