U.S. Individual Income Tax Return

2012

Instructions for Form 8910

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit

General Instructions
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code unless
otherwise noted.

Future Developments

For the latest information about developments related to
Form 8910 and its instructions, such as legislation enacted
after they were published, go to www.irs.gov/form8910.

What's New

The plug-in conversion credit expired for conversions made
after 2011.

Purpose of Form

Use Form 8910 to figure your credit for alternative 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 pass-through
entities, are not required to complete or file this form. Instead,
they can report this credit directly on Form 3800.

Alternative Motor Vehicle

An alternative motor vehicle is a vehicle with at least four
wheels that qualifies as a qualified fuel cell vehicle.

Qualified fuel cell vehicle. This is a new vehicle propelled
by power derived from one or more cells that convert
chemical energy directly into electricity by combining oxygen
with hydrogen fuel, and that meets certain additional
requirements.
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vehicle has been withdrawn, you cannot rely on the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withdrawn on or after the date of purchase, you can rely on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.
The following requirements must be met to qualify for the
credit:
Jan 15, 2013

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;
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 an alternative 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 13 of Form 8910).
More information. For details, see the following.
Section 30B.
Notice 2008-33, 2008-12 I.R.B. 642, available at
www.irs.gov/irb/2008-12_IRB/ar12.html.

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 13 and 17 for that vehicle.

Coordination With Other Credits

If a vehicle qualifies for the qualified plug-in electric drive
motor vehicle credit on Form 8936, Qualified Plug-In Electric
Drive Motor Vehicle Credit, the vehicle does not qualify for
the alternative motor vehicle credit.

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
30B(h)(8).

Specific Instructions
Line 2

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.

Lines 4 Through 10

These lines have been reserved for future use.

Line 11
Tentative Credit

Enter the tentative credit 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 earlier.
For information on credit amounts for qualified fuel cell
vehicles (for example, $8,000 for the 2012 Honda FCX

Cat. No. 20107S

Line 22

Clarity), visit IRS.gov and search for “Qualified Fuel Cell
Vehicles.”

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.

Line 12

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 12 (50% multiplied by 6 divided by 12).
For more information, see Pub. 463, Travel,
Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses.

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11 hr.

Learning about the law or the form . . . . . . . . . . . . .

12 min.

Preparing and sending the form to the IRS . . . . . . . .

22 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.

Line 15

Enter total alternative motor vehicle credits from:
Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), box 15 (code P)
Schedule K-1 (Form 1120S), box 13 (code P)

Line 20

Enter the total, if any, credits from Form 1040, lines 47
through 50 (or Form 1040NR, lines 45 through 47); Form
5695, line 32; Form 8834, line 23; and Schedule R, line 22.

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2012