Federal and State Incentives for Plug-Ins, EV's

...that's good info!...did you catch the tip about registering up to 3 years in advance to avoid the new fees? I can't do it until March as my registration is up in October.

 

Congrats on the new PiP!!!...yes as long as you have Federal Tax owed in 2013 you are good to take the credit!
The credit applies until Toyota has sold 200,000 plugins, so you are actually an early adopter in the scheme of things (no manufacturer close to 200,000 plug-ins yet). Tell us what state you are in NDAN? any credits there? It helps to put general location in your profile, at least your state helps us a lot to understand your situation.

 

Wow I think we should post that more loudly ( I will handle). That also changes my letter to the editor of the Washington Post.

 

^^^I might be able to tell you how Turbo tax handles filling in the line item, but I cannot verify filing because my
Pip is only a virtual PiP.

 

Thank you! I guess they don't call it Taxxachusetts for nothin'!
By the way, is my spelling correct for Taxxachusetts?
I think you are probably better off than Virginia with annual car taxes, but I will double check.

 

VIRGINIA ALERT
Yesterday our VA General Assembly adopted our new $64/year "Prius" tax, it's now official. This was reduced by Gov McDonnell to $64/yr (from the original $100/yr proposal) reflecting that VA also reduced state gasoline taxes to the lowest level in the continental USA.

Meanwhile some tips to cope with this (use your own judgement):

(1) You can possibly register three years in advance before fees go up (I just did this myself). Go to DMVNOW.com to try this on-line. Unfort, you can only do this 6-months in advance. Not sure if you can do this when you purchase a new vehicle, if so registering 3 years would be a good idea until the new fees kick in.

(2) Virginia (especially NoVa) is notorious for high annual car "property" taxes. If you put on more than about 12000 miles per year, you may be able to apply for a high mileage discount off the blue book value, saving some taxes. I will try this soon.

As far as PiP vehicle purchase timing, I am not sure much is gained by changing your plans. If you are planning a PiP purchase very soon, by all means go ahead sooner to beat the sales tax increase and new hybrid fees. If you were planning a PiP purchase late in the year, that still may be advantageous for various reasons. You will have the new fees, but possibly a better year-end deal and possibly a lower Year-1 property tax assessment, depending how your town handles the Year-1 vehicle value assessment. My town uses the blue book as of January, so a December purchase could benefit from that.

The changes adopted (starting date may be July 1, to be confirmed) are (1) sales tax increase from 3% to 4.15%, (2) clean car fee $64/yr, and (3) registration fees going up $15/yr from $33/yr to $48/yr. So registering 3 years costs only $125 today and may save you about $240, assuming they do not come after pre-registered cars for the new fees. Not much downside to trying.