Why does Alternative Vehicle Refueling Property Credit form 8911 continue to calculate $0 credit?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
March 14, 2020
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I should meet all eligibility requirements but TT still calculates the credit as $0 and will not generate form 8911.

Best answer by AnnetteB6

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The key issue that I see that is keeping you from being able to claim the credit on Form 8911 does boil down to the Tentative Minimum Tax being higher than your net regular tax. The net regular tax is not the amount shown on line 12b of Form 1040, but instead it first takes into account certain credits that would reduce the tax before the Form 8911 credit is taken into account (credits are taken in a particular order based on the tax code). Credits that are subtracted from the line 12b amount to get the net regular tax include the Child Tax Credit/Credit for Other Dependents, credit for Child and Dependent Care Expenses, Education Credits from Form 8863, retirement savings contributions credit from Form 8880, and residential energy credits from Form 5695.

This means that in your particular case the Child Tax Credit is subtracted from the tax on line 12b which resulted in your net regular tax being lower than your Tentative Minimum Tax. This disallowed the Form 8911 credit.

@michaelreeve

AnnetteB6

Be sure that you do not change the maximum credit amount shown on the screen, otherwise the calculation will not be correct.

Here is the explanation:

TurboTax will calculate your maximum credit based on the details entered for your vehicle and any applicable phase-out based on the purchase date.

On the screen where it shows the amount of credit you qualify to receive, the box at the bottom of the page is showing the maximum credit that would have been allowed for your vehicle had a phase-out not applied. Your credit may be limited by the phase-out. If you change the number on that screen, your credit will not be calculated correctly.

The information on the screen says this field is for adjusting the amount of maximum credit it is does not match the manufacturer's specification. The number entered here will be the maximum credit that you may receive prior to any limitation being applied. If you change it, your credit will be based on the number entered.

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michaelreeveAuthor

my question is about the credit for an EV charge station, not the car itself.

AnnetteB6

My apologies -- I misread the question.

The most likely reason that you are not being allowed to claim the credit pertains to Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). AMT is a part of the calculation for the credit claimed on Form 8911, whether your particular tax return is subject to AMT or not.

There is a tentative minimum tax for AMT that is calculated in the background as your return is completed. Form 8911 compares that tentative minimum tax to the net regular tax after certain other credits have been taken into account. If the tentative minimum tax is greater than the net regular tax, then the Form 8911 credit is disallowed.

Unfortunately, the instructions for Form 8911 do not specifically spell this out so that it can be better understood or explained.

For your reference, here is a link to the instructions for Form 8911: Instructions for Form 8911

@michaelreeve

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