I bought my '07 in Feburary. Buying this early in the year will allow me to tailor my income for the remainder of the year to avoid the AMT, and get every stinking penny of the hybrid tax credit. On my way this morning to confirm that plan with my accountant.

There's also extensive discussion of the AMT and hybrid tax credit here.
https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...splay.php?f=57

 

I live in California, which has never given any tax or other benefit for buying a FEH. The State use to issue a certificate for single occupant usage of the carpool lanes to owners of selected hybrids that got better than 40 mpg, but even that program has expired.

So much for California being a "green" State!!!

 

Tim:

Not sure about that. A poll on GH (search "poll Tax Credit Eligibility") indicates 45% received all of the credit, while 24% did not get any. The balance recieved some portion of the credit. So 76% did received all or some credit for their hybrid purchase.

How this applies to the rest of the hybrid buying population, not sure. Sample size 100.

 

As a general rule, if you enjoy a situation which requires a professional to do your taxes, you may want to watch out for the Alternative Minimum Tax. It can be a real sucker punch.
Anyone earning over $70,000/yr should at least try to be aware of the AMT. Over $100,000 you should always verify your AMT status.

AMT was designed to capture a sliver of people who were making a lot of money and not paying much tax. But it's not adjusted for wage/price inflation. Factor in so many available credits, deductions and exemptions and it now catches many more people. Most never thought to consider that there are limits to what the IRS will let the Treasury give away.

On the other hand, the hybrid credit is a big benefit to middle class wage earners with incomes under $50,000, zero or one dependents, and few deductions other than a house.
It will really reduce my own tax, and I wouldn't have bought the FEH if I wasn't eligible for it. I'm also glad that here in Colorado we get additional credit at the state income tax level, as follows

'05 Ford Escape FWD $2,758/4WD $2,797
'06 Ford Escape FWD $2,826/4WD $2,856
'07 Ford Escape FWD $1,942/4WD $1,972

It will be interesting to see what they come up with for the '08.

 

I got 40% of it. You don't have to hit AMT to get dinged. They use some intermediate BS tenative AMT calculation to limit the credit. It was a bit of a shock to me that there was any limit at all. That and Turbotax's expensive e-file certainly made tax year 2006 unpleasant.

People should mail in your returns in instead of e-file. They use your e-file money to lobby against sending your returns directly to the IRS and your state authority. Good thing they didn't disallow you sending in paper! Crimeny what century do we live in! At $17 per state and federal for a couple of K characters of data transmission, they must be using some gold plated fiber to justify that cost.

I would have bought my '06 FEH 4WD without the credit and was using the credit as a reward for being a good steward for the environment and upping my ADK contribution this year.

 

I'm guessing (from your description) the idea is that its precalculating the AMT.. if you are going to HIT the AMT then it reduces the credit claimed to avoid the AMT.... so you still WOULD have hit the AMT if it had filed the complete credit.

I was pretty sure all the e-file money wound up in the hands of TurboTax and so on as a fee they are charging... not the IRS, but I could be wrong..I've never looked into that.

 

It has more to do with the difference between deductions - which are used to calculate the "Taxable Income" (where the AMT would come in) - and credits which are loped off the "Amount of Tax You Owe" after it is calculated. TurboTax and TaxCut software does it automatically, and it applies to all your credits (not just the hybrid credit). If all your credits take you down below an AMT calculated level (even if you aren't paying the AMT) you stop getting credit dollars.

It was a surprise to me. I got about 75% of my hybrid credit.

 

My wife and I were done in too for the entire amount too (i.e., $0 tax credit for the purchase of a new 2007 FEH 4WD due to the AMT). I guess that's the price of living in our country. I do have to disagree with one earlier comment. "There is no prospect of Congress revising the AMT anytime soon, as long as we have to continue to pay for [name your own favorite entitlement program]." We're all guilty. See, e.g., http://www.federalreserve.gov/boardd...18/default.htm.

 

You got to love it, the State of Calif is going down the toliet and this idiot State Legislator wants embark on a foreign policy initiative. I wish they would Address the State issues, like no tax incentive for hybrid owners instead of things they weren't elected to do.


Perata launches anti-war ballot measure


By Judy Lin and Shane Goldmacher - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 10:27 am PDT Thursday, April 5, 2007

BERKELEY -- Saying voters are fed up with the war in Iraq, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata announced Thursday that he is introducing legislation to place a measure on next year's presidential primary ballot calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
"It's long past due the time we should be leaving Iraq," said Perata, D-Oakland.
"We've had over 3,000 Americans killed, 25,000 injured. We're spending upwards of $400 billion that we know of and there seems to be no end in sight," Perata said, standing in front of the Veterans Memorial Building in Berkeley.
Referring to the federal government's foreign policy decision in Vietnam, Perata said Bush, "clearly doesn't understand history. We've got a failed policy that once failed us and is once again failing us. He does not recognize that."
"We have done what we can in Iraq," Perata said. "We have created a democratic rule. But you can't have a democracy that's enforced. It has to be organic...Let the voters of this state say, 'Mr. President, get us out of Iraq.'"
The bill is a majority vote measure and would require the governor's signature. Aaron McLear, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's press secretary, said the governor had not yet taken a position on the bill.
Specifically, the measure would ask voters to approve the following statement:
Perata said he intends to send letters to his counterparts in states planning to hold Feb. 5 primaries, urging lawmakers in those states to launch a similar measure. The move, he said, would force all presidential candidates to state their position on Iraq.
Perata acknowledged that the measure's presence on the ballot could increase Democratic voter turnout, but denied that it was intended to boost fortunes of another possible measure on primary ballot that would change the term limits law for state lawmakers and allow him, among others, to serve longer.
Perata said he believes the bill, which will be introduced in the Democratic-controlled Legislature on Monday, will be approved and signed by the Republican governor.
Anne Roesler, of Military Families Speak Out, joined Perata and said the advisory measure is needed because there's no guarantee that Congress will use the power of its purse to pull troops home. Roesler said her son, Michael, did three tours in Iraq and is now suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome.
"We don't want to see any more die," Roesler said. "We don't want to see one more return with broken spirits and broken souls."

 

HAHAHHA. Gotta love CA and the governator and all else that goes on there. I have spent a lot of time in Socal, I have many friends there. I was offered a job in San Diego making decent money. After I factored in the cost of living and all else, I declined. See the movie " A day without a Mexican", pretty much sums up the state.