EV tax Credit for Head of Household vs Single filer

[Icbm307]

Hi I’m looking to buy an EV and take full advantage $7500 tax credit. However due to my income of $54464 and my filing status as head of household, my total tax due (line 24 of tax return) is only around two thousand dollars. I would like to know if it would be prudent to change my filing status to single in order to increase my tax due and therefore be able to reap more of $7,500 EV tax credit.

[MirthaG]

Great  question, but  I understand your question to be that you may want  to change your filing status so that you would now owe more taxes so that you can get a larger credit.  You would be in the same situation either way.  You would not be able to take the full credit. 

[rschule1]

Hi There:

I hope other tax experts will jump in and give an opinion, but at face value it sounds like a wash of giving up other credits like child tax credits for that of an EV credit, so it sounds like a break even proposition at best.

[conniem123]

Hi lcbm307,

The income limitations are different by filing status, so consider this requirement also;

Your modified adjusted gross income (AGI) may not exceed:

• $300,000 for married couples filing jointly 
• $225,000 for heads of households
• $150,000 for all other filers

You can use your modified AGI from the year you take delivery of the vehicle or the year before, whichever is less. If your modified AGI is below the threshold in 1 of the two years, you can claim the credit.

The credit is nonrefundable, so you can't get back more on the credit than you owe in taxes. You can't apply any excess credit to future tax years.

If you consider filing status of single to use more of the credit to offset your tax liability, you will want to consider the other credits that you may not receive by changing your filing status.   The best way for you to determine how to file is when you prepare your tax return in TurboTax enter all your data, and then change the filing status in the My Info section and compare the results.

I hope you find this helpful!

Connie