Filing 2012 Federal Taxes - Form 8936

[Pipcecil]

so apparently I was right, the cost was erased due to the final form (released today) requiring the cost of the vehicle (it wasn't required in the draft), so even though people added it in there, the rewrite must have deleted people's vehicle cost.

Something to note, the IRS is not processing this form until late February or early March. In addition, this makes this form unacceptable for e-file right now. So your choice is to send a regular mail file (turbotax does it for you I think...I have never done a snail mail file with turbotax) and the return will get to the IRS but will wait until march to process, or you can wait until the form is accepted and you *should* be able to e-file (please someone with more tax experience than me chime in on that, I am young and don't have a ton of tax years and filings).

 

[Computerizer]

so apparently I was right, the cost was erased due to the final form (released today) requiring the cost of the vehicle (it wasn't required in the draft), so even though people added it in there, the rewrite must have deleted people's vehicle cost.

Where is that at? I don't see that on the form: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8936.pdf

Line 4 says:

If the vehicle is a two- or three-wheeled vehicle, enter the cost of the vehicle. If the vehicle has at least four wheels, enter the tentative credit (see instructions).

LEAFs have four wheels.

 

[Computerizer]

Also, according to this page (irs.gov), the 8936 was released on 1/21/2013.

 

[Computerizer]

Something to note, the IRS is not processing this form until late February or early March. In addition, this makes this form unacceptable for e-file right now. So your choice is to send a regular mail file (turbotax does it for you I think...I have never done a snail mail file with turbotax) and the return will get to the IRS but will wait until march to process, or you can wait until the form is accepted and you *should* be able to e-file (please someone with more tax experience than me chime in on that, I am young and don't have a ton of tax years and filings).

(Sorry about posting multiple replies -- I keep thinking of more things to say!)

It's true that the IRS won't accept these returns yet, but they will accept them e-filed at some point. In my case TaxACT is just holding on to the return until the IRS will let them e-file it for me. In any case e-file will be much faster than paper filing.

 

[Pipcecil]

Yea, I think waiting for the e-file will be better. I wish there was a way to get the information when e-file was ready for this form. I guess I will just have to check periodically.

 

[Computerizer]

I wish there was a way to get the information when e-file was ready for this form. I guess I will just have to check periodically.

They won't let you just file it and they'd hold it until ready? That's what TaxACT is doing with mine.

EDIT: Today I noticed TaxACT added this appropriate info to my efile status page:

Note: You submitted a tax return with the following form(s) attached:
Form 8936 Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit
Form 4562 Depreciation and Amortization
Form 8911 Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit

The IRS has delayed the processing of these forms until late February or into March. TaxACT will hold your return and submit it to the IRS as soon IRS is able to process it, there is no further action required. We will hold your information and automatically submit it to the IRS for processing. More information will be posted on IRS.gov as soon as it is available.

 

[mazdaboi]

Filed mine digitally through turbotax. they had the option under OTHER deductions/credits. Taxslayer did not have the option...yet. Eligible to file as of Feb7. Ill post back when it gets accepted/approved and the time it takes for me to get direct deposit back. Id expect 2-3 weeks (as thats all it took last year for my tax return)

 

[ericvoll]

Filed mine digitally through turbotax. they had the option under OTHER deductions/credits. Taxslayer did not have the option...yet. Eligible to file as of Feb7. Ill post back when it gets accepted/approved and the time it takes for me to get direct deposit back. Id expect 2-3 weeks (as thats all it took last year for my tax return)

TurboTax made me wait until yesterday, February 7th to file. Then it indicated because of form 8936, it couldn't e-file, so I had to print my returns, sign them, and mail them. I put them in the mail yesterday.

 

[mazdaboi]

Filed mine digitally through turbotax. they had the option under OTHER deductions/credits. Taxslayer did not have the option...yet. Eligible to file as of Feb7. Ill post back when it gets accepted/approved and the time it takes for me to get direct deposit back. Id expect 2-3 weeks (as thats all it took last year for my tax return)

TurboTax made me wait until yesterday, February 7th to file. Then it indicated because of form 8936, it couldn't e-file, so I had to print my returns, sign them, and mail them. I put them in the mail yesterday.

Weird, I had to wait til the 7th as well.... But when I did it, it filled out an 8911 and its still "Pending" But its for an alternative refueling property credit, for Electric, LP-NG or any other alternative fuel. I followed the guidelines step by step and it processed fine.

hmmmm

 

[Computerizer]

The IRS web site now says the following about our favorite forms:

The following tax forms will be accepted by the IRS during the first week of March after updating forms and completing programming and testing of its processing systems. A specific date will be announced in the near future.
...snip...

• Form 8911 Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit

...snip...

• Form 8936 Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit

So I guess we'll be waiting at least a couple more weeks for them to start processing.

 

[ericvoll]

These are non-refundable tax credits as far as I know. They will only reduce your tax liability. In my case, after all of my other deductions, the amount I was able to get from the $7500 EV credit was only about $5500 (this is applied at the very end after all other deductions and credits), bringing my federal liability down to $0. (I don't have any federal tax for this year.) I knew this would be the case, so that's why I installed my charging station in 2011 and bought my car in 2012, so I could maximize the credits I could get back. Also, in 2012, I postponed most of my charitable giving until the first of this year (2013), so I can maximize these deductions.

Some deductions/credits can be carried forward, e.g. If one has charitable donations which exceed 50% of their gross income in a calendar year, they can claim the 50% that year and carry forward the excess for future years (up to 3 or something like that.) I had a business related carry forward once.

Unfortunately, I don't think the EV credits have anything like this. As far as I know, these can only be claimed, in whole, in the year in which the qualifying event took place.

With that said, I'm still very pleased with the fact I won't be paying any federal tax this year.

What would be nice is, if in the future, these credits could be applied to the LEAF purchase at the time of purchase, nothing to file with the IRS or document. It would be nice to have the dealership handle all of this and simply reduce the cost of the vehicle at purchase time.

 

[Computerizer]

In my case, after all of my other deductions, the amount I was able to get from the $7500 EV credit was only about $5500 (this is applied at the very end after all other deductions and credits), bringing my federal liability down to $0. (I don't have any federal tax for this year.)

This almost happened with me as well. I'm glad it didn't. When I bought the car it didn't even occur to me that there would be common circumstances that would prevent me from getting the full $7,500.

In my case my tax before credits is $7,999, less credits (EV and charger) of $7,815, puts my total tax at $184... very close to not getting the full credit.

 

[planet4ever]

Once again, just so no one is misled, ericvoll and Computerizer are talking about total tax, including everything that was withheld from your paychecks during 2012. It may sound confusing, but you can get a tax refund check from the IRS, even though it is due to "nonrefundable" tax credit.

Ray

 

[Computerizer]

Once again, just so no one is misled, ericvoll and Computerizer are talking about total tax, including everything that was withheld from your paychecks during 2012. It may sound confusing, but you can get a tax refund check from the IRS, even though it is due to "nonrefundable" tax credit.

Ray

Yes, that is correct. It looks something like this (rough numbers) for me:

• Taxes withheld from paychecks in 2012: $10,000
• Computed tax based on income and deductions: $8,000 (I paid in too much)
• EV Credits: $7,800
• Total Tax: $200 (the difference between those)
• Refund due: $9,800 (difference between amount withheld and total tax)

Or something like this for ericvoll:

• Taxes withheld from paychecks in 2012: $5,500
• Computed tax based on income and deductions: $5,500
• EV Credits: $5,500 (this number cannot be larger than the previous number.. that's what non-refundable means)
• Total Tax: $0 (the difference between those)
• Refund due: $5,500 (difference between amount withheld and total tax)

 

[ericvoll]

Once again, just so no one is misled, ericvoll and Computerizer are talking about total tax, including everything that was withheld from your paychecks during 2012. It may sound confusing, but you can get a tax refund check from the IRS, even though it is due to "nonrefundable" tax credit.

Ray

Yes, that is correct. It looks something like this (rough numbers) for me:

• Taxes withheld from paychecks in 2012: $10,000
• Computed tax based on income and deductions: $8,000 (I paid in too much)
• EV Credits: $7,800
• Total Tax: $200 (the difference between those)
• Refund due: $9,800 (difference between amount withheld and total tax)

Or something like this for ericvoll:

• Taxes withheld from paychecks in 2012: $5,500
• Computed tax based on income and deductions: $5,500
• EV Credits: $5,500 (this number cannot be larger than the previous number.. that's what non-refundable means)
• Total Tax: $0 (the difference between those)
• Refund due: $5,500 (difference between amount withheld and total tax)

For me, this year I had about $9000 or so in federal taxes withheld from my paycheck. After all of my deductions (mortgage interest, etc.) My tax comes out to about $5500, which means I should get about a $3500 refund. Then comes the LEAF credit, up to $7500. Since the IRS has $5500 of my money after everything is settled, that's the LEAF credit I get. It basically makes it so that the IRS refunds me all the $9000 I paid them this year via payroll deduction. No federal tax this year for me. They aren't going to give me someone else's money, just the money I paid in.

 

[ksnogas2112]

It's been funny. I wanted to see if the HRB preparers might come up with a better number than turbo tax. So I stopped by two so far. Each time I said that if they can provide me with the correct answer to which form I needed then I would be back and would pay to have them prepare it. So far they've been 100% wrong. Add in the nice gal on the HRB support line they are 0 correct for 3 tries.

 

[josh2008]

Having some issue filling out form 8936 (for our PiP, LEAF is leased) on TaxACT. It wont allow me to enter full VIN, only 12 digits of it and keeps saying im trying to change a calculated value, which im not. I've tried on two different computers as well as two different browsers to no availibility. This is the last thing from holding me up on completing our federal taxes.

Any thoughts?

 

[ksnogas2112]

Josh, I'd contact TaxACT support on that one.

 

[eclecticflower]

After awaiting a 1099-DIV to arrive a few days ago and adding it to TurboTax, I decided to review my entries tonight, then file. Got to the end and they said I couldn't efile - because of the plug-in credit form. I can, however, print and mail, for a fee. There was no mention of it ever being efilable at a future date. What's the point of mailing it if the IRS isn't even accepting/processing returns like ours until some time in March? I'm annoyed. I want to efile. Grrrrr. :x

 

[cdherman]

After awaiting a 1099-DIV to arrive a few days ago and adding it to TurboTax, I decided to review my entries tonight, then file. Got to the end and they said I couldn't efile - because of the plug-in credit form. I can, however, print and mail, for a fee. There was no mention of it ever being efilable at a future date. What's the point of mailing it if the IRS isn't even accepting/processing returns like ours until some time in March? I'm annoyed. I want to efile. Grrrrr. :x

My impression from the link to an IRS webpage that my turbotax Premier edition gave me, is that no tax prep software will be able to eFile for the forseable future. If one of the other products out there allowed eFiling, and the person filing the return actually got their refund, I'd love to hear about it....