Tax Credit for Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicles

IRC Section 30D provides a credit for Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicles, including passenger vehicles and light trucks:

• For vehicles acquired after Dec. 31, 2009, the credit is equal to $2,500.
• An additional $417 can be claimed for a vehicle that draws propulsion energy from a battery with at least five kilowatt hours of capacity.
• An additional $417 can be claimed for each kilowatt hour of battery capacity in excess of five kilowatt hours.

The total amount of the credit allowed for a vehicle is limited to $7,500.

The credit begins to phase out for a manufacturer’s vehicles when at least 200,000 qualifying vehicles manufactured by that manufacturer have been sold for use in the United States, determined on a cumulative basis for sales after Dec. 31, 2009. For additional information, see Notice 2009-89.

The list of qualified vehicles in this list of manufacturers applies only to vehicles acquired after Dec. 31, 2009.

Editor’s note: The Intuit® Tax Pro Center has a variety of content on tax credits and tax law.