Hello. so it's not a question of "if I'm going to buy a Prius, but "how soon" 'till I can finally get one. But... I was reading about federal tax credits, how do those work? And is it up to me to know how much I'm eligable for, or will they tell me when I buy the Prius? If location is a factor on this type of question then I live in Ridgecrest California.
If you buy a new one and put it into service before Dec. 31, 2005 you can put $2,000 clean fuel credit on (I think) line 35. Then you compute your taxes. What you get back will depend on your income and other deductions and stuff.
welcome! Congrats on deciding on a Pri. I'm sure you'll be happy. The tax issue isn't a CREDIT, although Bush keeps on tossing the word "credit" around and getting my hopes up. It's currently a deduction, which reduces your total taxable income. The amount is $2000. You can claim it on the 1040. More info here. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=...=107766,00.html
Those points are for being so clever and making the decision to buy the Prius. Here are an additional 10 for doing so. I just hit "donate" to the left of your post . Note you cannot donate to yourself. Remember when you got stars from the teacher in your younger days.
Heya, As already pointed out here - it's a deduction, not a credit. Still, a nice thing that non-hybrid people don't get!!!! I'm also in California. Traded in my Trans-Am. My advice is simple. Buy yourself a Prius. You won't regret it. Yoda
You have the answers above, but I thought I'd detail it out with specific numbers. I got the tax rates from the HR Block web site. The first column is your income, the second column would be your tax rate, and the 3rd column would be what you get back for buying a Prius when the tax deduction is $2000. If you paid no taxes, then you will get nothing back. But if you paid no taxes, then how did you afford to buy the Prius. $0 to $14,600 -------10% --- Or- $200 $14,600 to $59,400 ---15% --- Or $300 $59,400 to $119,950 ---25% ---Or $500 $119,950 to $182,800 --- 28% ---Or $560 $182,450 to $326,450 --- 33% ---Or $660 $326,450 to -infinity-- ----35% --- Or $700 If the current energy bill passes with the increase that GW has talked about, the deduction will go to $4000 and the numbers above will double.
Hmmm. I notice the higher your income the bigger your income tax "credit", rebate or whatever they are calling it. The very people that really don't need it get the most. The very people that could use it get the least. I don't see this effecting either Prius sales or the U.S. economy. I'll get $500.
I wish I was in the $500 bracket, I'll get $300. But soon I'll win the lottery and it won't be an issue
When I ordered my Prius yesterday (only a three-week wait!) I was happily surprised to learn that in Connecticut, you don't pay sales tax when you buy a hybrid. I wonder if this is the case in any other state.
Here is a list of known U.S. tax deductions and/or credits and other benefits, including by state: http://www.ucsusa.org/hybridcenter/incentives.cfm I don't know how often it's updated, but it seems to be fairly current. I just learned that PA has a $500 sales tax credit. Too bad it's not the full sales tax, but I'll take the $500!
