Skip to content
RescueLoad

    Truck depreciation calculator: the tax schedule and the cost per mile

    Enter the price, business use and property class, and choose any section 179 amount or bonus depreciation. You get a year-by-year deduction schedule, and from the expected resale and miles, what the truck itself costs per mile.

    $
    %
    $

    Optional; your preparer decides

    Property class (Pub 946)
    Bonus depreciation on the rest

    Road view

    $
    mi

    First-year deduction

    $40,000

    Truck cost per mile

    $0.15

    Depreciable basis $120,000 (100% business use), written off over 4 tax years. On the road, the truck loses $75,000 over 500,000 miles.

    Estimate, not tax advice. Mid-quarter convention, recapture on sale, state rules and limits on section 179 are not modeled.

    Deduction staircase by tax year
    EXAMPLE truck, use yours
    1. 2026$40,000
    2. 2027$53,333
    3. 2028$17,778
    4. 2029$8,889

    Dark: section 179 and bonus in year one. Tan: MACRS. Section 179 limit for 2026: see Rev. Proc. 2025-32.

    First-year deduction

    Total $40,000

    The truck itself costs about $0.15 a mile on these numbers. Our dispatchers price from your full cost per mile, and you approve every load.

    Get loads that pay for the truck

    A truck loses value two ways: on your tax return, by the schedule the IRS sets, and on the road, mile by mile, until you sell it. This truck depreciation calculator shows both. The staircase lays out each tax year's deduction under MACRS, with any section 179 amount and bonus depreciation in year one. The road view turns price, resale and miles into what the truck costs you per mile, a number that belongs in every rate you accept.

    The tax rules it uses

    IRS Publication 946 puts tractor units for over-the-road use in the 3-year class and trucks in the 5-year class. Those classes use the 200% declining balance method with the half-year convention, switching to straight line when that gives more. The calculator computes the rates from that method, so they match the published percentage tables to within a rounding cent.

    For property acquired and placed in service after January 19, 2025, the law allows a 100% special depreciation allowance unless you elect out, with a 40% election available for the first tax year ending after that date. Section 179 expensing has its own annual limit for 2026.

    Sources: IRS Publication 946 (2025), Which Property Class Applies Under GDS?, checked October 2026; IRS Publication 946 (2025), chapter 3, checked October 2026; Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.24, IRB 2025-45, checked October 2026 Estimate only; not tax advice.

    How it is calculated

    1. Basis = purchase price × business use percentage.
    2. Section 179 = the amount you enter, up to the basis.
    3. Bonus = (basis - section 179) × the bonus percentage.
    4. MACRS = what's left × each year's rate for the class.
    5. Cost per mile = (price - expected resale) ÷ the miles you'll run the truck.

    A worked example

    A $120,000 over-the-road tractorExample

    1. CLASS3-year property, 100% business use, no bonus or 179
    2. YEAR 1$120,000 × one third (33.33%) = $40,000
    3. YEARS 2-4$53,333, then $17,778, then $8,889
    4. ROAD$120,000 - $45,000 resale = $75,000 over 500,000 mi
    5. PER MILE$0.15 a mile for the truck itself

    These are EXAMPLE figures. Prices, resale values and miles vary widely by truck and market.

    How to read the result

    The staircase shows timing, not savings: whichever way you depreciate, the total deducted is the same basis. Front-loading with bonus or section 179 lowers this year's tax and raises later years'. The cost per mile is the number for your rates. If you pay $0.15 a mile in lost truck value, a rate that ignores it is quietly eating the truck. Put it in your cost per mile alongside fuel, insurance and repairs.

    Box truck depreciation

    A 26 ft box truck is 5-year property, so with the half-year convention its deductions run across six tax years: 20% of the basis in the first, 32% in the second, then smaller shares. Box trucks often hold value differently from tractors, depending on the body, the liftgate and the local market, so the road view matters as much as the tax view. Put in a realistic resale value from listings for trucks like yours, with the miles you expect to sell at, and the cost per mile tells you what each load has to cover.

    Owner-operator truck depreciation: records to keep

    • Purchase documents: the bill of sale, financing papers and the date placed in service.
    • Business use: logs that support your business-use percentage.
    • Improvements: major upgrades may be depreciated separately.
    • Sale or trade: the price and date, for recapture and the next truck's basis.

    Depreciation lowers taxable profit, which feeds straight into the quarterly estimated tax calculator. For running costs alongside the truck's, see the DEF usage and cost calculator, and if you pay a driver, the truck driver salary calculator puts pay in the same per-mile terms. For which truck fits which freight, read freight truck sizes, and for the wider cost picture, our freight cost analysis (coming soon).

    Adding a second or third truck changes every one of these numbers. Our small fleet dispatch team prices loads from each truck's full cost per mile, and you approve every load. Send an application.

    Questions about this calculator

    What is the semi truck depreciation life for taxes?
    Under the general MACRS system, tractor units for over-the-road use are 3-year property, according to IRS Publication 946. With the half-year convention, the deductions spread over four tax years. Bonus depreciation or a section 179 election can move most or all of the deduction into the first year instead. Your tax preparer decides which method fits.
    What is the box truck depreciation life?
    Trucks other than over-the-road tractor units fall in the 5-year class under the general MACRS system, per IRS Publication 946, and a 26 ft box truck is a truck. With the half-year convention, the deduction runs over six tax years unless you use bonus depreciation or section 179 to take more up front.
    How does owner operator truck depreciation work?
    The truck's cost, times the share you use it for business, is deducted over its recovery period instead of all at once, unless you elect section 179 or bonus depreciation. Each year's deduction lowers your taxable profit. When you sell the truck, some of that depreciation can come back as taxable income, called recapture, so plan for it.
    Should I take 100% bonus depreciation on a truck?
    A big first-year deduction lowers this year's tax, which helps cash flow, but leaves nothing to deduct in later years, when your profit may be higher. Selling the truck early can also bring recapture. Whether to take it, elect a smaller allowance, or use regular MACRS is a question for your tax preparer, with your multi-year numbers.
    What is the difference between tax depreciation and real depreciation?
    Tax depreciation follows IRS schedules that have little to do with what the truck is worth. Real depreciation is the value the truck loses as you use it: price minus resale value. Divided by the miles you'll run it, that gives a cost per mile to include in your rates, whatever the tax schedule says.