[ausev] EV tax credit

[Brian Lasseter]

On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 11:18 AM, Willie McKemie <mckemie at spamcop.net> wrote:
> Has anyone figured out how to claim a tax credit on a real EV without
> buying a Tesla?

I'll let others answer your NEV question, however claiming lots of
money on your taxes is easy if you have a car that was bought or
converted after Feb 17, 2009.   The stimulus bill specifically applies
to NEVs, cars manufactured by a car company, and even cars converted
in your garage.  (There were no tax incentives for electric cars from
Jan 1, 2006 until Feb 17, 2009... Before 2006, only specific electric
cars made by car companies counted for a credit.)

The downside to these great credits, is that they are too new to have
tax forms yet.  And historically, most new tax credits do not have
associated tax forms until late January.

I'll repeat my earlier email summarizing EV tax credits from May 17th, 2009
--

I am happy to report that the "Stimulus Bill" does has lots of money
for Electric car enthusiasts, $1,600,000,000 to be exact.  :-)


Looking at the Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency overview is a
good place to start, it has things in a nice chart format, but is
lacking on details:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits
The IRS has a fair summary of the "Energy Provisions of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" here:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206871,00.html
But the nitty gritty requires a reading of the "American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009" (the "Stimulus Bill") which can be found
here:  http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h1enr.pdf


Here's a breakdown of the important points I took away:


Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit (Section 1122): Firstly,
the rebate for solar panels is now a flat 30% credit, no longer
limited to $2000.  (This makes solar panels insanely cheap in the
Austin Energy service area... The payback period for solar panels is 1
year or less.)

Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property (Section 1132): Yup... if
you install a new plug on your wall, or an expensive paddle charger in
your garage for your new electric car, you can claim a tax credit for
50% of the money you spent (up to $50,000).

Plug-in Electric Drive Vehicle Credit (Section 1141, page 212 of the
Stimulus Bill):  This applies to highway speed electric vehicles sold
by major car companies.  You get $2,500 to $7,500 depending on the
battery capacity of the vehicle.  This credit does not start to phase
out until the car company reaches 200,000 electric cars.  That is a
lot of electric vehicles... 200,000 per car company?  The hybrid tax
credits phased out completely by the time they sold 60,000 hybrid
cars.

Plug-In Electric Vehicle Credit (Section 1142, page 214 of the
Stimulus Bill): This applies to neighborhood electric vehicles, and
electric motorcycles for 10 percent of the cost of the vehicle, up to
a maximum credit of $2,500 for purchases made after Feb. 17, 2009, and
before Jan. 1, 2012. To qualify, a vehicle must be either a low speed
vehicle propelled by an electric motor that draws electricity from a
battery with a capacity of 4 kilowatt hours or more or be a two- or
three-wheeled vehicle propelled by an electric motor that draws
electricity from a battery with the capacity of 2.5 kilowatt hours. A
taxpayer may not claim this credit if the plug-in electric drive
vehicle credit is allowable.

Conversion Kits (Section 1143, page 217 of the Stimulus Bill): This is
the big enchilada for AustinEV.  It provides a tax credit for plug-in
electric drive conversion kits equal to 10 percent of the cost of
converting a vehicle to a qualified plug-in electric drive motor
vehicle up to a maximum amount of $4,000.  How awesome is that?  The
downside is that the IRS has not come out with new forms of qualifying
guidelines yet, so the only way to get information is to read the 407
page Stimulus bill and piece together the syntactical redirection of
section 1143.  Here is my take on the qualifications for a converted
electric car to get $$$:

  The term ‘qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle’ means a
motor vehicle—
  (A) which is used only within the United States,
  (B) which is acquired for use or lease by the taxpayer and not for resale,
  (C) which must be placed in service after Feb. 17, 2009 and before
Dec. 31, 2011,
  (D) which is treated as a motor vehicle for purposes of title II of
the Clean Air Act,
  (E) which has a gross vehicle weight rating of less than 14,000 pounds,
  (F) which is propelled to a significant extent by an electric motor
which draws electricity from a battery which—
     (i) has a capacity of not less than 4 kilowatt hours,
     (ii) is capable of being recharged from an external source of
electricity, and
     (iii) can be measured from a 100 percent state of charge to a 0
percent state of charge.
  (G) which is manufactured primarily for use on public streets,
roads, and highways (not rails),
  (H) which has at least 4 wheels, and
  (I) which must be in compliance with-
     (i) the applicable provisions of the Clean Air Act, and
     (ii) the motor vehicle safety provisions of sections 30101
through 30169 of title 49, United States Code.


Oh... and a taxpayer may claim this "Conversion Kit" credit even if
the taxpayer claimed a hybrid vehicle credit for the same vehicle in
an earlier year.  Woohoo!


-- 
TTFN,
Brian "Lasso" Lasseter

"No Sane man will dance."   -Cicero (106-43 B.C.)