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

Web site that aggregates alternative energy incentives at Federal, state and local levels which might apply, among other things, to alt. energy cars: (meant as a guide to residential and commercial energy conservation issues overall, largely to houses):

DSIRE: Database of Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Solar Incentives, Rebates, Programs, Policy


Subset of same site that covers active local jurisdiction incentives in Virginia:

DSIRE:

Incentives in VA

: Virginia Homeowner Incentives for Renewable Energy

 

In California the CA rebate money is not tax related - you get a rebate check. You have to owe federal taxes in order to use any part of the plugin Fed tax credit. If you can't use it up in 2 years you are hosed. Check to see if your state is tax crdit related or whether it is a straight rebate. There's a big difference.

 

Someone mentioned above that you should check with your dealer... technically they are not the one's who know all the information on this stuff. This is my second hybrid vehicle and each time I have found that when shopping around and asking questions, the dealers do NOT know this information.
I found that the best person to ask is your tax accountant. As long as they are on the up and up, and they are up to date with their knowledge of the latest applicable tax credits, etc.... (which if they are good they should be.)
With the last three (including my PiP) of my green vehicle purchases - my tax accountant knew right off the bat for sure each time I checked with him.
When I bought my 2006 Civic Hybrid in 2005, he was able to tell me before my purchase : $1500 State / $2500 Credit (Federal)
When I bought my 2010 Audi Q7 TDI : The dealer wasn't sure but my tax accountant knew: $1100 Federal tax credit for Clean Burning Diesel (TDI).
And now I called him on the PiP when I bought it in August. $1500.00 rebate from the State's ARB program. (I received this $1500.00 check 2 weeks after my purchase.) and $2500.00 Federal tax credit.

And I never lease vehicles, but yes I believe I did read and was told by my incredibly knowledgeable Toyota salesman, the Federal tax credit applies to those who do lease also. (Now these guys actually go to sales training courses on PiP - from what he told me.)

 

The federal tax credit goes to the lessor/leasing company, not the lessee (as someone else also pointed out above somewhere).

Here's the tax form (8936)

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8936.pdf

Bottom of Page 2:

In addition to certification, the following requirements
must be met to qualify for the credit:

• You are the owner of the vehicle. If the vehicle is leased,
only the lessor and not the lessee, is entitled to the credit;

I just looked this up yesterday for a co-worker because he was telling everyone how he got a great deal on a Volt lease ($230/mo after taxes, which IS great, and $3k down) but he kept telling everyone he was also expecting his $7500 federal tax credit at the end of the year. I didnt want to burst his bubble, but I couldnt have him spreading false info .

 

Yo Tracksyde,
Good to know. As I said. I never lease. I pay my vehicles off in a couple of years whether it was my $80K Audi Q7 TDI or S4 Stasis... Leasing is a rip - even if you plan on changing cars every two to three years. LOL but it's good if you don't want to end up with so many cars. I like having lots of cars though, (like shoe choices - which one should I wear today.)
Anyway, next time I talk to the salesguy at Power Toyota I'll let him know he was wrong. He knew I was there to buy only, but when trying to rationalize buying a vehicle the first year it comes out (usually there are tons of recalls the first year of a new model) he gave me leasing options and said I would still qualify for the federal tax credit.

...which brings me back to my main point... check with your tax accountant. Do not rely on info from the dealership. They are just there to sell.
Thanks.

 

Hello, I am planning to buy the 2012 base plug in. I live in Long Island, New York. Would appreciate any information about any rebates or incentives here. Could not get much information from the dealer.

 

Wjtracy, Thanks so much for the feedback.

 

Hi Tracy,

It looks like it is suprisingly good in West Virginia (Alternative Fuels Data Center: West Virginia Incentives and Laws). I checked with a Tax accountant and he confirmed that it looked good as well, but I just got the PIP a week ago, so it will be a while before I file taxes.

 

Out of State purchasing can be tricky, because some dealers are not used to it. Basically, they have to calculate the sales tax rate from your home state, apply that to your beautiful new PIP, then send the sales tax $$ to your state. I had to make sure my dealer did this, they had no clue about it.

 

Well it says, " The value of the tax credit is 35% of the vehicle purchase price or 50% of the vehicle conversion cost, up to $7,500". If you add that to the federal tax credit, it's, uh, a lot of money even to a country girl that can't add. Then if you add in the Toyota incentives and the 0% interest, it's a sweet deal on something that you already wanted anyway.

 

Syracuse New York morning paper today 2012 Plug in msrp $32985.00 3999. down $75 doc fee 12,000 mi 24 months $169/month. $3500. TFS rebate applied. Sorry if this is a dumb question but anyone know what TFS is? Thanks Rick

 

Toyota Financial Service

 

Thanks, I should have know that. I mean I do send them a check every month.

 

How much are people planning on claiming for the federal tax credit? I see on Toyota's website the wording "the tax credit is confirmed to be $2500", but in the paperwork it says an extra $417 is allowed per kwh of battery. Rounded down to 4kwh, that is another $1,668 that PiP buyers are fairly entitled to, right?

Anyone have "confirmation" or a better source than the ones listing only $2500 fed credit?