Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[protomech]

Those Colorado prices are NUTS.

[Richard230]

Speaking of rebates, I have this feeling that I will be getting a 1099 from the organization that sent me my $900 CA EV rebate at the end of this year.  If that happens, I will be paying both Federal (about 25%) and CA state (about 7.5%) income taxes on that rebate.  The government giveith now and the government takeith away later.   

[dkw12002]

That CA and CO tax rebate does sound good, but TX has a much better deal...no state income tax. It's why I moved here.

[CliC]

Same here. But I'll still take the federal credit thank you very much

[polartek]

Approved!  At least in the finance committee.
$2500
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/08/ev-motorcycle-tax-break/

-Polartek

[Rewski]

Speaking of rebates, I have this feeling that I will be getting a 1099 from the organization that sent me my $900 CA EV rebate at the end of this year.  If that happens, I will be paying both Federal (about 25%) and CA state (about 7.5%) income taxes on that rebate.  The government giveith now and the government takeith away later.   

You are correct. In 2011 I had to pay the Feds tax on my CO state rebate from my 2010 DS purchase in 2010. Still a great deal here in CO!

[trikester]

I don't know why we would have to pay an income tax on a rebate. As I understand it, a rebate is just a return of some of the money I spent to purchase something, not new income. Maybe the IRS is taking Ban Franklin too literally when he said; "a penny saved is a penny earned".

Trikester

[ColoPaul]

I don't know why we would have to pay an income tax on a rebate. As I understand it, a rebate is just a return of some of the money I spent to purchase something, not new income. Maybe the IRS is taking Ban Franklin too literally when he said; "a penny saved is a penny earned".

Trikester

Yes, it's not intuitive.  But really, a tax rebate (as opposed to a seller's rebate) is not "the return of some of the money spent".  Example:  If you make $50,000 and pay $5,000 in state income tax; the feds will only tax you on $45,000 so you're not 'double taxed'.  Now if the state 'waives' your $5000 state income tax because you bought a Zero; the feds see it like you're not paying any state income tax, and the full $50,000 gets taxed.   Contrast this with if you make $50,000, pay $5000 in state income tax, buy a motorcycle and now Zero gives you a $5000 rebate.  The feds won't try to tax the $5000 you get from Zero because they see it like it was just a 'discounted price'.

[Richard230]

I figure that if you get a 1099 from someone, you will be paying income taxes on that money.  Everything is computerized now and garbage in to the IRS will be garbage out of your wallet.   

[trikester]

In CA the rebate is a cash rebate not a tax rebate. It's like the manufacture's cash rebate you might get on a tool you purchase at the hardware store. It comes from a fund the state set up for this purpose. Maybe the difference is that the state is not the manufacture in this case.

Trikester

[Nukie]

Thanks for doing the Colorado math, Paul. I am glad I decided to wait for the 2013 models to come out. This will make my future purchase so much more affordable with the tax credits. Plus, i am hoping for some of those incremental improvements for 2013 mentioned in the other thread with the CEO survey. 

Hope your bike gets fixed soon. Does Grand Prix Motorsports offer any kind of loaner bike for extra long service problems? Might be something to ask about. Other dealerships offer loaner bikes when things are taking far too long.

[ColoPaul]

Thanks for doing the Colorado math, Paul. I am glad I decided to wait for the 2013 models to come out. This will make my future purchase so much more affordable with the tax credits. Plus, i am hoping for some of those incremental improvements for 2013 mentioned in the other thread with the CEO survey. 

Hope your bike gets fixed soon. Does Grand Prix Motorsports offer any kind of loaner bike for extra long service problems? Might be something to ask about. Other dealerships offer loaner bikes when things are taking far too long.

Hey Nukie,  something to think about is that the federal tax credit mentioned in this thread is only for purchases in the 2012 calendar year.  The best deal might be had by buying a discounted 2012 model later this year (when grand prix is trying to clear the floor for 2013's).   Likely we won't know about the federal 2013 tax status until late 2013.

When I dropped my bike off a month ago it wasn't supposed be an 'extra-long' service, so I didn't ask about a loaner.   They have a million used ICE bikes, I suspect one of those would be the loaner anyhoo and I'm not interested in that I have my own ICE bike.  But if they don't have me on the road by the end of this week I'm going to push for a Zero loaner; or maybe see if they'll buy my broken bike and let me use the funds to buy a new Zero.

[dkw12002]

Good point. Car and motorcycle manufacturers offer rebates on last year's model to move them out just when the new-year models come out, but never would they contact you AFTER the sale and say, "guess what, you qualify for this rebate." I guess that's the difference between the govt. and a business. It's all good; however, it might just encourage people to NOT buy the 2013s until and if a tax incentive shows up in late 2013. It should help move any 2012's out there though which would be an immediate boost to sales, then hopefully the 2013s will blow us all away and we will want to pay full price, forget the tax incentive, for the new Zero.  

[protomech]

Hey Nukie,  something to think about is that the federal tax credit mentioned in this thread is only for purchases in the 2012 calendar year.

To the best of my understanding, the proposed credit would cover bikes purchased in 2012 and 2013. Once Congress gets back from their vacation we'll see if it survives the next round of legislation.

[Richard230]

I get a real queasy feeling when someone says we have to depend upon Congress to get anything done or make any decisions during an election year.