Will you sell your new Model 3 for a profit?

[daniel]

I think it's a lot more complicated than that because the law does not specify a length of time you must keep the car. It says you may not take the tax credit if you bought it for the purpose of reselling it. If you sell it immediately, there will be a presumption that you intended to re-sell it. If you sell it after a week the IRS may ask for some sort of proof that this was not your intention all along. If you sell it after a year, the presumption is now on your side unless you never drove it in the meanwhile, because while car dealers may leave a car on the lot for a year if there's no demand, nobody buys a car with the intention of selling it and then drives it for a year first.

Intent is nearly impossible to prove, but unless you intend to take the IRS to court, the final decision is theirs. A record of talking about selling it for a profit on social media will go against you. Selling it immediately will go against you. Putting 5,000 miles on it during the first 6 months and then selling it will not look like you "bought it with the intention of reselling it."

 

[SageBrush]

Intent is nearly impossible to prove, but unless you intend to take the IRS to court, the final decision is theirs.

Right; and more to the point, the initial decision is up to whichever IRS agent reviews the case.

A call to the IRS may get an opinion from that person on the line, but it is non-binding.

If other similar tax cases have been adjudicated, that is the best to go by. If not, OP is of course invited to be the first. Lawyers are standing by to take his call!

 

[ed94582]

I think it's a lot more complicated than that because the law does not specify a length of time you must keep the car. It says you may not take the tax credit if you bought it for the purpose of reselling it. If you sell it immediately, there will be a presumption that you intended to re-sell it. If you sell it after a week the IRS may ask for some sort of proof that this was not your intention all along. If you sell it after a year, the presumption is now on your side unless you never drove it in the meanwhile, because while car dealers may leave a car on the lot for a year if there's no demand, nobody buys a car with the intention of selling it and then drives it for a year first.

Intent is nearly impossible to prove, but unless you intend to take the IRS to court, the final decision is theirs. A record of talking about selling it for a profit on social media will go against you. Selling it immediately will go against you. Putting 5,000 miles on it during the first 6 months and then selling it will not look like you "bought it with the intention of reselling it."

Agreed. Driving it and selling it for no profit -- will probably reinforce that you bought it with no intention of reselling it.