Food truck depreciation works by splitting the purchase price into two asset classes — the vehicle and the kitchen equipment inside it — and then applying one of three methods to write off each piece: 100% bonus depreciation, Section 179 expensing, or standard MACRS over five or seven years. For most trucks placed in service in 2026, the full purchase price can be deducted in year one.
Split the Purchase Price First
The IRS does not treat a food truck as a single asset. Before you calculate any deduction, you allocate the total cost between the transportation component and the food-service equipment component. This is cost segregation, and it controls how fast you recover each dollar.
The vehicle side covers the chassis, cab, engine, and frame — everything that makes the truck road-legal. That portion is five-year MACRS property, the class the IRS uses for automobiles, trucks, and buses.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946 – How To Depreciate Property
Everything bolted inside for food prep and service is seven-year property. Fryers, grills, refrigerators, ovens, generators, plumbing, ventilation hoods, fire suppression systems, and built-in cabinetry all fall here.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946 – How To Depreciate Property
A realistic allocation on a $150,000 build might put 30% ($45,000) on the vehicle and 70% ($105,000) on the equipment. Base the split on the original invoice, a manufacturer’s breakdown, or an independent appraisal, and keep that documentation permanently. The IRS can ask for it years later, and a number without support won’t hold up on audit.
100% Bonus Depreciation in 2026
The bonus depreciation rate returned to 100% in 2025. The One Big Beautiful Bill, signed July 4, 2025, repealed the scheduled phase-down and made 100% bonus depreciation permanent for qualified property acquired after January 19, 2025.2Internal Revenue Service. Treasury, IRS Issue Guidance on the Additional First Year Depreciation Deduction Amended as Part of the One Big Beautiful Bill
For a food truck placed in service in 2026, that means you can deduct 100% of the cost of qualifying components in year one.3Internal Revenue Service. One, Big, Beautiful Bill Provisions Unlike Section 179, bonus depreciation has no annual dollar cap and no taxable income limit. It can even create or increase a net operating loss you carry to other tax years.
Bonus depreciation applies automatically to all eligible property in a given recovery class. To opt out, you must elect out for the entire class — you cannot cherry-pick individual assets. With the rate at 100%, most owners have no reason to opt out.
One narrow exception: the 100% rate only applies to property acquired after January 19, 2025. A binding purchase contract signed before that date, with the truck placed in service later, falls under the old phase-down and gets only 20%. For a fresh 2026 purchase, this doesn’t come up.
When Section 179 Still Matters
Section 179 lets you elect to expense the full cost of qualifying property in the year you place it in service. Both the vehicle and the kitchen equipment qualify. For tax years beginning in 2026, the maximum Section 179 deduction is $2,560,000, phasing out dollar-for-dollar once total qualifying purchases exceed $4,090,000.
Two limits make Section 179 less flexible than bonus depreciation. The deduction cannot exceed your taxable income from all active businesses for the year; anything above that carries forward.4eCFR. 26 CFR 1.179-2 – Limitations on Amount Subject to Section 179 Election And vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating between 6,001 and 14,000 pounds face a separate SUV cap of $32,000 on the vehicle portion for 2026. Trucks over 14,000 pounds GVWR are not subject to that cap.
What Section 179 still gives you is per-asset control. You can expense $50,000 of a $105,000 kitchen buildout under Section 179 and depreciate the remaining $55,000 over seven years. Bonus depreciation is all-or-nothing at the class level, so if you want to spread deductions across multiple years to smooth income, Section 179 is the tool.
You claim the election on Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization.5Internal Revenue Service. About Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization
If You Use Standard MACRS Instead
Without an accelerated election, the default method is MACRS, required for most business property placed in service after 1986.6Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 704 – Depreciation You recover each asset’s cost over its assigned period using IRS percentage tables.
Five-year property (the vehicle) uses the 200% declining balance method, front-loading deductions. Under the half-year convention, the first-year rate is 20.00% and the second-year rate is 32.00%. Seven-year kitchen equipment starts at 14.29% in year one and 24.49% in year two. Both classes eventually switch to straight-line when it produces a larger deduction.
The class labels understate the actual span. Because the half-year convention treats the asset as placed in service at the midpoint of year one, you actually spread the deductions over six and eight tax years.
Watch the mid-quarter convention. If more than 40% of your total depreciable property placed in service that year goes in during October through December, you must use the mid-quarter convention, which generally shrinks the first-year deduction on late purchases.7eCFR. 26 CFR 1.168(d)-1 Buying a food truck in December with no other significant asset purchases that year is one of the easiest ways to trigger it. If timing is flexible, place the truck in service earlier.
Weight Matters More Than Price
The vehicle portion faces caps that the kitchen equipment doesn’t. How restrictive those caps are depends almost entirely on GVWR.
Under 6,000 Pounds GVWR
Passenger vehicles and light trucks under 6,000 pounds GVWR are subject to annual depreciation caps (the luxury auto limits), regardless of actual price. For vehicles placed in service in 2026 where bonus depreciation applies, the caps are:
- Year 1: $20,300
- Year 2: $19,800
- Year 3: $11,900
- Each year after: $7,160
Without bonus depreciation, the first-year cap drops to $12,300.8Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Proc. 2026-15 Few actual food trucks fall under 6,000 pounds; this threshold mainly catches small trailers or carts on light-duty vehicles.
Between 6,001 and 14,000 Pounds GVWR
Trucks and vans in this range are exempt from the luxury auto caps, so there is no annual dollar ceiling on MACRS or bonus depreciation for the vehicle component.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 280F – Limitation on Depreciation for Luxury Automobiles The Section 179 SUV cap of $32,000 does apply if you use that election on the vehicle. Bonus depreciation has no such limit, so owners in this class usually get more from bonus depreciation on the vehicle side.
Over 14,000 Pounds GVWR
Most full-size commercial food trucks sit above 14,000 pounds GVWR. At this weight, no depreciation caps apply — not the luxury auto limits, not the SUV Section 179 cap. You can expense the vehicle in full under Section 179 up to the general $2,560,000 limit, use 100% bonus depreciation, or combine both.
Check the manufacturer’s door sticker or spec sheet for the GVWR. It’s the maximum loaded weight the chassis is rated for, not the truck’s current weight. The Ford E-450 (14,500 lbs) and Freightliner MT-45 (up to 16,000 lbs) both clear the threshold.
Business Use and Records
The vehicle portion of your food truck is listed property, which carries a higher documentation bar than ordinary business equipment. To claim any accelerated method on the vehicle — MACRS, Section 179, or bonus depreciation — you must use the truck more than 50% for business during the tax year.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 280F – Limitation on Depreciation for Luxury Automobiles
If business use drops to 50% or below in a later year, you must switch to straight-line going forward and owe recapture tax on the difference between what you deducted and what straight-line would have allowed. That difference is added back as ordinary income in the year use drops.
The IRS expects a contemporaneous log — records kept at or near the time of each trip, not reconstructed at tax time. For each business trip, note the date, mileage, destination, and business reason. Odometer readings are required at the start and end of each tax year and when you begin using a new vehicle. A weekly log is timely under IRS rules; a vague entry like “client meetings, various locations” is far weaker than naming the event and address.
Business use is usually straightforward for a dedicated commercial food truck, but keep the log anyway. Auditors don’t accept “it’s obviously 100% business” without documentation.
What You Owe Back When You Sell
Depreciation recapture catches owners off guard. Under Section 1245, any gain on the sale of depreciable personal property is taxed as ordinary income up to the amount of depreciation you previously deducted.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1245 – Gain from Dispositions of Certain Depreciable Property Section 179 and bonus depreciation deductions count, not just regular MACRS.
An example: you buy a food truck for $150,000, deduct the full amount through bonus depreciation in year one, and sell three years later for $60,000. Your adjusted basis is $0, so the entire $60,000 is gain. All of it is taxed as ordinary income, not at the lower capital gains rate, because it falls within the depreciation you already claimed.
If you sell for more than the original purchase price, only the amount up to your total depreciation deductions is recaptured as ordinary income. Any gain above the original cost is capital gain.
Report the sale on Form 4797, Sales of Business Property. A held-more-than-one-year gain goes in Part III; a loss sale goes in Part I.11Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 4797, Sales of Business Property Because the food truck contains two asset classes, allocate the sale price between vehicle and equipment based on fair market value and report each separately.
Recapture doesn’t mean the original deduction was wrong. You still benefited from deferring the tax. But ignoring it when planning a sale can produce a surprise bill in a year when the cash is already spent.
State Rules Don’t Automatically Follow
Federal depreciation rules don’t carry over to every state income tax return. Many states begin with federal taxable income but require add-backs for Section 179 or bonus depreciation amounts that exceed state-specific limits. Some states allow the full federal deduction, others cap Section 179 at a lower dollar amount, and some disallow bonus depreciation entirely and make you spread the deduction across future years. You could owe state income tax in year one on income that was fully sheltered federally. Check your state’s conformity rules before assuming the first-year write-off travels.