Solar panels tax credit combined with EV tax credit

[Volusiano]

I bought a Volt in February of this year and expect to get the $7500 federal tax credit next year for the 2013 tax return. I'm also looking into installing a solar panel system on my roof this year. I can get 30% federal tax credit on the solar panels as well, and I'm told it can carry over if I don't have enough tax liability in 2013 to claim for both altogether.

The problem is I may not have enough tax liability for both outright in 2013. So here's the question: Let's say I have $10K in tax liability in 2013. The idea scenario is to claim $7500 of that for the Volt, and $2500 left over for the solar panels. Then carry over the remaining $5K for the solar panel and get the tax credit for that in tax year 2014.

What I don't know is whether I can pick and choose how much I want to claim for each of the tax credit situations like describe above or not. What if the IRS says no, you have to claim tax credits for both equally, $5K for the Volt and $5K for the solar panels. That would be a problem because I can't carry over the remaining $2500 tax credit for the Volt toward the next year.

Has anybody run into this same situation before and know the answer to whether you can pick and choose how much tax credit to file for each of the situation (Volt & solar panels)?

 

[thankyouOB]

the tax advice you get here will be worth what you pay for it.
no matter how assured someone sounds, it can just be they are self-assured not right.

the one foolproof thing, if you actually may claim both, is to increase your liability by moving money from a regular IRA to a ROTH IRA; that increases your income.

 

[planet4ever]

the tax advice you get here will be worth what you pay for it.
no matter how assured someone sounds, it can just be they are self-assured not right.

For once, thankyouOB is right on this. But I am still going to try to sound completely assured and say you cannot defer any part of the $7,500 credit to a future year. From the Form 8936 instructions:

If you cannot use part of the personal portion of the credit because of the tax liability limit, the unused credit is lost. The unused personal portion of the credit cannot be carried back or forward to other tax years.

It's been years since I looked at solar credits, so I don't know about that part.

Ray

 

[mwalsh]

This is the way I did it. Took around $6k of tax credit for my PV in tax year 2010. Took the $7500 tax credit for the LEAF in tax year 2011. Took the balance of the PV credit in tax year 2012. Didn't get audited (yet), and the only significant problem I ran into was the tax software not being smart enough to understand the carryover for the PV that skipped a year. I had to manually manipulate the software.

I'm not a tax consulant of course, and YMMV.

 

[apvbguy]

I bought a Volt in February of this year and expect to get the $7500 federal tax credit next year for the 2013 tax return. I'm also looking into installing a solar panel system on my roof this year. I can get 30% federal tax credit on the solar panels as well, and I'm told it can carry over if I don't have enough tax liability in 2013 to claim for both altogether.

The problem is I may not have enough tax liability for both outright in 2013. So here's the question: Let's say I have $10K in tax liability in 2013. The idea scenario is to claim $7500 of that for the Volt, and $2500 left over for the solar panels. Then carry over the remaining $5K for the solar panel and get the tax credit for that in tax year 2014.

What I don't know is whether I can pick and choose how much I want to claim for each of the tax credit situations like describe above or not. What if the IRS says no, you have to claim tax credits for both equally, $5K for the Volt and $5K for the solar panels. That would be a problem because I can't carry over the remaining $2500 tax credit for the Volt toward the next year.

Has anybody run into this same situation before and know the answer to whether you can pick and choose how much tax credit to file for each of the situation (Volt & solar panels)?

do yourself a favor and visit a CPA

 

[Volusiano]

To clarify, I'm not asking for tax advice here. I'm just asking whether anybody had run into the same situation and what they were able to do about it.

The difference between the two is that the answers I get here on this forum (if any) may serve as a sanity check to help me decide whether I should bother seeking qualified tax advice on this or not.

Right now I'm already inclined to just wait until 2014 to install the solar system to keep everything simple and get the 2 tax credits in separate years. But if somebody shared their experience here and said that they've been able to combine the tax credits of the 2 in the same year and claim the whole $7500 for the car and partial for the solar with a carry over, THEN I'd take the trouble to consult with a qualified tax person next to confirm this.

There's nothing wrong with asking whether anybody had run into the same experience here or not. You shouldn't assume that just because I ask the question here means that I'm going to take their words for real and not going to seek qualified tax advice next to confirm what people here say or not.

 

[smkettner]

I would tend to delay the solar for six months. There is some lead time so you can probably sign up in Oct/Nov for Jan install.

 

[thankyouOB]

one thing i discovered with solar is that it is best to install it as the days are getting longer; that way you get more immediate payback.
the returns in november, december, january, february are low.


(and thanks for the backhanded praise, ray. u r a pal.)

 

[FairwoodRed]

Volusiano,

It happened to me just like you say. I bought the Leaf in June 2011 and installed solar in Aug 2011. TurboTax automatically gave me the full 7500 for the car in 2011 and as much as it could of the solar in 2011 too. Everything else from the solar rolled over to 2012. It was easy peasy thru TurboTax.

 

[Volusiano]

Volusiano,

It happened to me just like you say. I bought the Leaf in June 2011 and installed solar in Aug 2011. TurboTax automatically gave me the full 7500 for the car in 2011 and as much as it could of the solar in 2011 too. Everything else from the solar rolled over to 2012. It was easy peasy thru TurboTax.

Thanks, FairwoodRed! That's reassuring to hear. I also use TurboTax every year to do my tax return so that's even more reassuring. So now off I go to ask my neighbor who's a CPA to confirm this for me.

 

[CherylWalden]

The best accounting software for tax preparation i found is turbo Tax from http://www.a2zdeals.com. It covers all my bases and does not miss anything. It checks for errors as well as risk for audits.
I am using it from 6 years and i have seen many improvement in it. It will surely help you in resolving your tax filing issues.