Good News for EV purchasers in Colorado

It appears that the implementation of the EV registration fee isn't exactly snag-free. I got my registration renewal notice for the red LEAF, sent in the card with the check, and it came back saying I needed to pay an extra $50 for the EV. Well, I knew that, but why didn't it say so on the registration renewal card? So I had to mail it back including a second check.

This week I got my renewal notice for the blue LEAF and again no mention of electrical fee. This time I'll write two checks, one for the requested fee and one for the $50, and instruct the DMV to destroy the second check if it is not needed.

The whole roll-out of the program has been strange - from the initial almost incomprehensible letter they sent to every hybrid owner in the state (only plug-ins pay the fee), to the billing.

cgaydos said:

It appears that the implementation of the EV registration fee isn't exactly snag-free. I got my registration renewal notice for the red LEAF, sent in the card with the check, and it came back saying I needed to pay an extra $50 for the EV. Well, I knew that, but why didn't it say so on the registration renewal card? So I had to mail it back including a second check.

This week I got my renewal notice for the blue LEAF and again no mention of electrical fee. This time I'll write two checks, one for the requested fee and one for the $50, and instruct the DMV to destroy the second check if it is not needed.

The whole roll-out of the program has been strange - from the initial almost incomprehensible letter they sent to every hybrid owner in the state (only plug-ins pay the fee), to the billing.

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Can't recall ever getting a letter; they sent it to hybrid owners and not EV owners? How strange.

I always pay for my license renewals over the counter in tiny Ouray County. And pay whatever comes up on the computer screen, so I didn't even think to compare it to the amount on the renewal postcard. It appears that the postcard software needs to have another entry added to it for the new fee.

Needless to say, I was the first EV sticker they had issued. There is a Volt in the county but otherwise the stack of stickers given to the county isn't going to be much used and my friend at the clerk and recorder's office was laughing about it.

dgpcolorado said:

Can't recall ever getting a letter; they sent it to hybrid owners and not EV owners? How strange.

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The whole administration of the program is a mass of confusion. The letter itself was far from clear as to its intent. I got one letter for my Toyota Camry hybrid and one for the red LEAF, but for some reason not one for the blue LEAF, and asked owners to reply with whether their car was plug-in or not. In the letter they explained that they were sending it to such a broad audience because manufacturers aren't required to designation which cars are plug-in. Now there may be truth in this for cars that have both hybrid and plug-in models, such as the current Prius. But for cars like the Focus which are either EV or gas, the VIN tells the story. And of course you need only a little bit of research to know that certain model/years have no plug-ins or are ALL plug-in.

I wrote back explaining that I had two LEAFs (with VIN) and please don't include my Toyota on the plug-in list. They wrote back with a sticker for the blue LEAF but not the red one.

cgaydos said:

...I wrote back explaining that I had two LEAFs (with VIN) and please don't include my Toyota on the plug-in list. They wrote back with a sticker for the blue LEAF but not the red one.

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Was the letter from your county or from the state? If the former, that would explain why I didn't get one.

dgpcolorado said:

cgaydos said:

...I wrote back explaining that I had two LEAFs (with VIN) and please don't include my Toyota on the plug-in list. They wrote back with a sticker for the blue LEAF but not the red one.

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Was the letter from your county or from the state? If the former, that would explain why I didn't get one.

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State. Given that I didn't get one for the blue LEAF it's probably just randomness in their searching of the DMV database.

I had similar problems at the DMV last week, they didn't know about the sticker until I asked them and they went to their supervisor to find out. It was the Arapahoe county office.

Finally sent off my 2013 taxes this weekend. Learned a couple new things.

First, you can't e-file the Feds for TY 2013 if you are claiming a tax credit for an MY 2011 car. I should still get the credit, but apparently they will review it manually. I attached an explanation and a copy of the registration just to be sure. Did the same for the Colorado form. I suspect this will continue to be the case in the future - relevant only if you, like me, are buying a non-previously-registered dealer demo from a past year.

Second, unlike previous years in 2013 the Colorado DR0617 walks you through the calculation process, both old method and new method. This should prevent some of the problems people have had in the past in claiming the state credit.

I'll note that I did have a snag getting the credit. I was so worried that they would hesitate to give me the credit on a new 2011 bought in 2013 that I focused my documentation on that. 6 weeks after filing I got a letter saying I forgot to include copies of the buyers contract and the Colorado registration. Oops - both are clearly required. I uploaded them immediately to the state website and got the tax refund 5 weeks later.

Does anybody know if you can file for the EV tax credit twice in one year? I don't think there is anything stopping that.

I'm thinking of paying off my 2013 S, getting the 5,000 credit from NMAC to buy the Leaf, and getting my CO tax credit on the remaining purchase amount. Then, I'll turn around and sell it and purchase or lease a 2015 SV. I feel we really made a mistake not getting the heat pump for Colorado winters.

Thanks!

Leafdom said:

Does anybody know if you can file for the EV tax credit twice in one year? I don't think there is anything stopping that.

I'm thinking of paying off my 2013 S, getting the 5,000 credit from NMAC to buy the Leaf, and getting my CO tax credit on the remaining purchase amount. Then, I'll turn around and sell it and purchase or lease a 2015 SV. I feel we really made a mistake not getting the heat pump for Colorado winters.

Thanks!

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I'm not sure of this, but wouldn't your purchase of the Leaf from NMAC be considered a "used" car purchase? If so, I believe you can only get the credit for a used car if the car has not been previously registered in CO so you would not be able to make that claim (I'm assuming that you currently have the car registered in CO).

As to the general getting it twice - I didn't read anything that indicated you couldn't claim more than once, but it does appear they have closed any loopholes that would allow the credit being applied to the same vehicle twice.