I am buying a 2008 Civic hybrid and wondering whether I am eligible for the tax credit of $2100? The website (http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/tax_hybrid.shtml) indicates I am..

Also I have a 2006 Civic hybrid for which I got the tax credit..

Would I be applicable for the 2008 tax credit?

Thanks

 

I don't see why not.

 

Honda has either approached or surpassed 60,000 units sold, which was the limit the Congress put on the full tax credit. If your hybrid is number 60,001 or more, you get half the credit. At some other number of sales, the credit gets cut in half again.

You'll have to find out if your HCH is less than number 60K sold.

 

Well, unless the OP hits the AMT "floor" due to the credit.

One can't pay any less taxes, than their AMT (AMT is the Minimal Tax). So, if one's total income taxes is only, say for example, $1000 over their AMT, then they can only get $1000 of the full $2100.

I know that I have never, before, been hit by the AMT, but the AMT did limit by hybrid credit to about 1/2 of the full amount.

 

No, that's not the way it works. There is some sort of verbaige in the law so that the tax credit drops to half 90 days after the 60k car was sold (and to 25% 180 days after IIRC). It's not a drop dead when 60,001 is sold.

 

Right. The quarter AFTER the quarter in which the 60,000th hybrid is sold is the last in which you can receive the full tax credit. For the 2nd and 3rd quarters after the threshold is reached, you get 50% of the credit. For the 4th and 5th quarters after the threshold is reached, you get 25%. Then nothing!

Apparently Honda hit 60,000 in the third quarter, which means you'll still get the full credit this quarter. But on Jan. 1, 2008, it goes to half:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/news/news.../news_id=11246

 

i think this is the last quarter that you can get the tax credit.

 

But the OP got the full credit a year ago, I was hedging that a year later they'd still be OK.

Yes if you're in the 75K+ range and have kids and a mortgage, live in a high tax state, be aware, the AMT can take the credit away.

 

TOYOTA HYBRID TAX CREDIT EXPIRES

The Internal Revenue Service has discontinued the federal tax credits for Toyota hybrid vehicles—including the flagship Prius—as of Oct. 1, 2007. Toyota Motor Corporation hit a legal cap in the number of vehicles sold that can offer the credit. Only hybrids purchased before the Oct. 1 deadline are now eligible for the incentive.

According to IRS rules, tax credits for new hybrid vehicles phase out when an automaker sells 60,000 hybrids. Toyota hit the magic number last summer, which initiated the beginning of the process.

Honda recently reached the mark of 60,000 hybrids sold, and will now start their phase-out next year.

GM, Ford, and Nissan are not expected to reach cap before 2009 when the incentive laws will be reconsidered or entirely discontinued.