43 — Date Vehicle Placed in Service Updated for tax year 2025

What this line means

The date you first started using your vehicle for business purposes. This is not necessarily the date you bought the vehicle — it is the date you began using it in your business. If you purchased a car in March but did not start using it for business until June, the placed-in-service date is June. This date determines your first-year depreciation and whether you can use the standard mileage rate.

Does this apply to you?

• You claim car and truck expenses on line 9
• You use a vehicle for business purposes and must complete Part IV
• You placed a new or newly acquired vehicle into business service during the year
• You converted a personal vehicle to business use during the year

Easy to overlook

This date affects your choice of deduction method You must choose between the standard mileage rate and actual expenses in the first year you use a vehicle for business. If you use the standard mileage rate in the first year, you can switch to actual expenses later. But if you start with actual expenses and claim depreciation, you generally cannot switch to the standard mileage rate for that vehicle. ¹ [SOURCE: IRS Publication 463 — Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses]

Converting a personal vehicle creates a new placed-in-service date If you already owned a car and start using it for business, the placed-in-service date is when business use began — not when you originally bought the car. This is important for depreciation because the vehicle’s depreciable basis is its fair market value or adjusted basis on the conversion date, whichever is lower. ² [SOURCE: IRS Schedule C instructions — Part IV, Line 43]

Watch out for this

Using the vehicle purchase date instead of the date you actually started using it for business. If you bought a truck in November but did not start your business until February of the following year, the placed-in-service date is February, not November. Using the wrong date can result in claiming depreciation for months when the vehicle was not in business use.

Related lines on your return

• Line 9 — Schedule C — Car and truck expenses; the deduction this information supports
• Line 13 — Schedule C — Depreciation; vehicle depreciation if using actual expenses
• Lines 44a-44c — Schedule C — Mileage breakdown; business, commuting, and other miles