Short answer = no
Yes this is possible. If there’s a VIN, many dealers have done it, and I’m considering it for the 7500 fed tax credit this year. Some state tax benefits might require something different. You can possess and own a car you haven’t seen yet.
Thanks for the input, I'll have a conversation wth my dealer.
More importantly, talk to your tax advisor. As noted in other threads, it appears that the IRS requires that the car needs to be in your possession, available for your use, and in service as well as registered with your state.
The form for the federal tax credit says it has to be in service during the tax year. So the answer is no. If you don't take possession of the vehicle by 12/31 you can't claim the federal tax credit. Well, you can, but then you have to worry about an audit.
You don't have to take delivery for the vehicle to be placed in service. The IRS has a definition of "Date placed in Service". There are legal methods to place a vehicle in service before you take delivery, especially if you have a business. It really comes down to if you can make any use of it after it leaves the factory. Your tax advisor should be able to help you with this....
Most of what you have referred to when addressing this question here applies to business depreciation of assets, not personal tax credits for vehicles. There is no reason to believe that an IRS auditor would be swayed to extend that line of thought here. There are many instances where similar concepts are treated differently by the IRS.
YUP - good catch and really I still would say NO, you can't until you take possession of the car. Only way around it would be if the dealer would complete, register and title before they take possession of the car. However why would you want to do that? Why would a dealer do this, because until the car hits the lot there's too much room for error. However one can fudge whatever they want for ones taxes, just don't get audited or caught. This is not legal advise and every state is different, however we are talking about a federal deduction and not local.
you know there is no turbocharger on the Mach-E, right? It's just naturally fast. ?
Yeah but wait until you see it on nitrous oxide.
When I bought my Bolt, my tax software walked me right through the process of claiming the credit. I switched from TurboTax to H&R Block a few years back but the process works basically the same with either software package (my son uses TurboTax and it walked him through for his credit). Easy as could be. And, if you are not sure, you can write or call them for help.
