Writing Off Your Truck: Miles or Actual Costs?

There are two ways to write off your truck. You pick one for each truck.

Way 1: Miles (the easy way)

Count your work miles and multiply by the IRS rate. In 2026 that’s 72.5¢ a mile through June and 76¢ a mile from July on.

• Gas, oil, tires, repairs and insurance are all covered by the rate.
• You don’t keep gas or repair receipts.
• You do keep a record of your miles.
• Parking and tolls on jobs count extra.

Way 2: Actual costs (the paperwork way)

Add up what the truck really cost you for the year:

• Gas
• Repairs, tires and oil changes
• Insurance and registration
• Loan interest
• A write-off for the truck itself

Then you take the work share. If 80% of your miles were work, you take 80% of those costs. You still have to track miles to know that share, and you have to keep every receipt.

Which one wins?

An older, paid-off truck: miles almost always wins

Take a paid-off 2014 V6 pickup. No loan payment, and not much value left to write off. Running it costs about 45¢ to 55¢ a mile. The mileage rate pays 72.5¢ to 76¢.

Miles wins by about $4,900, and it’s far less paperwork.

A newer heavy truck you just bought: actual costs can win big

This is the “write off the whole truck” deal you may have heard about. If the truck:

• weighs over 6,000 pounds fully loaded (look for “GVWR” on the sticker inside the driver’s door), and
• is a pickup with a bed at least 6 feet long, or a cargo van with no back seats, and
• is used for work more than half the time,

then most or all of what you paid can come off your income in the year you start using it for work. Heavy SUVs get a smaller amount up front, about $31,000 to $32,000.

The catches:

• You have to use the actual-costs way for that truck.
• If your work use later drops to half or less, the IRS takes part of it back.
• When you sell the truck, part of the sale price gets taxed.
• Buying a truck just for the write-off still means spending the money. The write-off lowers your taxes; it doesn’t make the truck free.

Talk to a tax preparer before you buy.

One rule to protect your options

Use the miles way the first year you use a truck for work. If you do, you can switch to actual costs in a later year. If you start with actual costs, you usually can’t switch to miles for that truck.

Either way, track your miles

Both ways need your work miles. Two odometer pictures a month and your job history from your work app are enough. How to track work miles.

This is general information about U.S. federal taxes, not advice for your situation. If something here doesn't match your paperwork, ask a tax preparer.