8936 Instructions for Form 8936

Instructions for Form 8936

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

(Rev. January 2021)

Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit (Including Qualified
Two-Wheeled Plug-in Electric Vehicles)

Qualified Two-Wheeled Plug-in
Electric Vehicle

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

Future Developments

For the latest information about developments related to
Form 8936 and its instructions, such as legislation
enacted after they were published, go to IRS.gov/
Form8936.

What’s New
Periodic updating. Form 8936 and its instructions will no
longer be updated annually. Instead, they’ll only be
updated when necessary. See Which Revision To Use,
later.
Credit for two-wheeled vehicles. The Taxpayer
Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020 extended
the credit for qualified two-wheeled plug-in electric
vehicles to cover vehicles acquired in 2021.

General Instructions
Purpose of Form

Use Form 8936 to figure your credit for qualified plug-in
electric drive motor vehicles you placed in service during
your tax year. Also use Form 8936 to figure your credit for
certain qualified two-wheeled plug-in electric vehicles
discussed under What's New, earlier.
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.
Partnerships and S corporations must file this form to
claim the credit. All other taxpayers are not required to
complete or file this form if their only source for this credit
is a partnership or S corporation. Instead, they can report
this credit directly on line 1y in Part III of Form 3800,
General Business Credit.

Which Revision To Use

Use the January 2021 revision of Form 8936 for tax years
beginning in 2020 or later, until a later revision is issued.
Use prior revisions of the form for earlier tax years. All
revisions are available at IRS.gov/Form8936.

Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor
Vehicle

This is a new vehicle with at least four wheels that:
• 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, and
• Has a gross vehicle weight of less than 14,000 pounds.
Jan 12, 2021

This is a new vehicle with two wheels that:
• Is capable of achieving a speed of 45 miles per hour or
greater,
• Is propelled to a significant extent by an electric motor
that draws electricity from a battery that has a capacity of
not less than 2.5 kilowatt hours and is capable of being
recharged from an external source of electricity, and
• Has a gross vehicle weight of less than 14,000 pounds.

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 to the IRS that a specific make, model, and
model year vehicle qualifies for the credit and, if
applicable, the amount of the credit for which it qualifies.
The manufacturer or domestic distributor should be able
to provide you with a copy of the IRS letter acknowledging
the certification of the vehicle.
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 acquired after the date of
publication of the withdrawal announcement.
If you acquired a vehicle and its certification was
withdrawn on or after the date you acquired it, 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 acquired the vehicle on or before the date the IRS
published the withdrawal announcement.

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.
• The vehicle is manufactured primarily for use on public
streets, roads, and highways.
• The original use of the vehicle began with you.
• You acquired the vehicle for use or to lease to others,
and not for resale.
• You use the vehicle primarily in the United States.
Exception. If you are the seller of a qualified plug-in
electric drive motor vehicle or qualified two-wheeled
plug-in electric 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

Cat. No. 67912V

search for “Plug-in Electric Drive Vehicle Credit (IRC
30D).”

writing to the purchaser the amount of the tentative credit
allowable for the vehicle (from line 11 of Form 8936).
Treat all vehicles eligible for this exception as business/
investment property. If you elect to claim the credit, you
must reduce cost of goods sold by the amount you
entered on line 11 for that vehicle.

Line 4b

Enter 100% unless the vehicle was a vehicle with at least
four wheels manufactured by Tesla or General Motors
(Chevrolet Bolt EV, etc.).

More information. For details, see the following.
• Section 30D.
• Notice 2009-89, 2009-48 I.R.B. 714, available at
IRS.gov/irb/2009-48_IRB#NOT-2009-89.
• Notice 2013-67, 2013-45 I.R.B. 470, available at
IRS.gov/irb/2013-45_IRB#NOT-2013-67.
• Notice 2016-51, 2016-37 I.R.B. 344, available at
IRS.gov/irb/2016-37_IRB#NOT-2016-51.

Tesla. Enter the following percentage if the vehicle was
manufactured by Tesla.
• 25% if you acquired it after June 30, 2019, but before
January 1, 2020.
• 0% if you acquired it after December 31, 2019.
The credit is not available for Tesla vehicles acquired
after December 31, 2019. For more information, see
Notice 2018-96, 2018-52 I.R.B.1061, available at
IRS.gov/irb/2018-52_IRB#NOT-2018-96.

Credit Phaseout

The credit for vehicles with at least four wheels 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.

General Motors. Enter the following percentage if the
vehicle was manufactured by General Motors.
• 25% if you acquired it after September 30, 2019, but
before April 1, 2020.
• 0% if you acquired it after March 31, 2020.
The credit is not available for General Motors vehicles
acquired after March 31, 2020. For more information, see
Notice 2019-22, 2019-14 I.R.B. 931, available at
IRS.gov/irb/2019-14_IRB#NOT-2019-22.

Basis Reduction

Line 5

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 11 and 18 for that vehicle.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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).

Line 4a

For two-wheeled vehicles, enter the cost of the vehicle
you entered on line 1. For vehicles with at least four
wheels, 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 to the IRS of the credit allowable as explained
above.

For more information, see Pub. 463, Travel, Gift, and
Car Expenses.

Tentative credit amounts acknowledged by the IRS are
available at IRS.gov/Businesses/Qualified-VehiclesAcquired-After-12-31-2009. Or you can visit IRS.gov and
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Instructions for Form 8936 (Rev. 1-2021)

Line 7

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.

Line 13

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.

Enter any section 179 expense deduction you claimed for
the vehicle from Part I of Form 4562, Depreciation and
Amortization.
Enter total qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle
credits from:

• Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), Partner's Share of Income,
Deductions, Credits, etc., box 15 (code P); and
• Schedule K-1 (Form 1120-S), Shareholder's Share of
Income, Deductions, Credits, etc., box 13 (code P).

The time needed to complete and file this form will vary
depending on individual circumstances. The estimated
burden for individual and business taxpayers filing this
form is approved under OMB control number 1545-0074
and 1545-0123 and is included in the estimates shown in
the instructions for their individual and business income
tax return. The estimated burden for all other taxpayers
who file this form is shown below.

Partnerships and S corporations report the above credits
on line 13. All other filers figuring a separate credit on
earlier lines also report the above credits on line 13. All
others not using earlier lines to figure a separate credit
can report the above credits directly on Form 3800, Part
III, line 1y.

Line 21

Enter the total, if any, credits from Schedule 3 (Form
1040), lines 1 through 4; Form 5695, line 30; Form 8910,
line 15; and Schedule R (Form 1040), line 22.

Recordkeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Learning about the law or the form . . . . .
Preparing and sending the form to the
IRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Line 23

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.

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.

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We ask for the
information on this form to carry out the Internal Revenue

Instructions for Form 8936 (Rev. 1-2021)

4 hr., 4 min.
35 min.
41 min.

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