Used EV Tax Credits for Married Filing Jointly

[SpaceCadet]

Question for any CPA's or tax pros out there:

If I bought a USED EV (Leaf) this year (2023) that qualifies for part of the $4000 used EV rebate.... (it qualifies for $3750)
Then my wife buys another USED PHEV (Volt) the same year that also qualifies.... (it qualifies for the full $4000)
And our joint income allows us to be income-qualified for both purchases...

Can I claim BOTH USED EV credits on my 2023 tax return? The IRS is not clear on this. It looks like it is by taxpayer, but joint returns are not specifically addressed. My wife makes very little, but has a small taxable income that will be included in our total. She CANNOT be listed as a "dependent" per IRS rules. So I think I can claim both EV and PHEV on my tax return.

What say people who actually know?

 

[henrydehoja]

You would need IRS Form 8936 (Qualified Plug-In Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit) for this case. This form allows you to claim 2 vehicles.

I haven't seen the 2024 version of the form yet, but I expect that it will be similar or the the same as the 2023 version.

The only caveat I see is that you won't be able to claim any other "clean vehicle" or "alternate vehicle" federal credits if you use Form 8936. But, this tends to be a less common issue for personal taxes.

 

[SpaceCadet]

Thanks! I was wondering if I needed to fill out two 8936 forms, since the credit can only be claimed once every 3 years per person. There is space at the top to put in both my name / SSID and my spouse's, and there are two columns for vehicles, but there's nowhere to differentiate who bought which vehicle. I guess that is done by the information reported to the IRS by the dealer.

Maybe the 2024 version of the form will have a space to indicate which SSID goes with which vehicle and some more used-vehicle-tax-credit specific parts. The 2023 version didn't need it since there was only the new vehicle tax credit available, and it could be taken multiple times by anyone.

I want to me sure I can claim the credit for each vehicle, since my wife wouldn't buy the PHEV if we can't get the tax credit.

 

[henrydehoja]

According to the IRS website, the dealer reports the required information to the IRS. So, the IRS will have info on the buyer & sales.
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/used-clean-vehicle-credit

I haven't seen or heard anything on the 2024 revision to Form 8936. Seeing how IRS tax documents move along, it may become available in December.

 

[SpaceCadet]

So, I ended up not buying the volt last year. I am planning on a Honda Clarity or a Tesla Model 3 in the next week or two.

I just got my tax refund from the IRS, and there were no issues with getting the $3750 for the Leaf. I don't know anything about the paperwork from the dealer, but I was able to fill out my taxes, claim, and receive the credit without any special documentation. I used online tax prep software, which filled and submitted the form for me.

When I asked a dealer about the tax credit on a used vehicle I was looking at a few weeks ago, they swore off having anything to do with it. Weird, because the credit is supposed to be available at point-of-sale this year. I figured they would want to make that a selling point. Maybe they're just idiots. Or maybe the car had been previously sold after August 16, 2022 and they didn't want to admit it. (It had a weird Carfax/title check, so I hard passed on it.)

Anyway, if you bought a used leaf last year, and you're the first new owner of it since August 16, 2022, don't be scared of claiming the credit.

 

[rsbrax]

That is good news on the used Leaf rebate.
There is an exclusion that the tax payer needs to wait 3 years after the sales date to claim another EV tax credit.
There may be a work around. Have you figured that out yet in case you want to purchase another EV within 3 years and claim a tax credit?