Form 8936 Qualified Plug-In Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit

Form

8936

Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit
▶

Attach to your tax return.

OMB No. 1545-2137

2011

Attachment
Sequence No. 125

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

Identifying number

Name(s) shown on return

Note.
• Use this form to claim the credit for certain plug-in electric vehicles (other than two- or three-wheeled or low-speed four-wheeled
vehicles).
• Claim the credit for certain two- or three-wheeled or low-speed four-wheeled plug-in electric vehicles on Form 8834.
• Claim the credit for certain alternative motor vehicles or plug-in electric vehicle conversions on Form 8910.

Part I

Tentative Credit

Use a separate column for each vehicle. If you need more columns,
use additional Forms 8936 and include the totals on lines 7 and 11.

1

Year, make, and model of vehicle .

2

Vehicle identification number (see instructions)

3

Enter date vehicle was placed in service (MM/DD/YYYY)

3

4

Tentative credit (see instructions for amount to enter)

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(a) Vehicle 1

(b) Vehicle 2

Next: If you did NOT use your vehicle for business or investment purposes and did not have a credit from a partnership or
S corporation, skip Part II and go to Part III. All others, go to Part II.

Part II

Credit for Business/Investment Use Part of Vehicle

5

Business/investment use percentage (see instructions)

5

6

Multiply line 4 by line 5

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8

Add columns (a) and (b) on line 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle credit from partnerships and S
corporations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9

Business/investment use part of credit. Add lines 7 and 8. Partnerships and S
corporations, report this amount on Schedule K. All others, report this amount on Form
3800, line 1y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Part III
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Credit for Personal Use Part of Vehicle

If you skipped Part II, enter the amount from line 4. If
you completed Part II, subtract line 6 from line 4 . .

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11

Add columns (a) and (b) on line 10 .

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12

Enter the amount from Form 1040, line 46, or Form 1040NR, line 44

13

Personal credits from Form 1040 or 1040NR (see instructions)

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14

Subtract line 13 from line 12

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Personal use part of credit. Enter the smaller of line 11 or line 14 here and on Form
1040, line 53, or Form 1040NR, line 50. Check box c on that line and enter “8936” in
the space next to that box. If line 14 is smaller than line 11, see instructions . . . .

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For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see instructions.

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Cat. No. 37751E

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Form

8936 (2011)

Form 8936 (2011)

General Instructions
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code.

Purpose of Form
For tax years beginning after 2008, use Form 8936 to
figure your credit for qualified plug-in electric drive motor
vehicles you placed in service during your tax year. The
credit attributable to depreciable property (vehicles used
for business or investment purposes) is treated as a
general business credit. Any credit not attributable to
depreciable property is treated as a personal credit.
Taxpayers that are not partnerships or S corporations,
and whose only source of this credit is from those passthrough entities, are not required to complete or file this
form. Instead, they can report this credit directly on Form
3800.

Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle
This is a new vehicle with at least four wheels that:
• Has a gross vehicle weight of less than 14,000 pounds,
and
• Is propelled to a significant extent by an electric motor
that draws electricity from a battery that has a capacity of
not less than 4 kilowatt hours and is capable of being
recharged from an external source of electricity.
Certification and other requirements. Generally, you
can rely on the manufacturer’s (or, in the case of a foreign
manufacturer, its domestic distributor’s) certification that
a specific make, model, and model year vehicle qualifies
for the credit and the amount of the credit for which it
qualifies.
If, however, the IRS publishes an announcement that
the certification for any specific make, model, and model
year vehicle has been withdrawn, you cannot rely on the
certification for such a vehicle purchased after the date of
publication of the withdrawal announcement.
If you purchased a vehicle and its certification was
withdrawn on or after the date of purchase, you can rely
on such certification even if you had not placed the
vehicle in service or claimed the credit by the date the
withdrawal announcement was published by the IRS. The
IRS will not attempt to collect any understatement of tax
liability attributable to reliance on the certification as long
as you purchased the vehicle on or before the date the
IRS published the withdrawal announcement.
In addition to certification, the following requirements
must be met to qualify for the credit:
• You are the owner of the vehicle. If the vehicle is leased,
only the lessor and not the lessee, is entitled to the credit;
• You placed the vehicle in service during your tax year;

Page

2

• The original use of the vehicle began with you;
• You acquired the vehicle for use or to lease to others,
and not for resale; and
• You use the vehicle primarily in the United States.
Exception. If you are the seller of a qualified plug-in
electric drive motor vehicle to a tax-exempt organization,
governmental unit, or a foreign person or entity, and the
use of that vehicle is described in section 50(b)(3) or (4),
you can claim the credit, but only if you clearly disclose in
writing to the purchaser the amount of the tentative credit
allowable for the vehicle (from line 6 of Form 8936).
More information. For details, see the following.
• Section 30D.
• Notice 2009-54, 2009-26 I.R.B. 1124, available at
www.irs.gov/irb/2009-26_IRB/ar07.html.
• Notice 2009-89, 2009-48 I.R.B. 714, available at
www.irs.gov/irb/2009-48_IRB/ar09.html.

Credit Phaseout
The credit is subject to a phaseout (reduction) once the
vehicle manufacturer (or, for a foreign manufacturer, its
U.S. distributor) sells 200,000 of these vehicles to a
retailer for use in the United States after 2009. The
phaseout begins in the second calendar quarter after the
quarter in which the 200,000th vehicle was sold. Then the
phaseout allows 50% of the full credit for 2 quarters, 25%
of the full credit for 2 additional quarters, and no credit
thereafter.

Basis Reduction
Unless you elect not to claim the credit, you may have to
reduce the basis of each vehicle by the sum of the
amounts entered on lines 6 and 10 for that vehicle.

Coordination With Other Credits
A vehicle that qualifies for the qualified plug-in electric
drive motor vehicle credit on this form cannot be used to
claim the alternative motor vehicle credit on Form 8910.
Also, the vehicle will not qualify for the qualified plug-in
electric motor vehicle credit on Form 8834.

Recapture of Credit
If the vehicle no longer qualifies for the credit, you may
have to recapture part or all of the credit. For details, see
section 30D(f)(5).

Form 8936 (2011)

Page

Specific Instructions

Line 8

Line 2

Enter total qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle
credits from:
• Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), box 15 (code P), and
• Schedule K-1 (Form 1120S), box 13 (code P).

Enter the vehicle's vehicle identification number (VIN) on
line 2. The VIN of a vehicle can be obtained from the
registration, title, proof of insurance, or actual vehicle.
Generally, the VIN is 17 characters made up of numbers
and letters.

Line 4
Tentative Credit
Enter the credit allowable for the year, make, and model
of vehicle you entered on line 1. You can generally rely on
the manufacturer’s (or domestic distributor’s) certification
of the credit allowable as explained above.
Tentative credit amounts acknowledged by the IRS are
available at
www.irs.gov/businesses/article/0,,id=214841,00.html. Or
you can visit IRS.gov and search for “Plug-in Electric
Vehicle Credit (IRC 30 and 30D).”

Line 5
Enter the percentage of business/investment use.
Enter 100% if the vehicle is used solely for business
purposes or you are claiming the credit as the seller of
the vehicle.
If the vehicle is used for both business purposes and
personal purposes, determine the percentage of business
use by dividing the number of miles the vehicle is driven
during the year for business purposes or for the
production of income (not to include any commuting
mileage) by the total number of miles the vehicle is driven
for all purposes. Treat vehicles used by your employees
as being used 100% for business/investment purposes if
the value of personal use is included in the employees’
gross income, or the employees reimburse you for the
personal use. If you report the amount of personal use of
the vehicle in your employee’s gross income and withhold
the appropriate taxes, enter “100%” for the percentage of
business/investment use.
If during the tax year you convert property used solely
for personal purposes to business/investment use (or vice
versa), figure the percentage of business/investment use
only for the number of months you use the property in
your business or for the production of income. Multiply
that percentage by the number of months you use the
property in your business or for the production of income
and divide the result by 12. For example, if you converted
a vehicle to 50% business use for the last 6 months of the
year, you would enter 25% on line 5 (50% multiplied by 6
divided by 12).
For more information, see Pub. 463, Travel,
Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses.

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Line 13
Enter the total, if any, credits from Form 1040, lines 47
through 50 (or Form 1040NR, lines 45 through 47); Form
5695, line 14; Form 8834, line 23; Form 8910, line 22; and
Schedule R, line 22.

Line 15
If you cannot use part of the personal portion of the credit
because of the tax liability limit, the unused credit is lost.
The unused personal portion of the credit cannot be
carried back or forward to other tax years.
Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We ask for the
information on this form to carry out the Internal Revenue
laws of the United States. You are required to give us the
information. We need it to ensure that you are complying
with these laws and to allow us to figure and collect the
right amount of tax.
You are not required to provide the information
requested on a form that is subject to the Paperwork
Reduction Act unless the form displays a valid OMB
control number. Books or records relating to a form or its
instructions must be retained as long as their contents
may become material in the administration of any Internal
Revenue law. Generally, tax returns and return
information are confidential, as required by section 6103.
The time needed to complete and file this form will vary
depending on individual circumstances. The estimated
burden for individual taxpayers filing this form is approved
under OMB control number 1545-0074 and is included in
the estimates shown in the instructions for their individual
income tax return. The estimated burden for all other
taxpayers who file this form is shown below.
Recordkeeping . . . . . . . . . .
4 hr., 4 min.
Learning about the law or the form . . . . 35 min.
Preparing and sending the form to the IRS . 41 min.
If you have comments concerning the accuracy of
these time estimates or suggestions for making this form
simpler, we would be happy to hear from you. See the
instructions for the tax return with which this form is filed.