Federal Form 8911 - Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit Instructions

General Instructions for Form 8911 

Purpose of Form

Use Form 8911 to figure your credit for alternative fuel vehicle refueling property you placed in service during your tax year. The credit attributable to depreciable property (refueling property 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. For more details, see section 30C and Notice 2007-43 (available in I.R.B. 2007-22 at www.irs.gov/irb).

Taxpayers that are not partnerships, S corporations, or cooperatives, 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 line 1s of Form 3800.

Amount of Credit

For property of a character subject to an allowance for depreciation (business/investment use property), the credit for all property placed in service at each location is generally the smaller of 30% of the property's cost or $30,000. For property of a character not subject to an allowance for depreciation placed in service at your main home (personal use property), the credit for all property placed in service at your main home is generally the smaller of 30% of the property's cost or $1,000. Each property's cost must first be reduced by any section 179 expense deduction taken for the property.

Qualified Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property

Qualified alternative fuel vehicle refueling property is any property (other than a building or its structural components) used to store or dispense an alternative fuel (defined below) into the fuel tank of a motor vehicle propelled by the fuel, but only if the storage or dispensing is at the point where the fuel is delivered into that tank.

In addition, the following requirements must be met to qualify for the credit.

• You placed the refueling property in service during your tax year.
• The original use of the property began with you.
• The property is not used predominantly outside the United States.
• If the property is not business/investment use property, the property must be installed on property used as your main home.

Exception. If you are the seller of new refueling property to a tax-exempt organization, governmental unit, or a foreign person or entity, and the use of that property 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 refueling property (included on line 7 of Form 8911). Treat all property eligible for this exception as business/investment use property.

Alternative fuel. The following are alternative fuels.

• Any fuel at least 85 percent of the volume of which consists of one or more of the following: ethanol, natural gas, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, or hydrogen.
• Any mixture which consists of two or more of the following: biodiesel (as defined in section 40A(d)(1)), diesel fuel (as defined in section 4083(a)(3)), or kerosene, and at least 20% of the volume of which consists of biodiesel determined without regard to any kerosene in such mixture.
• Electricity (for property placed in service after October 3, 2008).

Basis Reduction

Unless you elect not to take the credit, you must reduce the basis of the property by the sum of the amounts entered on lines 7 and 13 for that property.

Recapture

If the property no longer qualifies for the credit, you may have to recapture part or all of the credit. For details, see section 30C(e)(5).

Specific Instructions

Line 2

To figure the business/investment use part of the total cost, multiply the cost of each separate refueling property by the percentage of business/investment use for that property. 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.

Line 3

Enter any section 179 expense deduction you claimed for the property from Part I of Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization.

Line 6

If you placed refueling property with business/investment use in service at just one location, enter $30,000.

If you placed refueling property with business/investment use in service at more than one location, but all property placed in service at any one location would result in an amount of not more than $30,000 if property from that location was reported separately on line 5, enter the amount from line 5 on both line 6 and line 7. If you placed refueling property with business/investment use in service at more than one location, and property at at least one location would result in an amount of more than $30,000 if property from that location was reported separately on line 5, add the separate amounts for each location, but do not include in the total more than $30,000 for any single location.

Line 12

Enter $1,000.

Line 15a

Enter the total amount claimed for the following credits (see the following lines of Form 1040 or 1040NR).

Line 17

Although you may not owe alternative minimum tax (AMT), you must still figure the tentative minimum tax (TMT) to figure your credit. Complete and attach the applicable AMT form or schedule and enter the TMT on line 17.

Line 19

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.......... 5 hr., 30 min.
Learning about the law or the form..........24 min.
Preparing and sending the form to the IRS..........30 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.