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Chevy Volt Buyers May Get $5,000 Tax Credit

If you’re one of the many people who have already decided on purchasing the new plug-in Chevrolet Volt, then you may be in luck.

The recently-passed Off-Shore Drilling Bill, or H.R. 6899, includes a section that details a tax credit for “New Qualified Plug-In Electric Drive Motor Vehicles”, reports Cars.com.
Since GM is the only automaker to officially announce they will produce and sell a plug-in electric vehicle for the U.S., so far the Chevy Volt is the only car that will receive the tax credit.
The credit starts at $3,000, and for every kilowatt hour of the battery over 5 kwh, it goes up $200, to a maximum of $5,000. That means the Chevy Volt — at 16 kwh — would get a total tax credit of $5,000.
Chevy Volt
This new credit will have an identical lifespan — 60,000 vehicles per company — as the original tax incentives for non-plug-in hybrids, with a similar reduction plan that reduces the credit by 50% and 25%, then down to nothing. The credit would go into effect after Dec. 31, 2008.
But, word on the street is that most people will not get this tax credit. Amuro Ray posted a comment on this story on Cars.com’s site explaining why:
“…really, most people will NOT get this $5000 credit. Those that usually can get the max (or close to the max) is when you make a lot of $$$ but have very little tax deduction. My accountant has once told me that these are people who usually are
(1) Single;
(2) Rich (even after putting $ in 401K);
(3) No other way to have tax deduction.
For folks that are married, with kids, have home mortgage/401K/tax benefit accounts…you can claim almost all your income tax deduction on those already (unless you are super rich).”
I’m not a tax expert, so I can’t tell you who will get the credit and who won’t, but at least it could help bring down the price of the Volt a little.