Claiming tax credit delayedyour refund/return?

Was talking to a leaf owner. He cautioned me that his applying for the US federal tax credit resulted in a nine month delay in processing his tax return. And in his case, since he was due a refund, 8 month delay in his whole tax refund.

He said they eventually paid. And added 3% interest. But had to write several letters saying where is my refund.

Anyone here have or know of similar or different experiences claiming the tax credit?

Just want to be prepared for worst and best case when filing my 2013 taxes.

Alex

I just took my credit this month. I still owed some tax, so I will not be expecting to get anything back or hear from the IRS til next year. If there is something wrong with my return, I usually wouldn't hear from them for nine months anyway.

in Ontario ...it is possible to negotiate with your Mitsu dealer to simply deduct govt rebate and sign the papers for them to apply for redunf from govt ...they re motivated enough ...no other EV dealers will do it as far as i know ..its all a numbers game !

fjpod said:

........If there is something wrong with my return, I usually wouldn't hear from them for nine months anyway.

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Well, my moderately in-depth tax knowledge and experience about how that would play out is that if one had a refund due, very soon after filing you'd get a letter saying "we are examining your return , ... We'll pay you or ask for more info within 45 days."
Then you don't hear from them..... Ever.... Unless you repeatedly bug them by mail and phone and finally find a supervisor who gets on the case and tells an underling "get this guy's refund to him now."

Alex

I submitted my tax return (using US mail) with the $7,500 tax credit back in February and got the refund in a few weeks. No problems at all.

I now wish that I had filed my U.S. Federal tax return electronically without including my EV tax credit and then immediately filed a 1040X including the EV tax credit by mail. I was unable to file electronically when including the EV tax credit. I was due a refund even without the EV tax credit, so I would have received that refund weeks ago. Instead, I mailed my complete return on 2 March and have received no refund yet. The IRS Website indicates that my return has been received and is being processed, whatever that means.

I filed my return via US mail in early February, claiming the credit. I received the refund check on 03/29/2013. I asked for direct deposit, but got a check in the mail. Did get a letter from IRS stating my return was being "manually processed". My guess is that Form 8936 caused computer processing issues within IRS computer system.

When I filed for the credit last year, it reduced the amount I owed, so still had to send 'em a check, just a much smaller one. Still haven't heard a peep about the tax credit or anything else on that return! :mrgreen:

jjlink said:

I submitted my tax return (using US mail) with the $7,500 tax credit back in February and got the refund in a few weeks. No problems at all.

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Same here, February - mailed in (US Citizen living outside US to boot) and received back in a few weeks.

I received my refund on my amended return last week while I was on vacation. I had filed the amended return in early February.

alohart said:

I now wish that I had filed my U.S. Federal tax return electronically without including my EV tax credit and then immediately filed a 1040X including the EV tax credit by mail. ...... I was due a refund even without the EV tax credit, so I would have received that refund weeks ago. Instead, I mailed my complete return on 2 March and have received no refund yet. The IRS Website indicates that my return has been received and is being processed, whatever that means.

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I have some minor credentials in tax prep. More important I've "been there.. done that"and FWIW --
a) concur that if you have some refund due (indepenent of the EV credit) do as alohart wished he'd done. As it's quite possible as he experienced both refunds will be delayed.
If you owe IRS money or it's a wash, there's no problem with them delaying processing.

b) Alohart, and others getting notices saying your return is still "being processed":
Be braced for the very real possibility that you will never hear from the or get your refund unless you shake the tree.... May have to write certified letters and/or get your tax preparer to call IRS, or contact the IRS ombudsman service for assistance.
If you get "is being processed" and "you will hear from us in 45 days" and by 60 you haven't gotten your refund get on the case. I had a 2010 tax year refund due I should have gotten in 2011. Three letters, several web inquires, and many phone calls later I finally got it nearly 2 years later. They did pay 3% interest.

alohart said:

The IRS Website indicates that my return has been received and is being processed, whatever that means.

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Fortunately, I did not receive a notice from the IRS that my return was being processed; I inquired on the status of my return at the IRS "where's my refund" Website. When I inquired again today, the response what that my refund is scheduled to be sent to my bank on 17 April. So it's great to know that my return was not lost in the IRS tax return processing maze and that returns are being processed in a reasonably quick fashion despite my EV tax credit request and the sequester.

I take some pride in racking up the miles on this 'marginal range' EV, but that hit home in a special way when it came time to figure taxes.
At $0.555 per mile of business use for 2012, and being an independent consultant who averages 47 business miles per day, my mileage deduction wrote off all of my car payments! It's nice to get a credit for buying the car, and then not get taxed on the earnings that pay for the rest of it! Plus, at the local marginal cost of $0.074/kwh and efficiency of 3.3 miles/kwh, that's an energy cost of only 2.24 cents per mile! Yeah, I spent just over $100 in maintenance for the year, but just 'cause I was curious to see whether any real info could be gleaned from the dealer's battery capacity test, and won't make that mistake again! Looking forward to 2013's take at $.0565- but baby'll probly need tires by then...

Who says there's not a business case to be made for EV ownership?!!

Judging from the balance of posts here, it sounds as if the IRS is handling most EV credits better this year than last. Just to add one more example, we got our refund without incident. We would have owed without the credit, so got back somewhat less than $7500, but still no delays or questions.

Does any one know how many times you can claim the $7,500 tax credit?
I am wondering if I bought another Miev if I can get the federal credit again.
It would be in a new tax year.

SteveB said:

Does any one know how many times you can claim the $7,500 tax credit?
I am wondering if I bought another Miev if I can get the federal credit again.
It would be in a new tax year.

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I'm pretty sure there's no limit on how many $7500 credits an individual can claim. It being a nonrefundable credit (gotta have at least $7500 in tax liability for each full credit) and valid only under the following stipulations (among others) should limit abuse.
• The original use of the vehicle began with you;
• You acquired the vehicle for use or to lease to others, and not for resale; and
• You use the vehicle primarily in the United States.

If Obama's proposed increase in the credit to $10k passes, it may reinforce an interesting dynamic in the EV market. No local Mitsu dealer was interested in taking my ES trade-in for an SE last year (they knew that this car wouldn't sell well) and there's enough turmoil in the EV market (fire sales on i-MiEV, Coda, Think, price drop on LEAF, price increase on TESLA) to make any buyer risk-averse. Even though I've economically justified my i through calisthenic calculations, bottom line cost would've been less to just strech one more year out of the old Civic before buying an EV. Folks could look at this and decide it's better to wait, especially if they haven't taken a long test drive yet....