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While an excise tax known as the Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) is collected from owners of vehicles with a gross weight of 55,000 lbs. and more that use public highways, there are certain vehicles that are not considered highway motor vehicles and are therefore not subject to the tax. YourTruckTax.com has the information you need to fully understand how to determine which vehicles are subject to the HVUT tax and which vehicles are not.

IRS Form 2290 – Vehicles Not Considered Highway Motor Vehicles

Generally, the following kinds of vehicles are not considered highway vehicles.

1. Specially designed mobile machinery for non-transportation functions. A self-propelled vehicle is not a highway vehicle if all the following apply.
   
   1. The chassis has permanently mounted to it machinery or equipment used to perform certain operations (construction, manufacturing, drilling, mining, timbering, processing, farming, or similar operations) if the operation of the machinery or equipment is unrelated to transportation on or off the public highways.
      
   2. The chassis has been specially designed to serve only as a mobile carriage and mount (and power source, if applicable) for the machinery or equipment, whether or not the machinery or equipment is in operation.
      
   3. The chassis could not, because of its special design and without substantial structural modification, be used as part of a vehicle designed to carry any other load.
      
2. Vehicles specially designed for off-highway transportation. A vehicle is not treated as a highway vehicle if the vehicle is specially designed for the primary function of transporting a particular type of load other than over the public highway and because of this special design, the vehicles's capability to transport a load over a public highway is substantially limited or impaired. To make this determination, you can take into account the vehicle's size, whether the vehicle is subject to licensing, safety, or other requirements, and whether the vehicle can transport a load at a sustained speed of at least 25 miles per hour. It does not matter that the vehicle can carry heavier loads off highway than it is allowed to carry over the highway.
   

Non-transportation trailers and semi-trailers. A trailer or semi-trailer will not be treated as a highway vehicle if it is specially designed to function as an enclosed stationary shelter for carrying on a non-transportation function at an off-highway site. For example, a trailer that is capable only of functioning as an office for an off-highway construction operation is not a highway vehicle.