2024 and the $4000 Used EV tax credit getting more interesting

Yeah I’m confused as well. Sticker price was $21,988. I put $6k down and did purchase the maxcare warranty for about $2k. My amount financed after sales tax was around $19k. I checked the IRS and fuel economy website before I went and looked at it and I meet every requirement.

I’m wondering if it’s something screwed up with the IRS rollout of this, which honestly wouldn’t surprise me.

 

I’ll double check but I don’t think so.

Does sales tax get added to the purchase price as well?

 

Gotcha ok. So I’m definitely under $25k then.

 

One of these PHEVs or BEVs had registration issues with the VIN way back between the manufacture and the IRS. I would see if this is the issue with your purchase.

 

I also purchased a Clarity from Carmax and two days after the sale they said it didn't qualify from the IRS. Didn't have any reply on why. The history report shows one owner in California, but it did show a title event in Nevada in Nov 2023 that I am wondering if that would be it. They said to call the IRS to help. @ClarityRVA could you share the number you called / results of your effort?

 

I had a similar experience last week trying to purchase a 2018 Clarity PHEV in Seattle. Ticked all the IRS boxes, even stated on their site that it was eligible, but when the dealer logged on to get the $4000 tax credit the message was that the car was not eligible.

 

Haven’t called anyone yet. I’ve got to set aside some time and mentally prepare myself for the torture of trying to talk to these people.

 

I called the IRS helpline at 1-800-829-1040 and they just directed me to https://fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxused.shtml, but could not look up my VIN to tell me the specific reason why it didn't qualify.

 

Thanks you saved me a bunch of trouble.

Just for the heck of it I punched the car’s info into turbo tax to see if I had bought it in 2023 if the credit would go through and it did. So we will see what happens next year when I file my 2024 taxes.

 

Did they take the 4000 off the price or give you a form?

 

For those thinking of selling as a private party vs trading in and buying a different vehicle, make sure you run the numbers, as some states deduct the value of a trade-in before calculating the sales tax.

 

I just purchased (01/30/24) a 2022 Ioniq 5 SE and it qualifies for $4,000 tax credit. The dealership I purchased it from did all the paperwork for me to file on my personal tax return for 2024. I was never offered the option of signing over the $4,000 to the dealership to have it applied to the and deducted from the price of the vehicle. Now comes the Catch 22 question! Because of the way my annual income in set up I don't have to file Federal income taxes. According to the IRS instructions I have read, this is a no-refundable tax credit and since I do not owe any taxes, I am not eligible for the $4000 refund. Now the kicker, in the IRS guidelines it also states if one applies the $4000 tax credit through the dealership then the buyer gets the benefit regardless of how much tax they may owe when filing their return-meaning they can claim it even if they don't owe the IRS any money at all. The quandary I find myself in is the deadline for the dealer to apply the $4000 credit towards cost of the vehicle expires three days from the date of purchase. Can I somehow still file a personal return and get the refund from the IRS?

 

Ouch!

The tax credit is nonrefundable. However the IRS said they would not recapture the tax credit if you are under the income limits and you got the money upfront.

So unless the dealership signs up to transfer the money for the tax credit to them and can work out the mistake with the IRS, you are out $4,000 if you don't owe that much in taxes.