Did you take the tax credit on your 2004 Prius?

"THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER will give you $5,000 if you buy a Volt." That's a bit more accurate.

Again, I don't care if GM's lobbyists get the taxpayer to foot the entire bill - I will never own a POS GM again ....... evaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar.

... Brad

I will be considering the Volt if the price is right and the specs don't degrade. $5000 is a fair tax incentive. The Prius got $3000 or so and the Volt has the POTENTIAL to save even more gas when placed in the right hands.

before THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER(TM) Gives me $5,000 first i need
to

1) buy a volt
2) actually have 5,000 withheld from my w-2

Hi jpadc,

There was no US Goverment tax credit in 2004. It did not kick in till January 2006. The full $3150 for a Prius was in effect if the Prius was bought in the first three quarters of 2006. And then the credit tapered down twice, and was gone. The credit was voted in as a temporary way to save gas, that was not going to be produced after Hurricane Katrina disabled many oil industry resources. We probably should have a Huricane Ike tax credit too. This way, the fuel usage was less and gasoline prices did not spike as high as they would have.

I took advantage of the tax credit myself, when I bought my Prius in Feb. 2006. Some others who thought they would save $3150 were stung by the AMT and lost the right to the credit. I sold my SL2 to a person who was driving a Dodge Intrepid, which was salvaged. So, in all the tax payer got about a halving of fuel usage between me, and the person I sold my SL2 to.

There was a $2000 federal tax deduction available which expired in 2005 I believe. As it was a deduction you had to have sufficient other deductions to make it worthwhile. And typically the actual tax savings was only a few hundred dollars.

that is total CRAP... i bought a 100% EV vehicle and my tax credit was

ZERO

the american tax payer will give you a $1,000 child tax credit!
don't make babies!

and whatever you do don't have 5 kids cuz thats like buying a volt
every year

maybe the irs will have a EITC for hybrid owners so we can get more refunded then we had withheld

haha

We got our 2004 Prius when it was just 6 months used, and credits only went to new owners . . . but we did take a huge credit on the Range Rover prior to buying the Prius (the RR got $10's of thousands in tax deductions), less you think I missed the point.

So, GM gets ANOTHER boot, on top of the many perks already given by us, the tax payers . . . millions of tax dollars to produce the EV1 as an example. Yet GM crushed 'em as though it was GM that paid for them. Excuse me, but those belonged TO US, but no one had the insight to sue GM to stop them from destroying our property. Don't get me wrong, I hope the Volt isn't vaporware, and I hope it isn't junk ... despite GM's history if unreliability and bad management.

My curiosity is, how long will we continue to rescue GM. Will we remain their co-dependent rescurer for ever? Apparently so. Read on.

AP News | NewsOK.com

Holy Crap. You and I just paid another 25 BILLION to let GM survive. I don't know about YOU, but makes ME feel like I just bought another heroin fix for an adicted kid ... the paragon of codependence. It makes me feel sick.
Yep, uncle Sam will not only pay YOU $5,000 to buy a Volt, good ol Sammy, in his infinite wisdom will pay GM to build it. Maybe it's just me ... one too many economics classes, and knowing what happens to economies that just keep printing paper money backed only by thin air, and a belief in its value.

Regardless of whether the rebate goes towards GM or Mitsubishi EVs, we should be glad that it is going towards EVs. Americans are finally buying hybrids; now we need to get them to buy EVs (which is likely going to be an uphill battle for "the average American"). So, if Toyota produces an EV for $14,995, then it will effectively only cost the consumer $9995.

I understand that the AMT limits deductions, but this is a rebate. Can you explain this to me? Thank you.

the $3150 was also a "tax rebate" but was still limited by your tax liability. iow, if you did not pay in that much, you would not get back the full amount... an unusual credit to say the least.

i once worked with single mothers to help them apply for head of household "credits" which actually did pay them even if they did not pay in enough to offset the credit. for example (you had to have income to get this) someone had $1500 withheld, had tax liability of zero with tax credit for head of household of $2000 would get a tax return of $3500...

now that is a tax credit... im not really sure what the Pri thing was... obtw, my tax "credit" for my Pri i believe (i qualified for the $3150) was around $400 i think...dont really remember because it was insignificant

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c110:2:./temp/~c110gMcT0Y:e287857: is the link from the Library of Congress to the bill that passed the House. The appropriate section follows:

SEC. 824. CREDIT FOR NEW QUALIFIED PLUG-IN ELECTRIC DRIVE MOTOR VEHICLES.

• (a) In General- Section 30 is amended to read as follows:

`SEC. 30. NEW QUALIFIED PLUG-IN ELECTRIC DRIVE MOTOR VEHICLES.

• `(a) Allowance of Credit- There shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this chapter for the taxable year an amount equal to the sum of the credit amounts determined under subsection (b) with respect to each new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle placed in service by the taxpayer during the taxable year.

• `(b) Per Vehicle Dollar Limitation-

• • `(1) IN GENERAL- The amount determined under this subsection with respect to any new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle is the sum of the amounts determined under paragraphs (2) and (3) with respect to such vehicle.

• • `(2) BASE AMOUNT- The amount determined under this paragraph is $3,000.

• • `(3) BATTERY CAPACITY- In the case of a vehicle which draws propulsion energy from a battery with not less than 5 kilowatt hours of capacity, the amount determined under this paragraph is $200, plus $200 for each kilowatt hour of capacity in excess of 5 kilowatt hours. The amount determined under this paragraph shall not exceed $2,000.

• `(c) Application With Other Credits-

• • `(1) BUSINESS CREDIT TREATED AS PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS CREDIT- So much of the credit which would be allowed under subsection (a) for any taxable year (determined without regard to this subsection) that is attributable to property of a character subject to an allowance for depreciation shall be treated as a credit listed in section 38(b) for such taxable year (and not allowed under subsection (a)).

• • `(2) PERSONAL CREDIT-

• • • `(A) IN GENERAL- For purposes of this title, the credit allowed under subsection (a) for any taxable year (determined after application of paragraph (1)) shall be treated as a credit allowable under subpart A for such taxable year.

• • • `(B) LIMITATION BASED ON AMOUNT OF TAX- In the case of a taxable year to which section 26(a)(2) does not apply, the credit allowed under subsection (a) for any taxable year (determined after application of paragraph (1)) shall not exceed the excess of--

• • • • `(i) the sum of the regular tax liability (as defined in section 26(b)) plus the tax imposed by section 55, over

• • • • `(ii) the sum of the credits allowable under subpart A (other than this section and sections 23 and 25D) and section 27 for the taxable year.
      • If this section survives then IMO this credit will be treated just like 2006's hybrid credit. So if the taxpayer has misc. credits listed on form 1040 page 2 don't expect to receive the full credit.

so this should be a $5000 tax CREDIT right...? its not like they'll give u $5000, or a tax rebate...? :noidea:

I did a Harris Poll survey this morning about Hybrid cars, and at the end they gave a description of the Volt. They listed the price as $33,000 describing it as $40,000 with a 7000 tax credit!

That's right. You'll have to EARN (appx) over $30,000 in (for example) 2009 to owe the IRS (feds) in excess of $6,000 for the year. After you complete your 2009 tax return (and through payroll deduction, your employer took out maybe $6,000 for the year) you'd get $5,000 back. That's how a tax CREDIT works. So the trick is to make enough to get the full $5,000 back. If you don't earn enough, the remainder of the credit will carry over to the next year 'till it's used up.

Hill, it doesn't sound like a credit balance will carry forward.

Absent specific language to the contrary, I always err on the side of audit, to my wife's and our business' chagrin. So far, my score in tax court is 50/50. Probably why my wife made me put my license into inactive status.

Edit: I'll probably end up back in tax court in a year anyway, arguing a $20K+ tax credit for PV solar panels our business will be finishing up next weekend on our home. A homeowner only gets a $2K credit. A business takes a strait 30% credit ... in case you wonder why we didn't pay for it personally.

Chances are, Harris Poll simply quoted what GM was HOPING to get for a credit.

Now I know why GM is selling a plant in France and building a plant in Flint, Michigan to produce 4 cylinder engines and batteries. How much are Flint & Michigan paying GM to locate there?

Maybe we could help everyone by buying up Zimbabwe dollars and giving them away instead. (Inflation is so bad there may be an official exchange rate for Monopoly money.)

You've tweaked my curiosity, name one, and what happened to it please?