Tucked contained in the huge Inflation Discount Act of 2022 that was signed into legislation in August is a posh set of necessities round which EVs and different clear autos do and don’t qualify for a $7,500 EV tax credit score. Tl;dr not all new EVs or different clear autos (and even used ones) are created equally within the eyes of Congress and President Biden, who signed the invoice into legislation.

The Inflation Discount Act covers quite a bit, together with quite a few local weather and vitality provisions. It additionally amends the Certified Plug-in Electrical Drive Motor Car Credit score (often known as IRC 30D), which gave shoppers as much as $7,500 in tax credit for getting a battery electrical automobile and sure plug-in hybrid autos. This reworked legislation, now referred to as the Clear Car Credit score, features a lowered $4,000 credit score for used EVs and provides different clear autos within the combine similar to “certified gasoline cell autos.”

Qualifying for the tax credit score is one other matter. The legislation consists of quite a few new necessities that features private adjusted gross earnings, the place the EV was assembled and the sticker worth, in line with Dean Taylor of Dean Taylor Consulting and the Zero Emissions Transportation Affiliation. It additionally raised the brink for plug-in hybrids. New PHEVs will need to have 7 kWh battery packs to qualify for the EV tax credit score.

Does that new EV or PHEV you’re eyeing qualify for the EV tax credit score?

Step 1: The place the EV is assembled issues

For shoppers shopping for a brand new mannequin 12 months EV or PHEV, begin by figuring out whether or not the automobile that you just’re excited by is assembled in North America. If it doesn’t, then you possibly can kiss that EV tax credit score goodbye.

The Clear Car Credit score added a brand new requirement for ultimate meeting in North America that took impact on August 16, 2022.

What in the event you purchased an EV earlier than August 16 and didn’t learn about this rule, and dang all of it to hell, what now? The IRS says that in the event you entered right into a written binding contract to buy the brand new qualifying electrical automobile earlier than August 16, however didn’t take possession of the automobile till after that date (for instance, as a result of the automobile has not been delivered), you could declare the EV credit score based mostly on the previous guidelines that have been in impact. Hooray!

What in the event you purchased a brand new EV after August 16, 2022 and also you’re undecided the place the automobile was made? Otherwise you plan to purchase one and aren’t positive if it was assembled within the U.S., Europe or Japan?

There’s a VIN decoder device that’s operated by the Nationwide Freeway Visitors and Security Administration that enables shoppers to punch within the automobile identification quantity on any automobile to find out the place it’s assembled. When you’ve entered the VIN, a brand new web page will pop up. Scroll to the underside to seek out data on the construct plant and nation.

It’s essential to test this, in the event you can, as a result of some fashions are inbuilt a number of places and should not meet the ultimate meeting requirement in all circumstances, in line with the IRS.

At the moment there are 20 new EVs assembled in North America that will qualify, in line with an inventory offered by the Division of Power. That listing ought to develop over time as producers like VW Group open new factories in the USA.

Simply because a mannequin is on that listing doesn’t, let me repeat, doesn’t, imply you’ll get the credit score. Preserve studying to study why.

Step 2: The cap till January 1

Candy, it’s made in North America! However wait. For now, and till the tip of 2022, there’s one other issue which will trigger you to delay your buy.

Some producers which have autos assembled in North America have bought 200,000 EVs. That issues as a result of underneath the previous rule there was a 200,000-vehicle cap on the credit. As soon as a producer hit that cap, the credit score would drop by 50% after which ultimately to zero.  At the moment, GM (which covers Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC) and Tesla have reached the producer cap and aren’t presently eligible for the Clear Car Credit score.

Meaning if you wish to purchase a brand new Chevy Bolt right now — an EV made within the U.S. — it is not going to qualify for the Clear Car Credit score. However in the event you wait till January 1, 2023, these previous 200,000-vehicle restrict guidelines will disappear and you’ll as soon as once more get that EV tax credit score.

Oh, however wait. Sure, one other step. Or 5.

Step 3: The place the battery parts are assembled issues

There is a vital nugget on web page 366 of the IRA that provides in a battery parts requirement beginning in 2023.

To kick issues off, the legislation states that after 2023 autos is not going to qualify for the EV tax credit score if any parts within the battery are manufactured or assembled by a “international entity of concern” as outlined by the Infrastructure Funding and Jobs Act.  A international entity of concern consists of organizations, governments, sure corporations and even folks. As an example, Huawei in China is a listed international entity of concern.

However there’s extra.

About half of the complete $7,500 credit score relies on a requirement centered on whether or not the battery parts are made or assembled in North America. Meaning to get the $3,750 designated for this requirement the share of the worth of the battery’s parts that have been manufactured or assembled in North America has to exceed a sure threshold. And it will increase yearly.

EVs that go to market earlier than January 1, 2024 should exceed a 40% battery parts assembled in North America threshold. EVs that come to market throughout 2024 should exceed 50%. And it goes up from there:

• 60% for EVs that go on sale in 2025
• 70% for EVs that go on sale in 2026
• 80% for EVs that go on sale after Dec 31, 2026

Let’s translate that for you. It’s 2024 and also you’re shopping for an EV that’s assembled in North America and 41% of its battery parts are assembled within the area as nicely. Congrats, you’ve met half of the EV tax credit score standards and can get $3,750.

Let’s discuss in regards to the different half of the credit score.

Step 4: The place the battery supplies come from issues

Identical to battery parts, the legislation tackles the problematic challenge of the place the uncooked supplies used within the battery come from.

After 2024, any automobile with “crucial minerals” that have been extracted, processed, or recycled in a “international entity of concern,” is not going to qualify for the opposite half of the $7,500 EV tax credit score (so $3,750)

That very same 12 months, the legislation has a share requirement for the place these crucial minerals come from. In brief, a sure share of crucial minerals should be extracted or processed in nations with which the U.S. has a free commerce settlement.

The share requirement will also be met if they’ve been recycled in North America. That recycling half goes to turn into much more essential as these percentages improve, which means massive enterprise for startups like Redwood Supplies. 

The share necessities:

• 40% of crucial minerals by finish of 2023
• 50% in 2024
• 60% in 2025
• 70% in 2026
• 80% after 2026

So what’s a crucial mineral, anyway?

The legislation has an extended listing of crucial minerals, which incorporates aluminum, antimony, barite, beryllium, cerium, cesium, chromium, cobalt, dysprosium, europium, fluorspar, gadolinium, germanium, graphite, indium, lithium, manganese, neodymium, nickel, niobium, tellurium, tin, tungsten, vanadium and yttrium. These all have various minimal purity necessities that vary between 80% and 99.9%. There’s additionally an inventory of minerals that should be distilled to at the least 99% purity. These are arsenic, bismuth, erbium, gallium, hafnium, holmium, iridium, lanthanum, lutetium, magnesium, platinum, praseodymium, rhodium, rubidium, ruthenium, samarium, scandium, tantalum, terbium, thulium, titanium, yttrium, zinc, and zirconium.

Step 5: the EV sticker worth issues

Worth issues, however not till January 1.

New battery electrical automobiles that price greater than $55,000 don’t qualify for the EV tax credit score. That worth threshold rises to $80,000 for brand spanking new battery electrical SUVs, vans or pickup vans.

And no, there’s not an adjustment for inflation.

Step 5: Your earnings issues

Earnings issues.

Customers who discover that good EV that meets the entire necessities above nonetheless should cross one ultimate hurdle to qualify for the tax credit score: an earnings cap.

Single tax fliers are eligible if their earnings is under $150,000. For heads of households, that earnings cap rises to $225,000. Joint fliers are eligible for the EV tax credit score if their earnings is under $300,000