Form 2290 due dates for 2026–27: the full HVUT calendar by first-use month

The rule: first use, not purchase, not registration

The heavy vehicle use tax period runs July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, and the Form 2290 instructions put the deadline rule in one sentence: file by the last day of the month following the month of first use. Three things people wrongly substitute for "first use":

• The purchase date. Buying a truck starts nothing. Driving it onto a public road does — even one mile, even deadheading it home from the auction. (Note for used-truck buyers: that delivery drive home is typically the first use.)
• Your registration renewal date. The IRS says explicitly that the filing deadline is not tied to when your state plates renew. You'll need the stamped Schedule 1 for the renewal, but the 2290 deadline runs on its own calendar.
• The e-file season. July–August is when most carriers file because most trucks were on the road in July. If your truck first ran in October, your deadline is November 30 — filing "late" relative to the summer rush costs you nothing.

The 2026–27 due-date table

These are the IRS's published dates, including the weekend and holiday adjustments (marked). The last column is the date code the return wants on line 1 — a common e-file stumble.

The shifts matter because the "obvious" date is wrong in both directions. A September first-use truck gets two bonus days (October 31 is a Saturday, so it's due November 2). A December first-use truck that waits for "the end of January" is fine — January 31 is a Sunday, so February 1 — but only by the IRS's grace, not by rounding.

Bought a truck mid-year? Your tax is smaller too

A truck first used after July doesn't owe the full-year amount. The tax is prorated by the months remaining in the period, using the partial-period tables in the instructions. The full-period baseline: $100 at 55,000 lbs taxable gross weight, plus $22 per additional 1,000 lbs, capped at $550 for anything over 75,000 lbs (logging vehicles pay reduced rates). So a maximum-weight truck first used in January owes half of $550, not the whole thing. E-file software applies the proration from your first-use month — which is one more reason to enter that month correctly rather than defaulting to July.

And if the truck will barely run — 5,000 highway miles or less over the period, 7,500 for agricultural vehicles — it's tax-suspended (category W). No tax, but the return is still due on the same schedule. The suspension is claimed on the form, not assumed by silence.

If the deadline is about to beat you

Two escape hatches, one of them narrow. You can request an extension of up to six months by writing to the IRS before the due date, explaining the cause of the delay — but the extension covers filingonly; the tax itself is still due on the original date, with interest running. And if the deadline has already passed, file now anyway: the late-filing penalty accrues per month-or-part-month, so days matter. We've broken down exactly what a late return costs — penalty rates, a worked dollar example, and how to ask for relief — in what happens if you file Form 2290 late.

What you're actually filing for

The output that matters is the stamped Schedule 1 (an e-file watermarked copy counts). It's the proof of payment every state DMV demands before registering or renewing a vehicle at 55,000 lbs or more, and what enforcement expects to see matched to each VIN. File once per truck per period, keep the Schedule 1 with the vehicle's records, and the rest of the year this tax asks nothing of you.