The IRS Form 2290-V payment voucher is the slip you send with a check or money order when you pay the Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax on paper. It has four fields: your EIN, the payment amount, the tax period in YYYYMM format, and your name and address. Fill it out so every entry matches your Form 2290, mail it loose (no staples) with your check and Schedule 1 to the IRS in Louisville, Kentucky, and keep a copy of everything for your records. If you are reporting 25 or more taxed vehicles, you cannot use this voucher at all; the IRS requires you to e-file.1Internal Revenue Service. E-file Form 2290
When You Use Form 2290-V
The voucher exists for one situation: you owe heavy highway vehicle use tax and you are paying by check or money order rather than electronically. It links your physical payment to your tax account so the IRS credits the right amount to the right filer.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2290 Without it, a loose check can sit in a holding queue while the IRS tries to match it to a return, and that delay can trigger automated notices.
The 25-vehicle threshold counts only taxed vehicles. Suspended vehicles (those expected to travel below the mileage limit) do not count, so a fleet with 30 suspended trucks and 10 taxed trucks is still under the electronic filing cutoff and can use the paper voucher.1Internal Revenue Service. E-file Form 2290
What to Have Ready Before You Fill It Out
Finish Form 2290 first. The voucher pulls its payment amount and tax period date straight from the main return, so if the return is not done, the voucher cannot be right.
You also need an Employer Identification Number. A Social Security number will not work on Form 2290. If you do not already have an EIN, apply online at IRS.gov, but plan ahead: the IRS says it takes about four weeks for a new EIN to become established in its systems.3Internal Revenue Service. Trucking Tax Center
Have your total tax figured. For vehicles weighing 55,000 to 75,000 pounds, the annual tax is $100 plus $22 for each 1,000 pounds (or fraction) over 55,000. Vehicles over 75,000 pounds owe a flat $550.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4481 – Imposition of Tax A single Form 2290 covers all your taxed vehicles for the period, so the voucher amount is the sum across the fleet. Suspended vehicles (5,000 miles or less during the period, 7,500 miles for agricultural vehicles) owe no tax, so nothing for them goes on the voucher, though you still report them on Form 2290.5Internal Revenue Service. About Form 2290, Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return
Filling Out the Four Boxes
The IRS scans these vouchers automatically, so print clearly in black ink and stay inside the boxes.6Internal Revenue Service. Form 2290 – Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return
Box 1: Employer Identification Number
Enter your nine-digit EIN exactly as it appears on Form 2290. A transposed digit sends your payment to someone else’s account.
Box 2: Payment Amount
Enter the dollar-and-cent amount you are paying. This has to match the total tax liability from the completed Form 2290. If you are paying for multiple vehicles on one return, write the combined total. One voucher and one check cover the entire return.
Box 3: Tax Period Date
Enter the date shown on line 1 of Form 2290 in YYYYMM format. For most filers in the current cycle, that is 202507, the tax period running July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026.6Internal Revenue Service. Form 2290 – Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return
Box 4: Name and Address
Enter your legal name, street address, city, state, and ZIP code exactly as they appear on Form 2290. Include a suite or room number if your business has one.
Before you set the voucher aside, look again at the EIN and the payment amount. Those are the two entries where errors cause the most trouble. A mismatched dollar amount creates an underpayment or overpayment flag that triggers IRS correspondence.
Preparing the Check and Mailing Package
Make your check or money order payable to “United States Treasury.” Not “IRS,” not any abbreviation, the full phrase. On the memo line, write your EIN, “Form 2290,” and the tax period date. That backup identification protects you if the voucher gets separated from the payment during processing.6Internal Revenue Service. Form 2290 – Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return
Do not staple or paper-clip anything. The IRS explicitly warns against fastening the voucher to the check, or either one to Form 2290, because fasteners jam the scanning equipment.6Internal Revenue Service. Form 2290 – Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return Stack everything loosely in the envelope: Form 2290, both copies of Schedule 1, Form 2290-V, and the check. Do not send cash.
Mail the package to:
Internal Revenue Service
P.O. Box 932500
Louisville, KY 40293-25006Internal Revenue Service. Form 2290 – Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return
Photocopy the whole package before you send it. That copy of the completed Form 2290, Schedule 1, the voucher, and the check is your only proof of filing until the IRS mails back your stamped Schedule 1.
Mistakes That Delay Processing
A few small errors account for most of the correspondence the IRS sends back on paper 2290 filings:
- Using a Social Security number instead of an EIN. The form will be rejected outright.
- An EIN with a transposed digit, so the payment posts to the wrong account.
- A voucher amount that does not match line 6 of Form 2290.
- The tax period written as MMYYYY, MM/YYYY, or just the year. It has to be YYYYMM.
- A check made out to “IRS” instead of “United States Treasury.”
- Stapling or clipping the paperwork together.
- Sending the package to a different IRS address (an older one from a prior year’s instructions, for example).
Getting Your Stamped Schedule 1
You submit both copies of Schedule 1 with Form 2290. The IRS stamps one and mails it back as proof that you paid or reported a suspension of the heavy vehicle use tax. Your state department of motor vehicles will want that stamped copy before it registers the vehicle.6Internal Revenue Service. Form 2290 – Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return
Paper filing is slow here. E-filers get a watermarked Schedule 1 within minutes of IRS acceptance.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2290 Paper filers wait on postal delivery in both directions, manual IRS processing, and check clearing. If a state registration deadline is close and you are still under the 25-vehicle threshold, e-filing is worth considering just to get the stamped schedule back in time.