How Exactly Will The Tax Credit Work

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IBELEAF said:
You guys create a lot of confusion, garygid said in previous page that it's not correct when I said the same thing, so who knows how exactly credit should work?
Instead of giving every possible iteration please post if your total tax was greater than $7500 or less than $7500.
Total tax has nothing to do with withholdings, prepayments, refunds, or the amount due April 15.

Look on your 1040 line 60. It is either greater than 7500 or it is less.

Possible correction... Line 60 includes self employment tax and some others that may not be refundable.
Might be better to look at line 55. I am not sure that all taxes from line 56 to 59 are refundable.

Go ahead and correct me if wrong.
 
smkettner said:
Instead of giving every possible iteration please post if your total tax was greater than $7500 or less than $7500.
Total tax has nothing to do with withholdings, prepayments, refunds, or the amount due April 15.

Look on your 1040 line 60. It is either greater than 7500 or it is less.
I think the problem is that a lot of people - maybe most people - have given up trying to fill in their own tax forms. They either have someone "do their taxes" for them or they use a tax program. Either way they are not much aware of what is on some particular line (whose number, incidentally, changes from year to year) of some form. And in many cases they never really think about what the total tax is that they are paying. [In not a few cases, I suspect that they really don't want to know what the total is, because they're already far too angry at the government.]

Incidentally, I would argue that total tax has a lot to do with withholdings, prepayments, refunds, and the amount due April 15, since total tax is what you owe, and those things are what you pay, and the job of the IRS is to see to it that what you pay matches what you owe.
 
Interesting how it shows 2 separate lines (Date Purchased, and Date Placed-In-Service). To us it's typically the same, but that "placed in service" is the all important IRS term which also rears its head on the EVSE credit ... (see separate discussion) ... is it "purchased", "installed' or "first use" ... ( I am NOT trying to open that discussion again. Just pointing out a detail on that TurboTax form ).
 
smkettner said:
IBELEAF said:
Look on your 1040 line 60. It is either greater than 7500 or it is less.

Possible correction... Line 60 includes self employment tax and some others that may not be refundable.
Might be better to look at line 55. I am not sure that all taxes from line 56 to 59 are refundable.

Go ahead and correct me if wrong.

Not a correction, but a confirmation. IF you do pay any self-employment tax that amount cannot be factored into the tax liability reduced by the EV Tax Credit. In my case (self-employed), it drops me below the magic 7500 number.
 
You might pay for it when it gets installed, but cannot put it "in Service" for 3 weeks because your PU has not yet installed the meter which is needed to operate the EVSE, thus not powered on and ready to use.
 
IBELEAF said:
You guys create a lot of confusion, garygid said in previous page that it's not correct when I said the same thing, so who knows how exactly credit should work?
I'll try and really simplify it for everyone. A tax credit is equivilant to a payment in taxes, i.e. money you give the government to pay your income tax. So a $7500 credit is as if you already gave the IRS $7500. If the TOTAL INCOME TAX (not FICA, self employment tax, etc.) for the year on your taxable income is LESS THAN $7500, you can only claim up to that amount. Otherwise it's as if you already paid the government $7500 in INCOME TAX. If you pay too much in withholdings and other payments, you'll get a refund.
 
planet4ever said:
The rule is very simple, and not ambiguous at all:

The EV tax credit can reduce the TOTAL amount of income tax you pay for the year, but it cannot make it negative.
I suspect you meant to say "amount of income tax you owe for the year". You can't qualify for the credit by over withholding. I get that you understand this but the discussion of withholding might be confusing.

The other complication is that other credits may limit the EV credits or vice versa. The EV credit doesn't roll. If you have a tax bill of $8000 and other credits of $4000, you may have $11,500 in credits ($7500+$4000) but you can only offset the $8000 which is your tax for the year. You may not be able to use the other $3500 in credits.

Leasing solves many problems.
 
IBELEAF said:
i've been playing with Turbo Tax software. The interesting part is that irs doesn't care how much you paid for it to calculate the refund...
The credit is based on the size of the battery pack. Any vehicle with a battery pack of 16 kWh or larger qualifies for the $7500 credit. Vehicles with less than four wheels or NEVs qualify for a 10% credit which is based on the purchase price, subject to a limit of $2500.
 
earther said:
As a teacher, my salary is low enough that there's NO WAY I'll ever come close to paying $7500 in federal taxes in a single year... not even half that.
However, a tax credit is a tax credit -- I can't really complain about the government incentivizing me to purchase an EV just because rich people are incentivized more.
evnow said:
I'm not sure whether it is just income tax or income tax + payroll taxes.
Payroll taxes (Social Security tax (FICA) and Medicare tax) do not figure at all. I'm pretty sure
they have never figured in calculating one's Federal income tax liability. I just looked and
there is nothing on Form 1040 nor Shedule A (for itemizing deductions) regarding FICA or Medicare
taxes.

leafygreen said:
By the way, it also says: "The credit expires December 31, 2010". Maybe it will be extended?
Internal Revenue Bulletin: 2009-48, New Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit
Section 8. DATE OF APPLICABILITY
"This notice is applicable to plug-in electric drive motor vehicles acquired (within the meaning of section 4.07 of this notice) after December 31, 2009."
But it does not specifically say when the end date is.

Regarding how long the tax credit will be available:
mwalsh said:
Leaf

$7500
Cannot be rolled over - must be used in the tax year when you bought the vehicle (as legally described by your state)
Can be used with the AMT
Expires when each manufacturer has sold 200,000 EV units (a bit more complex than that, but that's the gist of it)
Specifically, according to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,SEC. 30D. NEW QUALIFIED PLUG-IN ELECTRIC DRIVE MOTOR VEHICLES.
(e) Limitation on Number of New Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicles Eligible for Credit.

The tax credit for a vehicle will be in effect until the end of the quarter in which the manufacturer (Nissan in this case) sells its 200,000-th unit of the vehicle (Leaf).
Leaf's purchased in the next two quarters get 50% of the tax credit (max $3750).
Leaf's purchased in the next two quarters get 25% of the tax credit (max $1875).
Leaf's purchased subsequent to that get no tax credit.

IBELEAF said:
i've been playing with Turbo Tax software. The interesting part is that irs doesn't care how much you paid for it to calculate the refund...
A Leaf's selling price does not factor into the equation. Paying X dollars below invoice or
Y dollars above MSRP does not affect the amount of the tax credit.

SanDust said:
The credit is based on the size of the battery pack. Any vehicle with a battery pack of 16 kWh or larger qualifies for the $7500 credit.
Again, according to American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:
SEC. 30D. NEW QUALIFIED PLUG-IN ELECTRIC DRIVE MOTOR VEHICLES.
(d) New Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle.

To qualify, a vehicle must have 4 wheels, has a GVWR of less than 14,000 lbs, and has a battery capacity of more than 4 kWh, among other things.

The credit is calculated as:
1. $2500, plus
2. $417 for each kWh battery capacity above 4 kWh, not to exceed $5000

In the case of the Leaf, this works out to be the max, $7500.
(It's interesting to note that the wording indicates that if the vehicle has a battery capacity of 4.9 kWh, it does not qualify for part 2. of the credit at all.)
 
What do you think of chances that republicans will cancel EV credit before then end of this year? If it happens I will be broke. :shock:
 
Jason
What do you think of chances that republicans will cancel EV credit before then end of this year? If it happens I will be broke.



The desire of Gopers to do that is 100%, but their ability to do it while controlling only the HOUSE is zero.
that's why I am called thankyouOB.
as to having enough tax to qualify. If you have an IRA and have 100k in it, you can convert enough of it to a ROTH to qualify, regardless of other income.
The calculations will vary but the best way to do it is to over convert, and you can convert the excess back without penalty.
 
jason98 said:
What do you think of chances that republicans will cancel EV credit before then end of this year? If it happens I will be broke. :shock:

If you buy the car and the credit is in place and it is canceled after that you will still be able to claim the credit, even if cancelled it would likely still apply for all of 2011.
 
thankyouOB said:
Jason
What do you think of chances that republicans will cancel EV credit before then end of this year? If it happens I will be broke.


that's why I am called thankyouOB.
The desire of Gopers to do that is 100%, but their ability to do it while controlling only the HOUSE is zero.

as to having enough tax to qualify. If you have an IRA and have 100k in it, you can convert enough of it to a ROTH to qualify, regardless of other income.
The calculations will vary but the best way to do it is to over convert, and you can convert the excess back without penalty.

What is "Gopers"? :?
 
EVDRIVER said:
jason98 said:
What do you think of chances that republicans will cancel EV credit before then end of this year? If it happens I will be broke. :shock:

If you buy the car and the credit is in place and it is canceled after that you will still be able to claim the credit

Would be nice... Do you have any reference confirming that?
 
Jason,
your alternative is to lease it and buy out the lease right away. that has been discussed on this forum, and my dealer confirmed that I could do that. It will cost you about $500 for various charges, but you save the 7k, as the tax credit goes to the dealer and you dont need to have the 7500 tax liability, either.

No one will be able to confirm that for you as Congress can rewrite tax law back and make it retroactive. but the odds of the Senate and the President, especially, deciding to agree with the GOPers and revoke the tax act are as close to non-existent as anything in politics.
 
thankyouOB said:
Jason,
It will cost you about $500 for various charges, but you save the 7k, as the tax credit goes to the dealer and you dont need to have the 7500 tax liability, either.

Interesting. What about 5k from CA's CVRP fund? Am I still able to claim it if I lease?
 
jason98 said:
Interesting. What about 5k from CA's CVRP fund? Am I still able to claim it if I lease?
Yes. Minimum lease term is 36 months, and you need to register the car in CA for those minimum three years.
 
Yes, you can apply for a CVRP rebate when you lease, but ...
  • It is now only $2,500, not $5,000.
  • The 2011-2012 FY funds may be exhausted by the time you get your car, so you may get put on a waiting list until fall of 2012.
  • And, no, you cannot apply before you actually get the car.
These restrictions apply to everyone, not just those who lease.

Ray
 
We bought our LEAF in July, 2011. We applied for the tax credit of $7,500 by using IRS form 8936 with our 2011 income taxes. IRS disallowed the credit because we 'did not provided (sic) documentation to establish the criteria.' I called IRS and asked what I should provide as documentation. The agent looked up my file and could offer no suggestion. So I sent them another copy of the 8936, copies of the page in IRC 30D that lists the 2011 and 2012 Nissan Leafs as qualified plug-in Electric Drive motor vehicles, a copy of the bill of sale with the local Nissan dealer, a copy of the application for title and registration with the State of Tennessee, and a copy of the title. After 2 1/2 months of review they are still disallowing the credit. This time they are asking for a copy of 'the domestic distributor's certification if a foreign manufacturer and a copy of document to verify vehicle was placed in service.' The local Nissan salesman has no idea what that is. He's called higher up and I hope to talk with someone at Nissan today about it.

IRS is being heavy handed about it. They are assessing us for the $7500 tax credit, a $1500 (20%) penalty for underreporting our taxes owed by $7500, and interest to date from April 15, 2012.

Has anyone else had this problem? If so, how did you resolve it?
 
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