Detailed Answer:
Step 1: Look at Line 11 on your 2022 Tax return (Form 1040).
Step 1a: For the vast majority of taxpayers this won't apply: Add to Step 1 any income from Puerto Rico you excluded, any housing exclusion foreign income you claimed (Lines 45 and 50 of Form 2555), and American Samoa residential income excluded (Line 15 of Form 4563).
Step 2: If that number is less than:
$300,000 Married Filing Jointly
$225,000 Head of Household
$150,000 Single and any other filing status
then continue to Step 3. Otherwise, you currently DO NOT qualify for any rebate, and will need to reduce that number on your 2023 Tax return below those limits. You can reduce that number by traditional 401k contributions, or some small-business options.
Step 3: Look at Line 24 on your 2022 Tax return (Form 1040).
- If it is greater than $7,500 and your income in 2023 stays the same or increase, you will get the full $7,500.
- If it is less than that, you get that amount (assuming your income stays the same). If your income increases then you may get a larger refund, up to $7,500.
In other words, in order to get the full tax credit, you must OWE at least $7500 in taxes and be under the income limits.
You absolutely CAN NOT carry over for a few years, or even one more year. It is a one time credit. Any unused credit is LOST!
Q7. Is the new clean vehicle credit refundable or able to be carried forward? (updated March 31, 2023)
A7. The new clean vehicle credit may only be claimed to the extent of reported tax due of the taxpayer and cannot be refunded. The new clean vehicle credit cannot be carried forward to the extent it is claimed for personal use on Form 1040, Schedule 3, Additional Credits and Payments.
from page 3 of this IRS document: https://www.irs.gov/pub/taxpros/fs-2023-08.pdf
* If you're concerned about battery degradation, you can take a look at this site [teslalogger.de] (Pull down the menu for Model Y LR)
* If you like to nerd out on graphs, data, and overal health of your vehicle, get a program called teslamate that can be installed on your home server. every time your car parks in your garage it will send driving telemetry data to it with pretty graphs [teslamate.org] and all.
* You can also opt to get teslausb [github.com], which can wirelessly send all your dashcam footage to your home server every time you pull into your garage.
Top Comments
EV good if you have a dedicated charging station at home.
if you live in an apartment complex or condo its not as consumer friendly, unless you want to pay up the wazoo at supercharger stations and inconvenience yourself by having to go there every time to charge. Go to plugshare.com to see how much you will be paying in your area. Just multiply cents * 45kwh (assuming you're charging from 20% to 80%). For my area I would be paying $20-$25 per charge at a supercharger station. At home, with the national average electrity rate of 0.14 / kwh, it would cost $6
if you live in california, don't forget that you can also get another $2k in CVRP rebate. you get a check in the mail but the wait time is long to get it.
also don't forget about the single occupant HOV lane decal you can sign up at the DMV website.
basic autopilot is more than sufficient. autopilot still has a long ways to go imo. definitely not worth getting the advanced AP and definitely not full self driving at $15k. as MKBHD always says, don't buy a product on a promise of features yet to come.
also, make sure you setup your electricity usage to "time of use" or EV-specific plan as your bill will assuredly go up. Don't be on those tiered plans. Yes, you will end up saving money compared to ICE vehicles paying for gas, unless you get a hybrid, which is a bit more comparable, especially in areas where electricity is expensive.
additionally, people forget that you need to install a wall connector or mobile connector in your home. equipment costs $230 for the mobile connector +$45 for the nema 14-50 adapter, which is good enough especially if you do scheduled charging at night to save on electricity. installation itself will vary depending on your region and how much electricians will charge you, but it can get expensive. just make sure you're not getting ripped off as electricians are aware of the EV craze and asking for higher premiums on them. installation can go anywhere from $1k-$2k+. (according to poster SamirPD, you can ask the electrictian to install a dryer outlet and it should save you money and prevent you from being ripped off). One worthy note, EV charger and installation is tax deductible at 30%, just need to fill out the tax form [irs.gov] when you do your taxes next year. EDIT: SD poster hiro916 indicated that the 30% tax deduction only pertains to low income or rural tract areas, so YMMV [reddit.com].
as for car insurance, I'm paying $95 a month through Geico, but thats with a robust policy.
if you are impatient like me, and want to get one right away without having to wait, go to the waitingfortesla discord server [discord.com] and setup alerts for any time a Model Y drops in your local area. You have to act quick as they get snatched up relatively quickly. You can see whats in inventory on their website too [waitingfortesla.com]. Don't expect to see base model Y LR coming into inventory. If you want to pick something up quick settle for the 20 inch induction wheels (costs $2k extra) as they are more readily available. You can always sell the tires if you want to recoup some of the costs and get an aftermarket hubcap that look better than stock anyhow.
If you're interested in a real world range comparison of current popular EV's check out this YT video [youtube.com].
once you pick up your car you have 100 miles and 7 days to report any defects. panels gaps aren't as much of a problem anymore compared to years past, but be on the lookout for them. paint quality isn't so great out of the factory, mine came with swirl marks all over and had to get it paint corrected.
if you're concerned about battery degradation, you can take a look at this site [teslalogger.de] (select dropdown and look for Y LR AWD US to see the average degradation over time based on mileage. on average after 50k miles you should see about a 10% degradation, and it will degrade more slowly 50k+ miles onwards.
in terms of accessories, the only real requirement imo that you need are mud flaps. reason being is because without them, the rear passenger quarter panels will get hit with rock chips very quickly. tesmanian is a good aftermarket seller, or you can just opt for ones you see on amazon. if you want to go deeper into accessories temu is a great site for low prices compared to amazon.
if you like to nerd out on graphs, data, and overal health of your vehicle, get a program called teslamate that can be installed on your home server. every time your car parks in your garage it will send driving telemetry data to it with pretty graphs [teslamate.org] and all.
you can also opt to get teslausb [github.com], which can wirelessly send all your dashcam footage to your home server every time you pull into your garage.
my personal thoughts on ownership thus far. overall i like it. i am using it as a daily driver / commuter car. i don't think of Model Y and 3 as a 'luxury' vehicle. I see Tesla as a software company trying to be an automaker, and the legacy automakers are trying to be more like Tesla by being more tech focused. Teslas are continuously getting software updates to improve year over year. Interior build quality is spartan, and the ride quality need some improvement, especially if you are in an area with poor road conditions. if you're really into tech like me, this is the car for you. Performance vehicles I still prefer ICE cars over EV's however. first thing you will notice in an EV though, is the instant torque. that is what will grab you immediately.
If you have questions and need instant feedback join the Tesla discord, I'm active on there and other members can assist with questions you may have: https://discord.com/invite/tesla
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!
2.3K Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
This is not a good time to be buying new cars. Prices are falling, economy sucks, new cars are a waste of money by definition due to depreciation. There are tons of used/CPO car deals suiting any budget
M3/Y are still great cars, I just think they are overpriced.
It's a well-known trick of car manufacturers to offer some low trim level of a car so that they can claim this car "starts" at xx.xx. However, most people would not want those starting trim levels, so you can't use that for comparison and articles who use those numbers are just not being thorough.
Again, i have been shopping for an suv for 10 months if not longer. Before that I was shopping for my other daughter just before the pandemic. It's a big difference. It's not just the price gouging which is finally going away. It's an overall increase in msrp (inflation) and less leverage to haggle down from the msrp (at least not as much as it use to be).
1. You are poor (been there) thus you can't afford this car, and already don't pay taxes, in fact get free gov money, nuff said. (The gov is not giving ANYONE 7500!)
2. You make up to 150k (single) or 300k (married) then pay actual taxes (generally) so you can get 7500 of those taxes wiped off your tax bill. Assuming you already paid in and/or owe 7500, or more. The gov gave you no money!
3. You make over those limits, you either live somewhere you can't afford, or manage your money poorly, and choose to complain about your entitlement (or lack of, in this case) since you don't get the 7500.
Nobody can get mad about #2, if you manage your finances correctly, are comfortably in the middle class, you can now (maybe) afford a car that was previously out of reach.
If you are #1, stop complaining and do something about it. Maybe learn how to do your taxes and go work at H&R Block doing taxes of those too dumb to do it themselves, you've stepped up in the world and can (maybe) afford this deal.
If you're in the third group, this is where YOU should be paying more taxes anyway, so zip it, and stop being selfish.
I think it's a very dumb decision from Tesla.
People keep making it much harder than it actually is.
It's literally "Look at this one number- whatever that # says- that's what you get to a max of $7500."
and just a plain old rebate like it used to be before, without all this tax complication.
It works exactly like it did before
It was always a non-refundable tax credit against your tax owed.
Always.
The only notable changes this go-round are:
No longer a cap on # of cars per car maker like there used to be.
There's a max price for what vehicles it applies to.
Which you appear to believe was easy enough for people.
Uh- it's an EV. It doesn't have an engine.
AC just runs directly off the battery- which is why some folks use em for camping.
Also- they're awesome for anyone who still has a drive-in since you can keep the climate control going the whole time.
USS? They never said they were bringing those back.
They said they would bring back the functionality it provided, but using cameras instead of USS.
Which they've now done. V1.0 isn't exactly the same (it's better at some things and worse at others) but as with most Tesla SW stuff it'll keep improving over time-- and unlike legacy cars, already-sold ones will get all the same updates for free in the future.
It was always a non-refundable tax credit against your tax owed.
.
Actually, no, it's against what you owe (before you get to the part of the 1040 that considers withholdings)
Which IS your tax liability.
Or, as I've described it repeatedly throughout these 90+ pages--- line 24 on your 1040.
You get that much of the credit, to a max of $7500.
It's exhausting how hard people are working to make this more complicated than it really is.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
I bought the long range Model Y 2 months ago. If I sell the vehicle now, can I still claim the credit on next years tax to get the $7500 credit?
The reason is because I want to get the Performance Model Y.
I understand that the limit is one per person per every 3 years so I would NOT claim the credit on the performance model.
I bought the long range Model Y 2 months ago. If I sell the vehicle now, can I still claim the credit on next years tax to get the $7500 credit?
The reason is because I want to get the Performance Model Y.
I understand that the limit is one per person per every 3 years so I would NOT claim the credit on the performance model.
That is not true at all.... there's no such limit on the new EV tax credit (there is on the USED EV tax credit)
You can 100% claim a second (third, fourth, however many EVs you buy) new EV credit- assuming you have enough tax liability to do so (again, line 24 on your 1040)
Which IS your tax liability.
Or, as I've described it repeatedly throughout these 90+ pages--- line 24 on your 1040.
That line. That number. That's the only one that's relevant.
You get that much of the credit, to a max of $7500.
It's exhausting how hard people are working to make this more complicated than it really is.
Line 24 includes the refundable tax, which shall be considered after non refundable tax.
-- Assume your line 16 is $7500, you have refundable child tax credit is $1000, and you purchase a model Y. You actually going to get $1000 back. I.e., 7500 - 7500 - 1000.
-- but if you substract 1000 from line 16 and get your line 24 which will be 6500. This does not suggest you can only get 6500 back.
-- the correct way to look at it is line 16, and compare it with all your non refundable tax credit together. If line 16 is larger, you will get full credit back. It is not directly related to line 24.
That is not true at all.... there's no such limit on the new EV tax credit (there is on the USED EV tax credit)
You can 100% claim a second (third, fourth, however many EVs you buy) new EV credit- assuming you have enough tax liability to do so (again, line 24 on your 1040)
Our HHI was just over your example, $512k. We had approximately 28% tax liability all in. My company pays 100% of insurance. We don't max an HSA, it's worthless since we don't have significant medical expenses. IRA is maxed, 401k is 3.5% (there's no point contributing beyond the match), we have 5013c in addition to 529. There's a MONUMNETAL difference between what we have left over and what we did when we made closer to $300k. We are literally buying a house a year right now with what's leftover. At $300k our income covered lifestyle and retirement and that was it.
You mentioned IRA -- if you have mega backdoor 401k at the company, you can also choose to max it out. Inplan convert it to roth then distribution will be tax free. This is better than pretax 401k IMO. That is 132k per year for two persons including pretax 401k and company match. Let's say your companies match $12k. Then your contribution is $120k.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!