Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Fed tax credit

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Hi, everybody. I have a new update because things have changed.

The deadlines for federal tax credits depend on the quarter Tesla will hit 200,000 USA sales. The exact date is not important but the quarter is. For example, if Tesla hits 200K in Q1 2018, full credits will end on June 30th, 2018. It turns out, there are only 2 realistic quarters to consider. Either they will hit 200K at the end of Q4 2017 or at the beginning of Q1 2018. Therefore there are only two possible sets of deadlines:

Pessimistic Scenario
$7,500 for deliveries until Mar 31, 2018
$3,750 for deliveries until Sep 30, 2018
$1,875 for deliveries until Mar 31, 2019

Optimistic Scenario
$7,500 for deliveries until Jun 30, 2018
$3,750 for deliveries until Dec 31, 2018
$1,875 for deliveries until Jun 30, 2019

Here is the part that has changed 3 days ago: On the Model 3 FAQ page here Tesla says "late 2018" for international deliveries. In other words, 100% of production will go to the USA for all the quarters that matter. Therefore, this increases the number of cars delivered in Q4 2017.

3 days ago the calculations showed that Tesla would hit 200,000 USA sales on 20 January 2018. Now, the calculations show 9 January 2018. It is a very close call. In the future, for the latest info on this issue, you can open THIS page and scroll all the way to the right.
 
My estimate is building my 3 at the very end of Decemebr and I do not take delivery until January (east coast line waiter, getting first production) So this distinction of registration vs delivery is something I need to research...unless someone here already knows this answer ?? (hint hint to the smart people)
 
My estimate is building my 3 at the very end of Decemebr and I do not take delivery until January (east coast line waiter, getting first production) So this distinction of registration vs delivery is something I need to research...unless someone here already knows this answer ?? (hint hint to the smart people)

I'm pretty sure it is when the vehicle is titled. "For purposes of the 30D credit, a vehicle is not considered acquired prior to the time when title to the vehicle passes to the taxpayer under state law."
 
What counts against the 200K total? Is it total sales or total number of people that take the tax credit? I know some people that did not bother to take the tax credit on previous Model S / X.

Total US deliveries. It doesn't matter if they took the full credit, partial credit, or no credit.

But really it likely wouldn't make any difference. As the exact date of 200k doesn't matter, it just matter which quarter it is in.
 
I believe Elon Musk has indicated that Tesla will try to maximize the number of US cars eligible for the $7500 tax credit. It would be counterproductive for Tesla to reach 200,000 US cars sold near the end of Q4 2017. It'll make far more sense to reach that limit at the beginning of a quarter (perhaps Q1 2018) and deliver US cars like mad for the remainder of that quarter and the following quarter, during which time all cars will remain eligible for the full credit.

Arguably, Tesla should try to avoid hitting 200,000 US cars delivered until their production rate is as high as possible. In Q1 2018, production will still be ramping up. So why not make a bunch of Canadian buyers happy, and postpone the 200,000th US car to the beginning of Q2 2018?
 
Arguably, Tesla should try to avoid hitting 200,000 US cars delivered until their production rate is as high as possible. In Q1 2018, production will still be ramping up. So why not make a bunch of Canadian buyers happy, and postpone the 200,000th US car to the beginning of Q2 2018?

Because it likely wouldn't be possible without stopping the sales of the Model S&X in the US as well. They are just going to be too close.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hoang51
I say:
$7500 before 2018
$3750 between Jan 2018 and June 2018
1875 between July 2018 and Dec 2018
Tesla has some 79k more US cars to sell before hitting the 200k mark. So even if they hit the 200k in 4th quarter of 2017 (which they won't), they would still have all of Q1 of 2018 at the full credit, so the above numbers are absolutely incorrect. Troy's are probably correct but will be stretched later if Tesla has a slower than expected model 3 ramp up.