Are RV Loans Tax Deductible? The IRS Second-Home Rule

The four conditions

1. The RV counts as a home. IRS Publication 936 says a home includes a mobile home, house trailer, boat or similar property "that has sleeping, cooking, and toilet facilities." Most motorhomes, fifth wheels and travel trailers qualify; many pop-up and teardrop campers do not, because they lack a toilet.
2. The loan is secured by the RV. A standard RV loan with a lien on the title qualifies. An unsecured personal loan used to buy the RV does not.
3. You itemize deductions on Schedule A instead of taking the standard deduction. If your itemized total, including the RV interest, is below the standard deduction, the deduction does not help you.
4. You stay within the debt limit. Interest is deductible on up to $750,000 of combined home acquisition debt on your main home and one second home ($375,000 if married filing separately) for debt taken on after December 15, 2017. The 2026 draft of Publication 936 keeps that limit.

You can treat only one property as your second home in a given year.

A worked example

Take an $80,000 loan at 8% APR over 15 years. In the first year you pay about $6,296 in interest. If you itemize and you are in the 22% federal bracket, deducting it lowers your federal tax by up to about $1,385. Interest falls each year as the balance shrinks, so the deduction shrinks too.

"Up to" matters: the real benefit is only the amount by which your itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction. See the year-by-year interest in the amortization schedule of the RV loan calculator.

If you rent your RV out

Renting changes the answer. To keep treating the RV as a second home, you must use it yourself for more than 14 days a year or more than 10% of the days it is rented at a fair rental price, whichever is longer. Otherwise the IRS considers it rental property, and the interest is handled under the rental rules instead. Talk to a tax professional if you rent through a peer-to-peer platform.

Sales tax on the RV

If you itemize, you can choose to deduct state and local sales taxes instead of state income taxes. When you do, the sales tax actually paid on a vehicle or boat can be added to the standard table amount. All state and local tax deductions share one cap. Under the 2025 tax law that cap is $40,000 for 2026 through 2029, reduced for higher incomes to no less than $10,000, and it returns to $10,000 in 2030.

What about the new car loan interest deduction?

The 2025 tax law added a deduction for interest on loans for new vehicles bought for personal use in 2025 through 2028. The IRS defines a qualified vehicle as a car, minivan, van, SUV, pickup truck or motorcycle with a gross vehicle weight rating under 14,000 pounds and final assembly in the United States. RVs and towable trailers are not on that list. If your RV is built on a van chassis, ask a tax professional before claiming it.