MARK KOHLERMain Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, LLC · Owner at Main Street Professionals, LLC

How Contractors Write Off Big Trucks 🚛

12 May 2026 · 0 min

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0:28

In this brief video, tax expert Mark Kohler explains how a contractor can maximize tax deductions for a large work truck. He outlines the "actual expense" method, which allows the owner to deduct all operating costs—including fuel, repairs, maintenance (including cleaning), insurance, registration, and tires—directly on the tax return. He then adds that the truck’s depreciation can be claimed, enabling a substantial first‑year write‑off (often via Section 179 or bonus depreciation), effectively allowing the contractor to recover a large portion of the vehicle’s cost in the year it’s placed in service.

I got a big old truck, I'm freaking driving down the road, I'm a contractor, I need a truck, I want to write this truck off, so I'm going to go with actual. Actual gives me fuel, repairs, maintenance, insurance. When maintenance comes around, that's cleaning the truck too. I got registration, tires, all those things goes in actual expense on my tax return. Then I can throw in depreciation. One big beautiful bill, baby. So I can take out a huge chunk of that truck in the first year.