New 2012 glacier pearl SL, some tax/incentives questions?

Refer to my other post, -http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8347
We were on our way up to Portland to buy an '11 SL at an agreed upon price at Nissan of Portland. When we got up there they added over $700 in "fees" knowing we had driven up from Eugene and refused to honor the original agreed upon price. Left feeling pretty upset and decided to stop at Tonkin Nissan in Wilsonville. My wife had always liked the glacier pearl color and wanted the cold weather package, so we decided to see what kind of price they would give us on the 2012 pearl SL they had on the lot. I thought they would stay MSRP and tell me to pound sand, but they came in at 4% under MSRP and agreed to pick up the DMV fees as well. So we bought it. (the only negative was the car was in an auto show just prior to us buying it and someone stole the SD Nav card and the owners manual, so the entire Nav/control screen and radio etc. isn't working, but a replacement is being made and will be here soon we hope! ) We were pretty happy with how they treated us, which is not the norm in our experience. But this gets me to my point. The sales rep for the leaf, a very nice guy, told us we were eligible for the following incentives - but I have had another leaf owner here in my area say some of these may have ended...

Said we were eligible for the Ecotality free level 2 EVSE in our home since we lived in Eugene - zip code 97408

Said we were eligible for the $750 Oregon tax credit along with the Fed $7500

Said once we got the Ecotality level 2 installed Nissan would send us a $645 rebate check.

Obviously we bought the car believing we were just getting the $7500 fed credit. He told us the rest after we bought the car. My question is are they all true? Also, how do we apply for the tax credits? I assume we just fill in specific areas in our 2012 taxes next year? What do we need to keep/submit copy wise of the paperwork?

Finally, we have driven the car a bunch since we got it, and love it. Some minor issues with defrosting etc. since it has been raining here for about 2 weeks, but no big deal. And it will be nice to get the level 2 charger since we tend to do all of our driving/errands at once and the battery is pretty low at night. And not having the nav/control screen (due to the lack of the SD card) is a little annoying but it will be here soon. All in all we like our little car and after reading the suggestions in my original thread we are glad we got the 12 w/ the cold weather package, the steering wheel heat is awesome!

We just finished our 2011 taxes and received the $7500 tax credit.

Pretty easy. Just one additional form that needs VIN number and model number.

Vanfam said:

Said once we got the Ecotality level 2 installed Nissan would send us a $645 rebate check.

Click to expand...

Never heard of this one. I have the Ecotality "Blink" EVSE installed for free as part of the EV Project, that was installed almost one year ago.

I had never heard of it either. The salesman was the only one who mentioned it. Anyone???

Makes sense to me.

If someone bought a 2011 SL model and paid for the DC FC port, and then after that joined the EV Project, Nissan would refund the cost of the DC FC port since it is picked up by ECOtality and the EV Project.

Since the 2012 model has the DC FC port built in as standard equipment, it makes sense that Nissan would refund that money if the buyer got picked up by the EV Project after buying the car....

The federal tax credit is IRS form 8936. The only kicker is that the credit can only cover tax due and cannot be carried over to another year. For example, if your tax due is $8,000 and you paid $9,000 in withholding/quarterly tax payments, you would receive a refund of $8,500 instead of $1,000.

On the other hand, if your tax due is only $4,000, you'll receive only $4,000 of credit for the car, regardless of how much was withheld. Many people buying Leafs have done things like sell stock to generate capital gains so that they have a large enough tax bill to get the entire $7,500.

Obviously, you should consult a tax professional.

The other kicker for the $7500 is that "The original use of the vehicle commences with the taxpayer." I don't think display in an auto show would violate that requirement, but if the dealer used it as a demo I doubt if you are eligible for the tax credit. What mileage did it have when you got it?

Ray