Uncle Sam will give you $5,000 if you buy a Volt

People said on PC they lost the credit. The way the AMT works, I believe, is that if certain circumstances exists (large deductions, or kinds of deductions?) the form makes you figure out your taxes in the AMT way. If the AMT way results in more tax, you pay the more tax. The AMT way does not permit deductions, or limits deductions for personal needs (like housing), and apparently tax credits that do not originate from prepaying by the tax payer.

 

Hi All,

If GM is selling the car at 40K, with an expected 7K rebate, they may have out priced the tax circumstances of the marjority of the customers. The people who could afford 40K, probably have AMT, and then would not get the 7K rebate. Now allot of people (like me) are under the AMT (in 2006-8 at least, and most likely due to living in a lower cost/lower income area - the midwest), probably are not going to buy a 40K car. A 23.6K car on the other hand was not a problem in 2006, and with the credit - it was a 20K car. And with the 5K I got for the SL2, it was a 17K out of pocket expense car (2 K for sales tax). Which is also what the SL2 was back in 2000.

Additionally, as Wayne Gerdes has pointed out, people in appartments, or walk-up condos, are not going to be able to recharge the car (unless some special situation occurs). And these people are the people who probably do not have AMT, because they do not have the large deductions for residence real estate loans. So, that seems to be non-synergistic as well.

Maybe the Volt can be called the a-synergistic finance drive car.

The only hope here, is that after 5 years on the roads, the batteries survive, including winters. Then GM's acuarials will let the company reduce the cost of the car (which of course includes a battery waranty - which is why acuarials are involved in pricing it). There is a rumor going around that the 40K price includes replacing the 10K battery on a goodly fraction of the cars.

 

I was able to deduct the full $2000.00 (rebate?) off my taxes on my 2004 Prius.
I was only able to deduct $1675.00 (tax credit) off my income on my 2007 Prius. Since the 2007's were not available in my area until after the credit was reduced to 1/2 of the full credit of $3150.00. However many people got no credit, due to the AMT clause in the tax code. Many posts on PC said they were told by Prius salesmen they would get the $3150.00 back (like the 04 rebate), but they did not get even the tax credit (zero - nothing). My CPA even tried to tell me I was only eligable for 1/2 of 1/2 of the credit. I had to go to the US Government website and copy the form down and take it to the CPA to prove I was eligible for the $1675.00 credit. The tax credit was deducted from my total income before they figured my tax in 2007. The rebate was actually deducted from the amount of taxes I paid in 2004. There were a lot of mislead and unhappy Prius customers when they changed the rebate to a tax credit.

 

mrg, Either you got it backwards or your taxes are screwed up. Your tax CREDIT for the 2007 Prius should have reduced your total tax liability. If your total tax was $3675 you only had to pay $2000. 2004 was a tax DEDUCTION which should have been deducted from your income.

If one qualifies, a tax credit is always better than a deduction.