Considering an EV

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Thank you. I'll going to look into this further. It's a little confusing to me. I did contact the tax company who prepared our taxes last year. Last year, we got a refund from the feds. I asked the person, everything being equal (for our 2019 taxes), would we receive any benefit from the $7500 tax credit. She said we would not. I'll guess I can call the IRD directly about this.
 
Thank you. I'll going to look into this further. It's a little confusing to me. I did contact the tax company who prepared our taxes last year. Last year, we got a refund from the feds. I asked the person, everything being equal (for our 2019 taxes), would we receive any benefit from the $7500 tax credit. She said we would not. I'll guess I can call the IRD directly about this.
Time to find a new tax preparer.
Whether or not you would get a refund (or owe when you file) is completely unrelated to getting the full benefit of the $7,500 Tax Credit. The number you need to look at is tax liability (line 15 on the 2018 1040). If that number is >$7,500, you will benefit from the full credit. If it <$,7,500,you will owe no taxes for the year and get a refund of any withholding from your paycheck, estimated tax payments, etc.
 
Time to find a new tax preparer.
Whether or not you would get a refund (or owe when you file) is completely unrelated to getting the full benefit of the $7,500 Tax Credit. The number you need to look at is tax liability (line 15 on the 2018 1040). If that number is >$7,500, you will benefit from the full credit. If it <$,7,500,you will owe no taxes for the year and get a refund of any withholding from your paycheck, estimated tax payments, etc.

Thank you for the response. Very helpful!
 
. . .
hadn't put gas in it since late August. Heh. Gotta worry about fuel
going stale, maybe??
After getting our BMW i3-REx, our 2010 Prius was pretty much parked. So I was surprise in the Fall of 2016 when the REx unexpected came on.

It turns out there is a 60 day clock that requires the REx to operate for about 10-15 minutes. Even if you stop the car, when it starts, the REx restarts to complete the cycle.

The BMW i3 owners forum explained the puzzle and it is mentioned in the Owner's Manual. Basically it gets the moving parts oiled and the temperature high enough to evaporate condensation. So little gas is burned, one could go a couple of years before having to top off the 2 gallon tank.

Bob Wilson
 
After getting our BMW i3-REx, our 2010 Prius was pretty much parked. So I was surprise in the Fall of 2016 when the REx unexpected came on.

It turns out there is a 60 day clock that requires the REx to operate for about 10-15 minutes. Even if you stop the car, when it starts, the REx restarts to complete the cycle.

The BMW i3 owners forum explained the puzzle and it is mentioned in the Owner's Manual. Basically it gets the moving parts oiled and the temperature high enough to evaporate condensation. So little gas is burned, one could go a couple of years before having to top off the 2 gallon tank.

Bob Wilson
Fuel does go bad however - there are fuel stabilizers that you can buy that help with this. You would typically use it in rarely used gas powered things.
 
After all of this, I've hit a glitch. I should have educated myseld about the Federal Tax credit vs assuming. I was under the impression that the tax credit was a guaranteed $7500 check from the federal government for purchasing the EV in question. I was wrong. It was my plan to purchase the Kona and pay my wifes car loan off with the tax credit. I guess the tax credit is non-refundable, meaning if I break even or get a refund (as we did last year) on my federal tax return this year, my tax credit would be zippo. This is truly a bummer, but it is what it is. Life goes on. I'll have to revisit this in about a year and a half. In the meantime, I want to thank everyone for the excellent information and guidance!


Also the tax credit should carry over to future years. So if you only owe $4000 in taxes this year you should be able to apply the remaining tax credit the following year. As RSC said if you paid in $ 8500 in with holdings on taxes of $8000 then you get $500 back with out the credit. With the credit you would get $8000 back. $7500 back because of the credit applied taxes and $500 for over payment. In the latter case you payed in $8500 but the credit lowers you remaining tax to $500 so you get the $8000 back as an over payment.

If you truly owe zero taxes as was my case I leased the car. The leasing company then gets the credit but they also lower the price by the amount of the credit passing it on to you. So it is still possible to benefit from the tax credit with out owing taxes. If your in California the state rebate is in the form of a check.
 
Also the tax credit should carry over to future years.
It does not carry over.
The leasing company then gets the credit but they also lower the price by the amount of the credit passing it on to you.
Not all leasing companies pass all of the credit on, and sometimes they do so in a less than obvious fashion (artificially high residual or below market money factor are two examples).
 
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