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

Yes, you can write off 100% of a 6,000 lb vehicle in the first year, provided the gross vehicle weight rating is actually over 6,000 pounds, you use the vehicle more than 50% for business, and you combine Section 179 expensing with 100% bonus depreciation. The full write-off became realistic again for property acquired after January 19, 2025, when the One, Big, Beautiful Bill permanently restored 100% bonus depreciation.¹ Whether you get to a true 100% depends on the type of heavy vehicle you buy and how much you use it for business.

The Weight Rule Is Strict

The threshold is over 6,000 pounds, not at. A vehicle rated at exactly 6,000 pounds falls under the passenger-car depreciation caps in Section 280F and cannot be fully expensed.² The number that matters is GVWR, the manufacturer’s maximum loaded weight for the vehicle including passengers, cargo, and towing.

You can find the GVWR on a label inside the driver’s-side door jamb or in the manufacturer’s specifications. Vehicles that typically clear the threshold include full-size pickups (Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, RAM 1500 and heavier), large SUVs (Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford Expedition, GMC Yukon, Toyota Land Cruiser), and most cargo and passenger vans used commercially. Check the specific configuration you’re buying, because trim and package changes can push a borderline vehicle either way.

Two rules apply no matter how heavy the vehicle. Business use must exceed 50% during the tax year, and only the business-use share is deductible.³ A vehicle used 80% for business gives you 80% of the price as deductible basis. The other 20% is gone for tax purposes.

A few vehicle types sit outside the standard SUV write-off rules entirely, including anything designed to seat more than nine passengers behind the driver and vehicles used in a for-hire transport business.⁴ Those have their own depreciation treatment.

The SUV Cap Is Where People Get Caught

Heavy vehicles are not all treated alike. Section 179 imposes a separate dollar cap on SUVs: for 2025, the maximum Section 179 expense deduction for a qualifying SUV is $31,300, adjusted annually for inflation.⁵ This cap covers any four-wheeled vehicle designed to carry passengers on public roads that is rated above 6,000 pounds but at or below 14,000 pounds GVWR. A $75,000 Tahoe cannot be fully expensed under Section 179 alone. That’s where bonus depreciation earns its keep.

The SUV cap does not apply to three categories:⁵

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

A qualifying pickup with a proper 6-foot bed can be fully expensed under Section 179 up to the overall annual limit. An SUV with fold-down rear seats and a shorter cargo area cannot. That single distinction is worth thousands in the first year when bonus depreciation is reduced or unavailable.

How You Actually Reach 100%

Section 179 First

Section 179 lets a business deduct the full cost of qualifying equipment in the year it’s placed in service. For 2026, the overall Section 179 deduction limit is $2,560,000, with a phase-out that begins when total equipment purchases exceed $4,090,000.⁶ The SUV-specific $31,300 cap sits inside those larger numbers.

One limit tends to bite small businesses: the Section 179 deduction cannot exceed your total taxable income from all active trades or businesses for the year. Earn $40,000, buy a $60,000 truck, and only $40,000 can come off through Section 179 in that year. The unused portion carries forward.⁷

Bonus Depreciation Cleans Up

Bonus depreciation under Section 168(k) applies to whatever depreciable basis remains after Section 179. For qualified property acquired after January 19, 2025, the rate is 100%.¹ Property acquired before January 20, 2025 remains under the old phase-down schedule, which drops bonus depreciation to 20% for property placed in service in 2026.⁸ Acquisition date drives the rate, not just when the vehicle is placed in service.

Two features make bonus depreciation the closer. It applies after Section 179 to any leftover basis. And it is not limited by business income, so it can create or increase a net operating loss. That’s how a Tahoe capped at $31,300 under Section 179 still reaches a full first-year write-off.

New and used vehicles both qualify, as long as the vehicle is new to your business.¹

Worked Examples

Each assumes acquisition after January 19, 2025, placed in service in 2026, and GVWR over 6,000 pounds.

Pickup With a Long Bed, 100% Business Use

A contractor buys a $75,000 heavy-duty pickup with a 6.5-foot bed used entirely for business. The bed qualifies for the SUV-cap exception, so the contractor elects to expense the full $75,000 under Section 179. First-year deduction: $75,000.

SUV, 100% Business Use

A real estate broker buys a $75,000 Chevrolet Tahoe used entirely for business. Section 179 is capped at $31,300. The remaining $43,700 of basis is covered by 100% bonus depreciation. First-year deduction: $75,000.⁵

Partial Business Use

A consultant buys the same $75,000 Tahoe but uses it 70% for business. Deductible basis is $52,500. Section 179 covers $31,300, bonus depreciation covers the remaining $21,200. First-year deduction: $52,500. The $22,500 personal-use portion is never deductible.

Low Business Income

A sole proprietor buys a $60,000 qualifying truck used 100% for business but earns only $35,000 in net business income. Section 179 is limited to $35,000. Bonus depreciation, which has no income limit, absorbs the remaining $25,000. First-year deduction: $60,000. Skip bonus depreciation and the $25,000 carries forward as unused Section 179 instead.⁶

Placed in Service Means Ready, Not Used

A vehicle is placed in service when it’s ready and available for business use, even if you haven’t driven it for a job yet.⁹ Buy a truck on December 28 and park it at the shop, and it counts as placed in service that year. You make the Section 179 election on Form 4562 with your return for the year the vehicle is placed in service.¹⁰ Miss the election on a timely filed return (including extensions), and you lose Section 179 for that asset permanently.

The Recapture Trap

A big first-year deduction comes with strings. If business use drops to 50% or less in any year during the recovery period (generally five years for vehicles), you have to recapture the excess depreciation as ordinary income.² The recapture amount is the difference between what you actually deducted and what you would have received under the slower Alternative Depreciation System from day one. For a $60,000 truck fully expensed in year one, dropping below 51% business use in year two can add $40,000 or more in ordinary income to that return.

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

Records That Hold Up

The business-use percentage is the number auditors zero in on, and the IRS expects contemporaneous written records to support it. “Contemporaneous” means kept at or near the time of the trip, not reconstructed at tax time from memory or a calendar. Each entry should include date, destination, business purpose, and miles driven. A mileage-tracking app works if it captures the same information.

Estimates fall apart under audit. The burden of proof sits on you, and if you claim 90% business use without records to back it, the IRS can disallow the entire deduction, not just the unsupported slice. A log is tedious. It is also what stands between you and losing a five-figure write-off.

On the return itself, Form 4562 asks for the vehicle’s cost, placed-in-service date, business-use percentage, and the deduction method elected.⁵ Fill it in for the year the vehicle goes into service, and keep the underlying records for as long as the recovery period runs.

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)