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VIN decode · Tax years 2025–2028

Was it assembled here?

The car-loan interest deduction only counts if final assembly was in the United States. Paste the VIN. This page answers that one test — not whether any loan is deductible.

17 characters. No I, O, or Q.

0 / 17

Plant country is the test.

VIN position 1 is a World Manufacturer Identifier screen. Characters 1, 4, and 5 are often assigned to the United States. That is not how this page decides. A VIN that starts with 5 can still be assembled in Germany. AssemblyAlert reads PlantCountry from NHTSA vPIC and passes only on the exact string UNITED STATES (USA). Canada, Mexico, Germany, and Puerto Rico fail. An empty plant country is unknown — not a pass.

How it works

One field. One test.

  1. 01

    Paste the 17-character VIN

    No I, O, or Q. Incomplete or starred VINs get no tax verdict.

  2. 02

    This page calls NHTSA vPIC

    DecodeVinValues runs on the server. Successful decodes are cached for a few hours so we do not hammer the public API.

  3. 03

    PlantCountry is the test

    Pass only if PlantCountry is exactly UNITED STATES (USA). The first VIN character is a WMI screen — never the verdict.

Other tests

The VIN does not score these.

Final assembly is one statutory test. The items below are a checklist, not a block on the VIN result, and this page does not decide them.

  • New vehicle
  • Loan originated after December 31, 2024
  • Personal use
  • Original use with the taxpayer
  • MAGI phaseout starts at $100,000 single / $200,000 joint
  • Interest cap: up to $10,000
  • Tax years 2025–2028

Disclaimer

Read this before you file.

  • AssemblyAlert is not tax advice and is not a determination that any loan is deductible.
  • AssemblyAlert is not affiliated with the Internal Revenue Service or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
  • Decoded plant fields are manufacturer-reported Part 565 data as published by NHTSA vPIC. They can be blank or wrong.
  • The Monroney label and the Part 583 final-assembly point are also valid evidence.
  • The IRS has said taxpayers may rely on the NHTSA VIN Decoder plant of manufacture or the window-sticker final assembly point.