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Tesla Referral Program
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first 2 referrals are the same... either a mini kids car or a wall charger... I don't need either of these. If you have 2 referrals you can get 1 of each or 2 of the same. the 3rd referral is the 21" arachnid rims which is my obsession...I am stuck at 2 and need 1 more. trying everything to make that happen. I created this thread to see how others are doing it...
the problem is soon becoming that the $1000 off part of the deal for the new owner is going away on 10/31... the free supercharging is still a great perk on its own especially if you like to take road trips.
all suggestions (or leads) are appreciated
the problem is soon becoming that the $1000 off part of the deal for the new owner is going away on 10/31... the free supercharging is still a great perk on its own especially if you like to take road trips.
all suggestions (or leads) are appreciated
3s-a-charm
Active Member
Pretty sure this is the ONLY thread the Moderators have said you are actually allowed to post your referral code on.
@HankLloydRight, thanks for keeping us up to date on this.
Interesting that they said the PWs are not transferable. Seems like everything else in the referral program has been. Wonder what that means to anyone that has sold or is trying to sell their PWs.
Also interesting about the mention of tax issues. Seems like a 1099 finally might be coming for the referral awards.
I also wonder how they will handle the Roadster discounts. Will that be taxable? Did they tax people on the discounts for the Founders MX through the referral program? I imagine if anyone gets the free Roadster, there will be taxes on that. But curious about the discount short of getting a free one. If they tax a free Roadster but not the discount on a discounted Roadster, you could be better off not getting to 100%! May be worth asking them that question when they call you back.
There will not be 1099's coming. They would have disclosed at the beginning of the program that these would be taxable. I would imagine the awards are considered an adjustment to a a sales price so no tax due.
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
State tax was applied for the full retail value of the Founder X awards, even though the actual sticker price was considerably less. I imagine the Roadster will be the same. Most DMVs consider the retail value of a car when determining tax, can't just say 'bought it for $1' and get away with just paying tax on that. (Though that would be nice
.)The IRS may disagree with that. I don't see how paying someone $6k worth of tires/wheels for referrals is an "adjustment to a sales price." Same would likely be true with the Roadster. If you win a car in a raffle you have to pay tax of the FMV of the car before you can take possession of it, assuming that the raffle doesn't include an extra cash reward to cover that. (No way the IRA is going to let you get a car for free, which you could then sell, and not pay taxes on it.)
Tesla wouldn't need to disclose the taxability until it comes time to collect on your "prize". It doesn't matter if you earned it you could refuse it if you couldn't pay the taxes.
In fact I remember on one of the referral prizes a person who won a Model S had problems claiming it because he couldn't, or didn't want to, pay the taxes.
They have been running the same type program since 2015. I have never received a 1099 for any referral and don't expect too.
Have you received more than $600 worth of goods in a prior tax year? I'm pretty sure Tesla is required to 1099 people that receive more than $600 worth of goods in the tax year. I don't recall that any big prizes, like the wheels, that were delivered in 2016, so no 1099s would have been sent yet. (Even though the reward was earned in 2016.)
Even if you don't get a 1099 you are still responsible for reporting that "income" and paying taxes on it.
I suspect that come the end of January there are going to a lot of surprised, and unhappy, people. (Especially if a reward, like the wheels, pushes them into a higher tax bracket, or out of the range for being allowed to contribute to a Roth IRA.)
bkp_duke
Well-Known Member
I have received more than $600 in referral "gifts" in both 2015 and 2016, still have not been 1099'd.
Not reporting it either, because Tesla may do what AMEX did years ago - pay the taxes on your behalf. Had that happen when I won a 2k espresso machine from AMEX. Ah, happy days.
899 inventory in US today. Down from 1100 just a couple of days ago! Someone must be selling
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Tesla Inventory
f-stop
Active Member
question about the modified awards that came into effect at end of Sept, part way through this current referral period:
I have just 1 referral right now (delivered 9/28). If I don’t have a 2nd referral before the deadline, will I still get to choose between the Radio Flyer or HPWC? I don’t need the mini car but could really use the charger
Btw all this discussion about referral codes, it’s pretty clearly against forum rules to put them your sig, though I still see them there from time to time. Though I thought this thread was THE one designated dumping ground for them?
Anyhow, does everybody know there is an existing spot in member profiles labeled “Referral”? - why doesn’t everybody just put theirs there? Then Mods could ban them everywhere else on the forum, and if anybody feels another member has helped them make a decision on their purchase they can simply click on the helpful person's name on the sidebar and easily get their code from the profile page (or of course PM them). That way, codes are out of everybody's faces and out of discussion threads, yet easily obtainable from someone who's been helpful. Makes way more sense than a newly-joined member with 1 post giving a link here and getting a referral click from a random stranger.
I have just 1 referral right now (delivered 9/28). If I don’t have a 2nd referral before the deadline, will I still get to choose between the Radio Flyer or HPWC? I don’t need the mini car but could really use the charger
Btw all this discussion about referral codes, it’s pretty clearly against forum rules to put them your sig, though I still see them there from time to time. Though I thought this thread was THE one designated dumping ground for them?
Anyhow, does everybody know there is an existing spot in member profiles labeled “Referral”? - why doesn’t everybody just put theirs there? Then Mods could ban them everywhere else on the forum, and if anybody feels another member has helped them make a decision on their purchase they can simply click on the helpful person's name on the sidebar and easily get their code from the profile page (or of course PM them). That way, codes are out of everybody's faces and out of discussion threads, yet easily obtainable from someone who's been helpful. Makes way more sense than a newly-joined member with 1 post giving a link here and getting a referral click from a random stranger.
arcus
Active Member
It's there and been that way for months. I don't think anyone knows to use it though.
899 inventory in US today. Down from 1100 just a couple of days ago! Someone must be selling
Check again - inventory being pulled by Tesla in big batches.
arcus
Active Member
I for one didn't even notice that until now (and quickly updated mine). Maybe the reminder at the top of the page about not posting codes in the threads should reflect that too?
f-stop
Active Member
I think that's the issue, nobody knows about the designated profile spot for referral codes. But it would also take enforcement to ban all the codes in sigs AND posts with codes, otherwise nobody would bother looking there
HankLloydRight
No Roads
tl;dr:
1. All referral awards are taxable
2. You have to report all income on your taxes
3. Doesn't matter if you get a 1099 or not
The wheels are not transferrable. You can sell them after you get them. But they're still not transferrable. The other stuff is pretty minor -- bags, jackets, Radio Flyer, etc. But the powerwall itself is not transferrable since they need to install it somewhere and are not just shipping it out.
Yes, all the referral prizes are taxable!! The percentage doesn't really matter. Whatever percentage you're getting a discount for is taxable. If you get a 50% discount, 50% of the FMV is taxable. If you get a 100% discount, 100% is taxable.
Don't be so sure about that. They don't have to disclose anything since all the prizes are taxable! It's not up to Tesla to decide which ones are and which ones aren't. I have no idea what this "adjustment to sales price" is, or why it's relevant. Everyone getting a referral award already has a car.. there's no "adjustment" to make.
Exactly.
Right -- the thread has been since deleted. The prize was "trade in your current Model S for a fully loaded Model S (or X, I think). The winner didn't realize that the full difference in price between his current car's value, and the new car was taxable! He actually thought (originally) that Tesla was going to pay him the FMV for his car in cash AND give him a new loaded car for free. When he realized that there was going to be this huge tax bill for the difference in value, he protested and eventually got Tesla to settle on a compromise, details of which were never released.
Just because you haven't received a 1099 does not mean it's tax-free. YOU are responsible for reporting all income on your tax return. If you get audited, good luck explaining that to the IRS. If Tesla decides not to send out 1099s (which they are obligated to do), I would assume they are not claiming the referral awards as deductions to income, which is a stupid thing to do.
Except for the very first phase where there were $1000 "service credits", all of the awards so far have been delivered in 2017.
Agreed. I'm not sure why people think if they do or don't get a 1099 dictates the taxability.
If the awards push someone into a higher tax bracket, the higher tax would only be on the marginal amount in the higher tax bracket. It's not like a ratchet system where if you are pushed into a higher tax bracket suddenly you have to pay the higher bracket for all your income. Doesn't work that way.
Again, doesn't matter. Even if Tesla does a gross-up to pay the tax YOU STILL HAVE TO REPORT IT!! It's not like it just goes away. AMEX grossed-up lots of their awards, but that just means they gave you cash to cover the taxes, and the resulting 1099 reflected that. It's not like Tesla or Amex sends the IRS a check directly "hey, here's the taxes for Ralph's award income". I won a $5000 European trip from AMEX 10 years ago, and got the award and a check for the gross-up, as well as a 1099 for all of it. In either case, I sincerely doubt Tesla is going to offer any gross-ups on the referral awards. It clearly states in the rules that the winners are responsible for ALL Federal, state, and local taxes.
And yes, if Tesla wants to send out 1099s, they'll request you fill out a W-9 first. They could easily say that all future referral awards will only be distributed with a current W-9 on file. They haven't done that yet, but I suspect they will.
1. All referral awards are taxable
2. You have to report all income on your taxes
3. Doesn't matter if you get a 1099 or not
The wheels are not transferrable. You can sell them after you get them. But they're still not transferrable. The other stuff is pretty minor -- bags, jackets, Radio Flyer, etc. But the powerwall itself is not transferrable since they need to install it somewhere and are not just shipping it out.
Yes, all the referral prizes are taxable!! The percentage doesn't really matter. Whatever percentage you're getting a discount for is taxable. If you get a 50% discount, 50% of the FMV is taxable. If you get a 100% discount, 100% is taxable.
Don't be so sure about that. They don't have to disclose anything since all the prizes are taxable! It's not up to Tesla to decide which ones are and which ones aren't. I have no idea what this "adjustment to sales price" is, or why it's relevant. Everyone getting a referral award already has a car.. there's no "adjustment" to make.
Exactly.
Right -- the thread has been since deleted. The prize was "trade in your current Model S for a fully loaded Model S (or X, I think). The winner didn't realize that the full difference in price between his current car's value, and the new car was taxable! He actually thought (originally) that Tesla was going to pay him the FMV for his car in cash AND give him a new loaded car for free. When he realized that there was going to be this huge tax bill for the difference in value, he protested and eventually got Tesla to settle on a compromise, details of which were never released.
Just because you haven't received a 1099 does not mean it's tax-free. YOU are responsible for reporting all income on your tax return. If you get audited, good luck explaining that to the IRS. If Tesla decides not to send out 1099s (which they are obligated to do), I would assume they are not claiming the referral awards as deductions to income, which is a stupid thing to do.
Except for the very first phase where there were $1000 "service credits", all of the awards so far have been delivered in 2017.
Agreed. I'm not sure why people think if they do or don't get a 1099 dictates the taxability.
If the awards push someone into a higher tax bracket, the higher tax would only be on the marginal amount in the higher tax bracket. It's not like a ratchet system where if you are pushed into a higher tax bracket suddenly you have to pay the higher bracket for all your income. Doesn't work that way.
Again, doesn't matter. Even if Tesla does a gross-up to pay the tax YOU STILL HAVE TO REPORT IT!! It's not like it just goes away. AMEX grossed-up lots of their awards, but that just means they gave you cash to cover the taxes, and the resulting 1099 reflected that. It's not like Tesla or Amex sends the IRS a check directly "hey, here's the taxes for Ralph's award income". I won a $5000 European trip from AMEX 10 years ago, and got the award and a check for the gross-up, as well as a 1099 for all of it. In either case, I sincerely doubt Tesla is going to offer any gross-ups on the referral awards. It clearly states in the rules that the winners are responsible for ALL Federal, state, and local taxes.
And yes, if Tesla wants to send out 1099s, they'll request you fill out a W-9 first. They could easily say that all future referral awards will only be distributed with a current W-9 on file. They haven't done that yet, but I suspect they will.
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