IRS Is Examining Tax Writeoffs for Tires, NAFC Told

July 5, 2000 10:38 AM, EDT

SAN FRANCISCO — Stronger, better, longer-lasting tires could bring tax difficulties for trucking companies, according to the taxation committee chairman of an American Trucking Associations council.

Stephen Dill told National Accounting and Finance Council members that the Internal Revenue Service is in a “rulemaking mood” on whether truck tires should be considered a one-year expense or a type of property to be depreciated over three or five years.

Also the vice president for tax issues at USFreightways Corp. in Chicago, Dill explained that tractors and straight trucks are depreciated over three years, whereas tractors have a five-year life span for tax purposes.

The point of contention, he said, is how to account for the tires that come with these vehicles. Many companies deduct all of their tire expenses on new vehicles in the year they are made.

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