And here we are a week later.

The whole $2500 fed credit still confuses me. I bought my car in January so I have awhile to figure it out but can someone explain in plain english?

I paid about $9,000 in federal income taxes last year (and got a huge refund at tax time this year due to paying over $15k in fed taxes throughout the year). How do I know if I will get the $2500? And what do I need to do to make sure I get the $2500? And I do not itemize.

 

It's clear as mud...
Look at line 72 on form 1040 "These are your total payments". As long as the $$ in box 72 exceed $2500 then you'll at least get the $25oo back.

Of course you can't get back more than you paid in taxes (box 72) so if you have other deductions as well you may not be able to get the full $2500 from the PIP credit.

Say you paid $5000 in taxes (box 72) and your regular deductions get you $4000 back- you only get the additional $1000 back for the PIP credit.

 

I did my taxes online at HR block and my federal form 1040A only goes up to line 46.

Total Payments on line 43 is ~$13,000

 

I think it matters how the Prius Plugin is driven - how much electricity is used. My 2012 Prius Plugin has been driven 26,569 miles (March 5, 2012 to March 15, 2014), and over that period the gasoline used, based on odometer readings and gas pump readings, is now at 83.74 mpg. I compare this to my 2004 Prius which, driven the same way as my Plugin, averaged slightly over 48 mpg over 120,000 miles. My Plugin represents a gasoline improvement of 35.73 mpg, or 74% above my 2004 Prius, at the expense of more electricity use. I am sure others do even better.

 

That's gas consumption, not fuel economy.

Both used to mean the same thing but not anymore with a plugin vehicle that uses two fuels.

For example, my first year average for gas consumption with my PiP was 100 MPG. Fuel economy average was 75 MPGe.

FE takes account of electricity efficiency as well as gas. Gas consumption cares only about the amount of gas used, for all the miles driven (including on electricity).

 

The accuracy should be around 2-3 MPG. Prius computer displays 64 mph when the actual speed is 62 mph (reported by OBDII). The disparity is less at lower speed and more at higher speed.

I think that threw off the MPG calculation. So, it depends on how fast you drove in the trip/tank.

 

The formula is in the Top 20 MPGe thread.

My first year data thread with more details.

 

e" It's clear as mud...
Look at line 72 on form 1040 "These are your total payments". As long as the $$ in box 72 exceed $2500 then you'll at least get the $25oo back.
Of course you can't get back more than you paid in taxes (box 72) so if you have other deductions as well you may not be able to get the full $2500 from the PIP credit.
Say you paid $5000 in taxes (box 72) and your regular deductions get you $4000 back- you only get the additional $1000 back for the PIP credit. "

trying to help that poster who was confused -

It not that difficult - if you made normal income (not below the poverty line) and paid normal taxes then you're good to go on the $2500 back.
You don't have to have a $2500 tax liability at filing time - as in would've written a $2500 or more check...

Married filing jointly if your income after write-offs was$25k you'd have paid enough to take the credit.
Someone posted about stock losses knocking that gross income down a bunch but you're limited to 3k in losses per year - after that you carry them forward to next year

 

If memory serves me, the odometer is much more accurate that the speedometer though it is off some. My TCH odometer was really off...about 3% in my favor

 

All that really counts is "what is your tax bill?". This is line 46 on the 1040, less a couple of oddball credits. If it more than $2500, you will get the full credit. It does not matter how much you have paid toward your tax bill, such as by payroll withholding or estimated tax payments. This is all described on http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8936.pdf .

Usual disclaimer: I am not a tax professional, and this advice is worth what you paid for it.

 

Ok, sounds like I'll get it since my tax bill was around $9,000.

When I bought the car I was told to make sure I owe the IRS at least $2500 the following year when I do my taxes to get the credit. As in I send them a check for $2500 or more then this will count towards that.

 

This issue comes up over and over here. What you have to pay or what you get back at tax filing time is irrelevant. How much tax you owed for the year is what counts.

 

Not sure and have not tested.

 

I think (state? federal?) laws require the odometer to be accurate within some pretty tight limits, since things like warranties and lease/rental terms and such depend on it being right. The speedometer is allowed to read high, but not low, so you cannot get out of a speeding ticket by claiming that the speedometer incorrectly said you were under the speed limit. Folks report that if you read speed measurements from the OBD-II bus, they are right on, but the speedometer is programmed to display a few % high.

 

According to wikipedia the odometer laws don't specify accuracy, just prohibit tampering. It also mentions honda targets +/-2.5% accuracy on odometer. Wikipedia also indicates speedometers have to be within 10% at 50mph on commercial vehicles, doesn't say anything about personal. According to the article the dominant source of variation is tire circumference, which will vary by brand / size, pressure, temperature, wear etc. Just the wear component can result in 2% error.