Turbotax Error - Form 8236

[torgazm]

Wanted to share this with my fellow LEAFers

I went back to my Turbotax program today to finish my return since Turbotax sent me an email that Form 8236 is now ready for filing.

Well to my shock and horror, the credit was showing $0 for credit for my electric car purchase in 2012.

But but but... last week it was showing I'd get $5700 credit

Here's what I discovered. Switch to FORMS mode and look at the worksheet for Form 8236

The vehicle weight and purchase price got switched... Show the weight showed 38,000 and the purchase price showed 3,385

With the wrong weight, it made the credit ineligible.

Switch the two fields, and viola! I'm back to my $5700 credit

Can't eFile it though, printed out the forms for snailmail. It gets mailed tomorrow.

 

[surfingslovak]

Thanks for mentioning that, this might help others. For your own return, I wanted direct your attention to this thread from last year. You might want to include some supporting documentation with your tax filing. At a very minimum, I would send the IRS a copy of page 30D, a copy of the purchase agreement with your name on it, and a copy of vehicle registration.

 

[torgazm]

Thanks for mentioning that, this might help others. For your own return, I wanted direct your attention to this thread from last year. You might want to include some supporting documentation with your tax filing. At a very minimum, I would send the IRS a copy of page 30D, a copy of the purchase agreement with your name on it, and a copy of vehicle registration.

Thanks for the tip. I will scan those docs and include with my filing.

 

[GeekEV]

Did you report the error to Turbotax? If not, please do... As a developer myself, you can't fix what you don't know about.

 

[lkkms2]

For 2011 I used form 8936 (you are using 8236?), but Turbo Tax caused a double entry by asking for the information again after everything was finalized. I think later they fixed this glitch.

I called them and they did nothing to really help me with the IRS audit and the delay that ensued.

 

[Pipcecil]

I had a similar issue with 8936 in 2012 and turbo tax. I had filled it out previously, and when the form was ready it had zeroed out my cost. I had to re-enter to get my credit back. Also to note: you can't e-file 8936 (yet), this is because the IRS is not accepting the form until March. If you mail it (snail) it will sit unprocessed until march. Personally, I am waiting until March when they accept the form and will e-file it.

 

[cdherman]

Today 2/21, when using Turbotax, it did have the form, but behaved strangely when I did the "error check" at the end of all the entry making...

It said that I had two errors on the form. First, it tried to tell me that I needed to select 2010 model year, even though what I bought was most certainly a 2012 (perhaps it someone things that later model years are not elegible?)

Then it tried to tell me that my purchase date of 10/8/2012 was too late and needed to enter a date earlier than 12/31/2010

In both cases, I ignored the suggestions. Probably a programming error somewhere in the error check parameters. Beats me..

And no, I did not report it to Intuit. If the would make error reporting a little more obvious, I'd consider it, but I did a perfunctory search for some button or tab to easily report the glitch and came up empty. They clearly are not really interested in customer initiated feedback...... But I've used the product for over 15 years, as far as I know, and I don't think its really ever botched a return either....

Finally -- its still telling me that it cannot electronically submit the return. Says nobody can and links to an IRS age that lends credence to that assertion. It says I need to print the form and snail mail it..... I have to assume its correct...

 

[Computerizer]

Today 2/21, when using Turbotax, it did have the form, but behaved strangely when I did the "error check" at the end of all the entry making...

It said that I had two errors on the form. First, it tried to tell me that I needed to select 2010 model year, even though what I bought was most certainly a 2012 (perhaps it someone things that later model years are not elegible?)

Then it tried to tell me that my purchase date of 10/8/2012 was too late and needed to enter a date earlier than 12/31/2010

In both cases, I ignored the suggestions. Probably a programming error somewhere in the error check parameters. Beats me..

And no, I did not report it to Intuit. If the would make error reporting a little more obvious, I'd consider it, but I did a perfunctory search for some button or tab to easily report the glitch and came up empty. They clearly are not really interested in customer initiated feedback...... But I've used the product for over 15 years, as far as I know, and I don't think its really ever botched a return either....

Finally -- its still telling me that it cannot electronically submit the return. Says nobody can and links to an IRS age that lends credence to that assertion. It says I need to print the form and snail mail it..... I have to assume its correct...

You will be able to electronically submit the form after the first week of March. See this thread

 

[EvaLeaf]

I know a few friends in the TurboTax group at Intuit, and they are going to pass this along to the appropriate folks who would be able to work on this issue.

 

[EvaLeaf]

Just wanted to let folks know I heard back from my friend in TurboTax, and it appears the issue has been fixed:

"This is a known TurboTax interview issue that was addressed by the team and will be fixed in the 3/7 update for all new car entries.

For those who previously entered a Qualified Plug-In Electric Drive Motor Vehicle (Volt, Leaf, Prius Plug-In etc..), they will need to delete the car worksheet and re-enter the information. An FAQ has been published for containment and will be updated when the fix is released with steps to delete worksheet

The IRS began electronically accepting Form 8936 Sunday 3/2/13, so the form can now be electronically filed if there is only 1 car. If there is two or more cars on Form 8936 the user cannot electronically file and must paper file the return."