Non-commercial use

All that travel is a hobby. I'm not making a penny on it. I'm *spending* money on it (fuel, maintenance...chrome ). I do have a regular job, but that job involves going into an office and designing complex computer networks. I had it before I bought the truck, and the truck has no bearing on the job, except that that is where I earn the money I spend on the truck.

I've heard the "winning a prize equals commercial use" argument, but I don't buy it. It's true that winning a prize is income, but that is a matter for the IRS. If you win, you declare it and pay taxes on it. You're not moving freight, your winnings aren't "commerce" and certainly not interstate commerce. I would welcome concrete examples of anyone who has ever been successfully prosecuted for not having an IFTA sticker on a truck that won a prize.

As far as IRS goes, this is a hobby, not a business. As such, I cannot legitimately deduct any of these expenses on my taxes, and I do not do so. I simply pay sales tax on the parts I buy and fuel tax at the pump on the fuel I buy, same as I do for my other vehicles.

 

dieselbear: I'm not even in competitions, and won't be for some time. For now, I'm just enjoying the truck. The idea with the "Not for hire" was to make it a little clearer that I'm not operating the truck for commercial purposes. Even if I am in the clear legally, however, convincing local law enforcement of that fact looks like it could be a new battle at every weigh station.
Thanks for the response so far, and keep enjoying that sun!

 

I got it because I missed driving. For various reasons, it's not practical to go back into trucking full-time, and I figured this way I'd at least have an excuse to drive around. It's not quite the same without a trailer, true, but it's not bad. And the more improvements I make to her, the better it gets.

No need to pick up ladies -- the truck is my lady!

BTW, you can see her yourself: Just click on the "Photos" link on the right side of this post!

 

Florida is weird. They don't really distinguish between vehicle types. I have a regular Florida plate on the truck, same thing as on a car or pickup truck. I could even have gotten a personalized plate for it. I do not have an "Apportioned", "Commercial" or "Truck" plate.

However, the type of plate didn't seem to matter to Tennessee (as an example). They just wanted an IFTA sticker. I'm mostly worried about problems out of state; I don't anticipate any problems in Florida.

(Hope I didn't just jinx myself there. )

 

I thought about printing a colored square, same color as an IFTA sticker, that says something like "This is not an IFTA sticker. This is not a commercial vehicle." or something to that effect. But that'd probably get me into more trouble than it's worth.