Updated April 11, 2022, to add more context to competing provider complaints about the IRS' handling of its list of 2290 e-file providers.
Around this time of year, a common question asked by truckers calling one of the many companies offering e-filing of Form 2290 Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax is: “Are you guys the company I used last year?”
Search “2290 tax filing” on Google and you’ll see why owner-operators might need that memory jog. There are 52 Internal Revenue Service-approved “modernized e-file” providers nationwide listed there. Some are well-known names in trucking, like Comdata, J.J. Keller & Associates and Express Truck Tax.
That count, though, appears to be misleading. Nearly half are little more than web pages with differing URLs and slightly different designs that all send filers to what appears to be a shared backend. User registration on one such site – AlliedTruckTax.com, for instance – enables easy login at any of the others, such as Red Bird Tax, TurboTruckTax.com, Rocket Truck Tax, Rocket2290.com and others that have separate links on the IRS approved-provider page.
Some of the other providers, using only one listing, are upset that some of the apparently related sites use names similar to those of established companies. They’re also unhappy that when customers choose an e-file provider at random, the multiplicity of listings creates an unfair advantage for what’s believed to be a single owner.
Generally, prices for e-filing range among providers from as low as $10 to much higher, depending on the size of the fleet. At the apparently related sites, fleets of up to 24 vehicles can file for $65.95. The HVUT fee itself is $550 for most Class 8 combination units and is due by Aug. 31 each year.
The 24 related sites list no phone number on their contact pages. Overdrive queries sent to the email contact address listed for Allied Truck Tax and Rocket 2290 received no direct response.
