diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e7e1fc46..fbaf4863 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -149,3 +149,13 @@ module = [
   "securesystemslib.*",
 ]
 ignore_missing_imports = "True"
+
+[tool.coverage.report]
+exclude_also = [
+    # abstract class method definition
+    "raise NotImplementedError",
+    # defensive programming: these cannot happen
+    "raise AssertionError",
+    # imports for mypy only
+    "if TYPE_CHECKING",
+]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/requirements/test.txt b/requirements/test.txt
index 66856203..69df3345 100644
--- a/requirements/test.txt
+++ b/requirements/test.txt
@@ -4,5 +4,5 @@
 -r pinned.txt
 
 # coverage measurement
-coverage==7.6.8
+coverage[toml]==7.6.8
 freezegun==1.5.1
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 9d467974..03dd2324 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ changedir = tests
 commands =
     python3 --version
     python3 -m coverage run aggregate_tests.py
-    python3 -m coverage report -m --fail-under 97
+    python3 -m coverage report --rcfile {toxinidir}/pyproject.toml -m --fail-under 97
 
 deps =
     -r{toxinidir}/requirements/test.txt
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ commands_pre =
 
 commands =
     python3 -m coverage run aggregate_tests.py
-    python3 -m coverage report -m
+    python3 -m coverage report  --rcfile {toxinidir}/pyproject.toml -m
 
 [testenv:lint]
 changedir = {toxinidir}