EV Charger Tax Credit - Form 8911 - "Tentative Minimum Tax?!"

[Mirak]

I am using TurboTax. Got my $7,500 EV credit no problem. Then I tried to get my 30% credit for the roughly $1,000 I had to spend getting my charger installed in my garage. And TurboTax keeps telling me $0. So I dig into Form 8911. And there I am introduced to a concept called Tentative Minimum Tax.

See, this TMT, which I have never heard of before, slightly exceeds my actual tax liability, which according to Form 8911 means I get $0 credit for the charger.

I don't know why Form 8911 uses TMT - the real purpose of TMT appears to be to calculate Alternative Minimum Tax. And TurboTax says I don't owe any AMT.

So even though I don't owe AMT, and I have plenty of actual tax liability, I get no charger credit because of this weird little TMT. What the hell is that about? Any tax peeps here?

Sponsored

 

[sotek2345]

Sounds like a TurboTax bug. I switch to Taxact years ago after dealing with too many issues with Turbotax. Got the credit with no issues. First year we have gotten a refund in a very long time.

 

[Thor2j]

I am using TurboTax. Got my $7,500 EV credit no problem. Then I tried to get my 30% credit for the roughly $1,000 I had to spend getting my charger installed in my garage. And TurboTax keeps telling me $0. So I dig into Form 8911. And there I am introduced to a concept called Tentative Minimum Tax.

See, this TMT, which I have never heard of before, slightly exceeds my actual tax liability, which according to Form 8911 means I get $0 credit for the charger.

I don't know why Form 8911 uses TMT - the real purpose of TMT appears to be to calculate Alternative Minimum Tax. And TurboTax says I don't owe any AMT.

So even though I don't owe AMT, and I have plenty of actual tax liability, I get no charger credit because of this weird little TMT. What the hell is that about? Any tax peeps here?

When I initially did this on TT it came back 0 as well. Decided to fill in a bunch more stuff and next thing I know it's there.

 

[connoisseurr]

It's a bug in TurboTax. I spoke with a Tax Advisor yesterday. Remove the 8911 from your return, and remove the AMT form as well. Submit. Once you have any returns deposited to your account, or provided by check, do an amendment for 8911. There's not charge through TurboTax for an amendment.

This way, you won't be waiting until 3/17 (or possible later) when the return review queue is getting close to peak volume.

 

[RickMachE]

Form 8911 is not ready until 3/17 as stated.

 

[generaltso]

With the bugs and missing forms, why not just use different software to file this year? What's so special about TurboTax?

 

[RickMachE]

With the bugs and missing forms, why not just use different software to file this year? What's so special about TurboTax?

1) You can import last year's return which saves rekeying.

2) You can import from Quicken.

3) Cost, if purchased during the one day in December when it's on a special price at Amazon, is $30, including the software to do state returns.

4) The Deluxe download version includes all forms. Some other software, including TurboTax online, require you to upgrade for some things that people normally have.

5) The limits on the downloaded program (not online), allow you to use it on multiple computers, i.e. multiple family members returns. So for me, $30 covers 3 households.

 

[generaltso]

3) Cost, if purchased during the one day in December when it's on a special price at Amazon, is $30, including the software to do state returns.

I can't speak to everything on your list, but I can say that TurboTax is not the least expensive option for most people, even if bought for the special price.

 

[RickMachE]

I can't speak to everything on your list, but I can say that TurboTax is not the least expensive option for most people, even if bought for the special price.

May not be. $30 / 3 = $10 for us.

I also don't use online tax software, where my data entry and raw information is more exposed than when I transmit my return through Intuit to the IRS.

 

[Mirak]

I use TurboTax because I use it every year, so it makes it easy to just import all my stuff from my prior return. It's an easy $40.

I'm not sure what is meant by Form 8911 being unavailable until March 17 - I'm looking at the form in TT, and TT is plugging numbers into the form. Also, I pulled up the Form 8911 directly from the IRS. https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8911. "Tentative Minimum Tax" (Line 17) is a real thing. And per the form, if your TMT (Line 17) exceeds your Net Regular Tax (Line 16), you don't get to claim the credit.

So TT shows that my TMT slightly exceeds my NRT and I don't get the credit. But TT also says I don't owe any AMT. And I really shouldn't owe AMT at my income level thanks to the Trump Tax Reform (man that tax reform was a huge boon for us as high W2 wage earners, and also dramatically simplified taxes for millions more people like us because we no longer need to itemize most deductions - other than this stupid issue I woulda been finished in under 45mins).

So I think the problem might be that TT is either miscalculating my AMT or my TMT. When I called TT, all he could do was point me to From 8911 and explain that my TMT exceeds my NRT. And when I said "I can see that, but how is that the case if I owe don't owe AMT?" he didn't have an answer.

 

[generaltso]

May not be. $30 / 3 = $10 for us.

That's why I said "most people". FreeTaxUSA is free for federal filing and $14.99 for state filing. I'm not saying people should abandon TurboTax if that's what they're comfortable using, but I wouldn't use cost as one of the advantages of TurboTax.

 

[RickMachE]

I'm not sure what is meant by Form 8911 being unavailable until March 17 - I'm looking at the form in TT, and TT is plugging numbers into the form. Also, I pulled up the Form 8911 directly from the IRS. https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8911. "Tentative Minimum Tax" (Line 17) is a real thing. And per the form, if your TMT (Line 17) exceeds your Net Regular Tax (Line 16), you don't get to claim the credit.

Open TurboTax. Click on Forms. Click on 8911. Read red words.

Go to Intuit website. See form availability page. https://care-cdn.prodsupportsite.a.intuit.com/forms-availability/turbotax_fed_online_individual.html

Says 3/17/22.

I never file before late March because I want all my forms, including Form 1116, Foreign Tax Credit, available before filing.

 

[Scooby24]

The 2022 form is available from IRS and appears to match the Turbo Tax one. I am in the same boat here as the Tentative Minimum Tax is coming from....somewhere....I just have no idea how it's calculated or where it's coming from.

 

[Scooby24]

Figured it out. Form 6251 is for AMT and is has the calculated TMT or Tentative Minimum Tax. Basically, if you have enough credits for the year, even if you still have tax liability and no AMT, your TMT will dictate if you will get the EV Charger credit. It's subject to TMT whereas other credits like The EV car credit and Solar credits aren't.

Took me a while to figure that one out. It's not as cut and dry unfortunately.

 

[Mirak]

Figured it out. Form 6251 is for AMT and is has the calculated TMT or Tentative Minimum Tax. Basically, if you have enough credits for the year, even if you still have tax liability and no AMT, your TMT will dictate if you will get the EV Charger credit. It's subject to TMT whereas other credits like The EV car credit and Solar credits aren't.

Took me a while to figure that one out. It's not as cut and dry unfortunately.

Yeah….It’s a bizarre little thing that very few people seem to have been aware of, but it stops a lot of I guess wealthier people from claiming this particular credit even though they’ve got oodles of tax liability. I had never heard of Tentative Minimum Tax before yesterday. Oh well, it’s a couple hundred bucks.

Sponsored