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I Just Bought a Model 3; Do I Get the Tax Credit?

So you pre-ordered a Tesla Model 3, received the nice thank you card from Elon himself in the mail, and now you’re waiting impatiently (like me) for the start of Model 3 production. The next question that’s probably on your mind is “When can I take delivery of mine?” Yeah, we all want to know that. But aside from release news, the thing that we want to know the most is “Do I qualify for the tax credit?”

With the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, there is some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that the credit is finite, and is set to reach its limit by the end of the year. Yeah, I know; that’s most likely well before any of us even see our Model 3s. The good news, however, is that the credit will not be fully gone by then.

For those that have a tax burden of at least $7,500 and purchase an electric vehicle, you will qualify for the federal tax credit. However, you must take ownership of the car before the vehicle manufacturer sells its 200,000th EV in the US. Tesla is slated to hit the 200,000 mark sometime this October.

If by some miracle the Model 3 starts rolling out in October of this year (doubtful) and some of you start taking delivery of them prior to Tesla’s 200,000th sale, then you’ll get your $7,500. The reality of the situation, however, is that we’re probably not getting our cars until well into 2018.

This means after the 200,000th car is sold by Tesla, the credit will drop by 50% for the following two-quarters, and by another 50% the two-quarters beyond that. This will continue until the credit is fully gone, which is expected to happen sometime around April 2019.

So what are your options? First of all, the tax credit is nice, but it probably shouldn’t be your sole reason for buying an EV, even if you were planning to offset the cost of a new Model 3 (that would just be silly). So you could simply adopt a “what happens, happens” mind frame about the whole thing.

Or you can snag an EV now and reap the benefits of a $7,500 credit. Me? I would love the credit, but I want a Model 3 even more, so if I get the credit, then great. If I don’t then that sucks, but life moves on.

SOURCE | Teslarati

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