Off-Highway Business Use

A credit or refund may be allowed for the excise tax on fuel used for an off-highway business use.

Off-highway business use is any use of fuel in a trade or business or in an income-producing activity. It does not include use in a highway vehicle registered or required to be registered for use on public highways. Do not consider any use in a boat as an off-highway business use.

Off-highway business use includes fuels used in any of the following ways.

• In stationary machines such as generators, compressors, power saws, and similar equipment.
• For cleaning purposes.
• In forklift trucks, bulldozers, and earthmovers.

Generally, it does not include nonbusiness, off-highway use of fuel, such as use by minibikes, snowmobiles, power lawn mowers, chain saws, and other yard equipment.

Example. Joanna owns a landscaping business. She uses power lawn mowers and chain saws in her business. The gasoline used in the power lawn mowers and chain saws qualifies as fuel used in an off-highway business use. The gasoline used in her personal lawn mower at home does not qualify.

Highway vehicle. A highway vehicle is any self-propelled vehicle designed to carry a load over public highways, whether or not it is also designed to perform other functions. Examples of vehicles designed to carry a load over public highways are passenger automobiles, motorcycles, buses, and highway-type trucks and truck tractors. A vehicle is a highway vehicle even though the vehicle's design allows it to perform a highway transportation function for only one of the following.

• A particular type of load, such as passengers, furnishings, and personal effects (as in a house, office, or utility trailer).
• A special kind of cargo, goods, supplies, or materials.
• Some off-highway task unrelated to highway transportation, except as discussed next.

Vehicles not considered highway vehicles. Generally, the following kinds of vehicles are not considered highway vehicles.

1. Specially designed mobile machinery for nontransportation functions. A self-propelled vehicle is not a highway vehicle if all the following apply.
   1. The chassis has permanently mounted to it machinery or equipment used to perform certain operations (construction, manufacturing, drilling, mining, timbering, processing, farming, or similar operations) if the operation of the machinery or equipment is unrelated to transportation on or off the public highways.
   2. The chassis has been specially designed to serve only as a mobile carriage and mount for the machinery or equipment, whether or not the machinery or equipment is in operation.
   3. The chassis could not, because of its special design and without substantial structural modification, be used as part of a vehicle designed to carry any other load.
2. Vehicles designed for off-highway transportation. A self-propelled vehicle is not a highway vehicle if both of the following apply.
   1. The vehicle is designed primarily to carry a specific kind of load other than over the public highway for certain operations (construction, manufacturing, mining, processing, farming, drilling, timbering, or similar operations).
   2. The vehicle's use in carrying this load over public highways is substantially limited or impaired because of its design. To make this determination, you may take into account whether the vehicle can travel at regular highway speeds, requires a special permit for highway use, or is overweight, overheight, or overwidth for regular highway use.

Public highway. A public highway includes any road in the United States that is not a private roadway. This includes federal, state, county, and city roads and streets.

Registered. A vehicle is considered registered when it is registered or required to be registered for highway use under the law of any state, the District of Columbia, or any foreign country in which it is operated or situated. Any highway vehicle operated under a dealer's tag, license, or permit is considered registered. A highway vehicle is not considered registered solely because a special permit allows the vehicle to be operated at particular times and under specified conditions.

Dual use of propulsion motor. Off-highway business use does not include any fuel used in the propulsion motor of a registered highway vehicle even though that motor also operates special equipment by means of a power take-off or power transfer. It does not matter if the special equipment is mounted on the vehicle.

Example. The motor of a registered concrete-mixer truck operates both the engine and the mixing unit by means of a power take-off. The fuel used in the motor to run the mixer is not used in an off-highway business use.

Use in separate motor. Off-highway business use includes fuel used in a separate motor to operate special equipment, such as a refrigeration unit, pump, generator, or mixing unit. If you draw fuel from the same tank that supplies fuel to the propulsion motor, you must figure the quantity used in the separate motor operating the special equipment. You may make a reasonable estimate based on your operating experience and supported by your records.

You can use devices that measure the miles the vehicle has traveled (such as hubometers) to figure the gallons of fuel used to propel the vehicle. Add to this amount the fuel consumed while idling or warming up the motor before propelling the vehicle. The difference between your total fuel used and the fuel used to propel the vehicle is the fuel used in the separate motor.

Example. Sara owns a refrigerated truck. It has a separate motor for the refrigeration unit. The same tank supplies both motors. Using the truck's hubometer, Sara figures that 90% of the fuel was used to propel the truck. Therefore, 10% of the fuel is used in an off-highway business use.

Fuel lost or destroyed. You cannot treat fuel lost or destroyed through spillage, fire, or other casualty as fuel used in an off-highway business use.

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