This is shaping up to be an interesting tax year for those of us who bought Leafs last year.
We e-filed on the filing deadline, claiming the credit and showing an overpayment (for a lot less than $7500), which we asked to be applied to 2012 estimated tax.
The IRS responded in May to inform us that they had no record of estimated tax payments for 2011, so we owed tax and penalties. Since then, they found the estimated tax payments, and on June 8 they issued a refund check for the very same amount that was supposed to be applied to estimated tax, plus interest.
The very same day that the IRS issued the refund check, they also generated an Income Tax Examination Report that has many pages of calculations, and that concludes with the pronouncement that we underpaid $7500 in tax and now owe the IRS that amount, plus interest. The report appears to indicate that we didn't file Form 8936 (although it's definitely part of the package of "for your records" forms generated by TurboTax), and the IRS is now requesting a copy of the sales contract and manufacturer's certification that the vehicle qualifies.
I'm not looking forward to the next conversation with the IRS, as we now have to sort out both the issue of the estimated tax and the problem related to this tax credit -- and I'm wondering if there will be any more letters from the IRS in the coming weeks.
PS - One page in the Examination Report is entitled "Other Credits Not From Form 3800, 8396, 8801, 8859". That's the page that says we don't qualify for the EV credit. I had to read it several times to figure out that it's not an error -- it refers to credits NOT on form 8396. The IRS didn't transpose the digits, but the similarity of the two numbers sure is confusing the rest of us.