OBBBA Enhances 2025 Last-Minute Vehicle Purchases to Save on Taxes

Here’s an easy question: Do you need more 2025 tax deductions? If the answer is yes, keep reading.

Next easy question: Do you need a replacement business vehicle?

If so, you can solve both problems at once-as long as you buy and place the replacement vehicle in service on or before December 31, 2025. Don’t procrastinate. To satisfy the “placed in service” rule, make sure you both own and drive the vehicle for at least one business mile before year-end.

1. Buy a new or used SUV, crossover, or van (6,001+ GVWR)

If you or your corporation purchases and places in service an SUV or crossover that the manufacturer classifies as a truck with a GVWR of 6,001 pounds or more, you unlock four big benefits:

• 100 percent bonus depreciation (unless you elect out)
• Section 179 expensing up to $31,300
• MACRS five-year depreciation
• No luxury auto limits

Example. You place a $50,000 qualifying SUV in service by December 31 and use it 90 percent for business. Your business basis is $45,000, and you can write off the entire $45,000 in 2025 via bonus depreciation.

2. Buy a new or used pickup

Pickups placed in service by year-end can be even more powerful:

• 100 percent bonus depreciation
• Section 179 expensing up to $2,500,000
• MACRS five-year depreciation
• No luxury limits

To qualify for full Section 179 expensing, the pickup must:

1. Weigh more than 6,000 pounds GVWR, and
2. Have a cargo bed at least six feet long that isn’t easily accessible from the passenger compartment.

Example. You buy a $55,000 qualifying pickup and use it 91 percent for business. Bonus depreciation or Section 179 lets you deduct the full business cost of $50,050 ($55,000 × 91%).

Short bed pickups. If the truck clears the GVWR test but not the bed-length test, it falls under the SUV rules-still giving you access to 100 percent bonus depreciation.

Need help choosing the right vehicle strategy before December 31?

Schedule Intro with Kyle