GA Tax Credit clarification

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bpolunin

New member
Joined
Apr 30, 2014
Messages
4
Hi all,
New Leaf owner here. Got my Blue Ocean about a week ago. Love it so far.

Now, for the question... I am REALLY confused about the tax credit. I did a search here and I see 2 different opinions. So wanted to see what is the actual fact.

How is the $5000 credit applied?
Some are saying you have to OWE money to GA State when doing your taxes and then apply the credit so you owe $0.
Some say it doesn't matter if you owe or they owe, you still apply the credit... ???

So lets say my annual liability is $4000. As of current, at tax time, I usually get a refund of about $1000.
How does it actually work? Do I need to change my withholding to a high number like 13 to have almost no GA taxes taken out and owe at year end and then apply the $5000?

Or would I continue as I do today and apply $4000 credit (liability $4k) and get $4000 total refund from scenario above ($4k liability).

So confused. If you have already done your 2013 GA taxes and have gotten a refund or what not, please explain how you did it.
 
It's a straight Tax Credit.

If you have $4k of State of GA Tax Liability in FY2014, you will receive a $4k credit on your GA Tax Return next Spring when you file. Doesn't matter what your Withholding is.

The remaining $1k of Tax Credit would roll-over to the next Fiscal Year.
 
bpolunin said:
Hi all,
New Leaf owner here. Got my Blue Ocean about a week ago. Love it so far.

Now, for the question... I am REALLY confused about the tax credit. I did a search here and I see 2 different opinions. So wanted to see what is the actual fact.

The GA tax credit is $5000 of the vehicle price at the time of lease or 20%. (Not the lease price)

If your tax liability (actual amount you OWE and must PAY the State of GA) is below $5,000 you can apply the credit over as many as 5 years. So if you only made enough to owe $1,000 a year you would still recover the full amount, it would just take 5 years to do it.

Your current refund amount reflects the excess you PAID. You owed $3,000 and your employer withheld $4,000 so GA gives you back $1,000. In that case, you would ALSO get the $3,000 back the first year. So your tax bill would be cut to ZERO. You would then claim the addition $2,000 the next time you file your taxes.

I wouldn't change my withholding. Increasing the number of deductions only means you have less taken out of your paycheck to pay the taxes you OWE. Come tax time, you owe 5% (or somesuch) of your earnings to the State of Georgia. I'm not a tax accountant but I think you can be penalized for not withholding your owed taxes on a timely basis. The tax credit works by issuing a refund for what you actually paid. They're giving you back YOUR tax money.

It's the best deal in the USA for an EV. Some in the legislature want to eliminate it. Nissan is lobbying, of course, to keep it. We'll see. It could be eliminated, reduced, or continued at the current level. But if you bought/leased your LEAF while it is in effect, you are still going to get the full tax credit.

Hope that helps!
 
Gearscout said:
The GA tax credit is $5000 of the vehicle price at the time of lease or 20%. (Not the lease price)

How do they define the vehicle price? The capitalized cost or the MSRP or something else?
 
When you roll over a portion of the tax credit to the next year, how do you claim the remaining portion on that year's taxes? I see that I must include the "original" certificate signed by the state with my GA tax return. Do they send you something to send in the next year? Or do I attach a photocopy the next year (since the original will have been mailed in the prior year)? Or is there some other process to get the remainder of the credit?
 
forummm said:
When you roll over a portion of the tax credit to the next year, how do you claim the remaining portion on that year's taxes? I see that I must include the "original" certificate signed by the state with my GA tax return. Do they send you something to send in the next year? Or do I attach a photocopy the next year (since the original will have been mailed in the prior year)? Or is there some other process to get the remainder of the credit?

Georgia Leafers,

I would like to see this question answered....
 
bump. Still seeking clarity on this question for Georgia tax payers as we approach tax prep season:
When you roll over a portion of the tax credit to the next year, how do you claim the remaining portion on that year's taxes?
 
sonnylax said:
bump. Still seeking clarity on this question for Georgia tax payers as we approach tax prep season:
When you roll over a portion of the tax credit to the next year, how do you claim the remaining portion on that year's taxes?

I called the GA taxpayer service phoneline this morning. They said that this year (initial year claiming the credit) to just put the amount of my tax liability for the year in Schedule 2 and in the appropriate line of the 500 form. And to include a short letter saying that I have $10k in credits and that my tax liability is only XXX so I'm only using XXX of it this year and am rolling over the $10k-XXX to my 2015 return. Then next year to include another short letter saying that the credit I'm claiming is rolled over from the prior year. She didn't add this part, but I'm also going to include photocopies of the signed DNR froms next year too, just to be cautious. She did say that the credit doesn't always roll over the right way (don't know what she meant by that--but she might have been referring to people having trouble claiming the remainder and having to jump through hoops) so it was good to add the letters to make things clearer to the return processers.
 
sonnylax said:
This doesn't sound very good, especially for those of us who file electronically through TurboTax (and the like).
For the 2011 tax year, electronic filing was not an option when claiming the credit. I didn't get it until August. Paper returns are faster now than before.
 
nogajim said:
sonnylax said:
This doesn't sound very good, especially for those of us who file electronically through TurboTax (and the like).
For the 2011 tax year, electronic filing was not an option when claiming the credit. I didn't get it until August. Paper returns are faster now than before.

Regardless of how you file, I'm still not certain how you claim (and properly document) the carryover ZEV Tax Credit.
 
Last year H&R Block didn't support the forms necessary for electronic filing when you were claiming EV tax credits. Turbo Tax did.
 
I filed electronically through TurboTax last year and the return was accepted by State of GA just fine. They didn't release the full tax refund (i.e. ZEV Tax Credit) until I mailed the original ZEV form.

Not sure what you are supposed to due in Year 2 or what form you are suppose to use claim the remaining Tax Credit. Just getting started with TurboTax again. (Federal Tax stuff comes first. Then State.)
 
sonnylax said:
nogajim said:
sonnylax said:
This doesn't sound very good, especially for those of us who file electronically through TurboTax (and the like).
For the 2011 tax year, electronic filing was not an option when claiming the credit. I didn't get it until August. Paper returns are faster now than before.

Regardless of how you file, I'm still not certain how you claim (and properly document) the carryover ZEV Tax Credit.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=16618#p407307" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Thanks, but that doesn't answer the original question at hand. I'm in Fiscal Year # 2 of the Tax Credit, not the initial year. I didn't note anything special when I filed my 2013 return (i.e. Fiscal Year #1).

I can put a letter in there that they own me a million dollars, doesn't mean they are going to cut me a check.
 
sonnylax said:
Thanks, but that doesn't answer the original question at hand. I'm in Fiscal Year # 2 of the Tax Credit, not the initial year. I didn't note anything special when I filed my 2013 return (i.e. Fiscal Year #1).

I can put a letter in there that they own me a million dollars, doesn't mean they are going to cut me a check.

Just include a statement saying you are claiming the rollover from last year. Hopefully you made a photocopy of your DNR form before mailing it in (keeping a copy of all tax records is important), so you can include a copy of it this year as well for their reference. At that point you've done everything you can. You may end up spending some time on the phone with the taxpayer services reps to get your refund released. I had to do that last year even though I didn't have any ZEV credit or anything unusual.

Side rant: Governments in the south are so poorly run--no wonder people in the south think so poorly of government in general. In every other state I've lived in, governments provide so much more information for everything. Their tax booklets are actually useful, and they even mail you a notice when the next election is and include what's on the ballot, and information about all the things you're voting on. In Georgia you have to find out when the elections are some other way and then take your own initiative to see what's on the ballot so you can know how you want to vote (because the title of the initiative is usually the opposite of what it actually does).
 
Alright, so doing the taxes for 2014.
Just to be clear, currently, my tax liability is $2875. I am currently getting a $100 refund. This is before putting in the credit. So on line 3 in schedule 2, what amount do I put in? $2775 or $5000? I assume $2775 since I overpaid my liability by $100.

Also, there are no instructions at to filing electronically or paper. What is everyone doing? Sending in a paper return with the DNR certification? Original or Copy?
 
bpolunin said:
Alright, so doing the taxes for 2014.
Just to be clear, currently, my tax liability is $2875. I am currently getting a $100 refund. This is before putting in the credit. So on line 3 in schedule 2, what amount do I put in? $2775 or $5000? I assume $2775 since I overpaid my liability by $100.

Also, there are no instructions at to filing electronically or paper. What is everyone doing? Sending in a paper return with the DNR certification? Original or Copy?

I was told to put the amount of my tax liability on schedule 2. So if your tax liability is $2875 and you had $2975 withheld during the year, you'd put $2875 on schedule 2, and then get a refund of $2975.

You mention different numbers in your post, so be sure you aren't confusing your tax liability for your amount withheld. Perhaps consult a professional if you're confused.

I filed by paper. The instructions for the DNR form state you must send the original signed form in with your return. You should keep a copy for your records (and include a copy next year when you claim the rest of the credit). Follow the instructions I provided in my prior post.
 
I completed my Federal & State of GA Tax returns through TurboTax online last night. And submitted them both electronically.

When I got to the State return (Credit Section), TurboTax automatically recognized my remaining rollover ZEV tax credit from last year's return.

My federal (electronic) return has already been recognized by the IRS. No response yet from State of GA, but was told it can take 2-3 days to get a response. I don't know if I will have to resend my 2013 ZEV form again for the State of GA Dept of Revenue to release the entire tax refund.
 
sonnylax said:
My federal (electronic) return has already been recognized by the IRS. No response yet from State of GA, but was told it can take 2-3 days to get a response. I don't know if I will have to resend my 2013 ZEV form again for the State of GA Dept of Revenue to release the entire tax refund.
There is an article in the AJC this morning that TurboTax is putting a hold on state returns because they detected higher than normal levels of fraudulent ones this year. That could add a few more days. Did you file hard copy or electronic for state last year?
 
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