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Colorado Tax Credits

waitingonanr1s

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You could be right... part comes down to what is a truck. The cross reference is C.R.S. 41-1-102. It defines a truck as:

(108) “Truck” means any motor vehicle equipped with a body designed to carry property and which is generally and commonly used to carry and transport property over the public highways.

I can see this definition applying only to vehicles like a flat bed truck, etc., that is not commonly used to carry people over public highways.
They all fall under that definition - this just builds on it. (I assume you meant 42-1-102). The whole thing is a mess. CDOR should just publish a list of all the EV's >8,500 GVWR and where they fall. There can't be that many.

Someone mentioned somewhere that the state legislators never intended for any of these vehicles to fall into the truck category - may be why all the categories match starting in 2024.

"“Truck”, for tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2017, has the same meaning as in section 42-1-102(108), C.R.S., and includes a hybrid truck, a light-duty passenger motor vehicle, and a bus, has a maximum speed capability of at least fifty-five miles per hour, is licensed or subject to licensing for operation upon the highways of the state, is new, not used, unless the truck is being converted, and is either..." (39-22-516.8(1)(ee)(II))
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gokcabaga

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They all fall under that definition - this just builds on it. ... The whole thing is a mess.
I just laughed when I first saw that (108) definition. How useless. I guess the good 'ol commuter Chevy Bolt is legally a "truck" since it transports Joe or Jane's "property" namely their backpack containing lunch and laptop to/from work, way more commonly than any passengers.
 

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They all fall under that definition - this just builds on it. (I assume you meant 42-1-102). The whole thing is a mess. CDOR should just publish a list of all the EV's >8,500 GVWR and where they fall. There can't be that many.

Someone mentioned somewhere that the state legislators never intended for any of these vehicles to fall into the truck category - may be why all the categories match starting in 2024.

"“Truck”, for tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2017, has the same meaning as in section 42-1-102(108), C.R.S., and includes a hybrid truck, a light-duty passenger motor vehicle, and a bus, has a maximum speed capability of at least fifty-five miles per hour, is licensed or subject to licensing for operation upon the highways of the state, is new, not used, unless the truck is being converted, and is either..." (39-22-516.8(1)(ee)(II))
Yes, I meant 42-1-102 (108).

I agree it is all a mess, and also whole heartedly agree that Colorado should publish a list.

I have read a couple of posts in different forums and groups, for what it it's worth, where people have spoken to CO DOR agents, and have either been told the $2k or the $2,800.
 

gokcabaga

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state legislators never intended for any of these vehicles to fall into the truck category - may be why all the categories match starting in 2024.
True for the light duty truck class applying to the Rivians but what about the medium duty GVWR Hummer EVs for 2024 and 2025? Will they get $5000/$3500 back or will they get $12000 back? One reason the private vs commercial interpretation makes sense to me is I could see the state wanting to subsidize some business needing the hauling capacity of a Hummer, whereas I just can't see them having intended to subsidize that much toward any private vehicle.
 

Warmoth

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Found some more information. While not Statutory, here's maybe some insight (or fuel to the confusion). The Colorado Energy Office has a page on the Electric Vehicle Tax Credits. Link: Electric Vehicle Tax Credits | Colorado Energy Office.

On the website it talks about fully electric vehicles and has a link to the Alternative Fuel and Advanced Vehicle Search. Link: Alternative Fuels Data Center: Vehicle Search (energy.gov) Through this link you can search for SUV and Truck. The R1S is under SUV, and the R1T is under truck.
 

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waitingonanr1s

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[/QUOTE]
True for the light duty truck class applying to the Rivians but what about the medium duty GVWR Hummer EVs for 2024 and 2025? Will they get $5000/$3500 back or will they get $12000 back? One reason the private vs commercial interpretation makes sense to me is I could see the state wanting to subsidize some business needing the hauling capacity of a Hummer, whereas I just can't see them having intended to subsidize that much toward any private vehicle.
If their GVWR is over 10,000 then I’d imagine they’re good for the $12k. The statute doesn’t use any language about private vs commercial in the medium duty category.
 

waitingonanr1s

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Found some more information. While not Statutory, here's maybe some insight (or fuel to the confusion). The Colorado Energy Office has a page on the Electric Vehicle Tax Credits. Link: Electric Vehicle Tax Credits | Colorado Energy Office.

On the website it talks about fully electric vehicles and has a link to the Alternative Fuel and Advanced Vehicle Search. Link: Alternative Fuels Data Center: Vehicle Search (energy.gov) Through this link you can search for SUV and Truck. The R1S is under SUV, and the R1T is under truck.
That CO Energy Office has been misleading from day 1. It used to have a picture of a Rivian on it right next to where they talked about the automobile ev credit. I see they finally pulled it off.

They have a disclaimer at the top of the page that the CO Department of Revenue is the only one who can answer questions.

That site it links to is federal Dept of Energy site. It really has no bearing on Colorado’s definitions for the credit.
 

Bristlecone

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So I just got an invite to complete my configuration of R1S. Will Rivian be willing to delay delivery until Jan. 2024 so I can get the full CO tax credit of $5,000? I don't mind waiting, since it's been almost a 2-year wait already.
 

tomis916

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Yeah, ready for next year when everything is $5k. Glad I haven't had any clients take delivery of a Rivian yet. lol
I'm just starting to work on my 2023 return and I'm still catching up with you guys on the $2,000 vs. $2,800 and R1T versus R1S debate.

I don't know whether the forms were available when you were debating the question of whether both the T and S are considered a light-duty passenger vehicle or a light-duty truck for the purposes of claiming the credit on 2023 Form DR0617, Innovative Motor Vehicle and Truck Credits. The form I have in TurboTax has a date of 09/01/23. I recognize that the forms themselves are not authoritative, but I just noticed that Box 7, Qualifying Vehicle Type has a parenthetical by light-duty truck "Light-Duty Electric Trucks (for commercial vehicles only)"

It appears that whoever created the form thinks that non-commercial R1Ts and R1Ss for 2023 should only be entitled to the $2,000 credit for 2023.
 

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I'm just starting to work on my 2023 return and I'm still catching up with you guys on the $2,000 vs. $2,800 and R1T versus R1S debate.

I don't know whether the forms were available when you were debating the question of whether both the T and S are considered a light-duty passenger vehicle or a light-duty truck for the purposes of claiming the credit on 2023 Form DR0617, Innovative Motor Vehicle and Truck Credits. The form I have in TurboTax has a date of 09/01/23. I recognize that the forms themselves are not authoritative, but I just noticed that Box 7, Qualifying Vehicle Type has a parenthetical by light-duty truck "Light-Duty Electric Trucks (for commercial vehicles only)"

It appears that whoever created the form thinks that non-commercial R1Ts and R1Ss for 2023 should only be entitled to the $2,000 credit for 2023.
Doing this as we speak and I doing the passenger vehicle. I hope its right!
 

tomis916

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Doing this as we speak and I doing the passenger vehicle. I hope its right!
I still haven’t filed yet, but I’m pretty sure that is the position that the CO Dept of Revenue is taking. I think they decided that they would try and clear up the confusion (including perhaps even their own phone guidance) using the form and its instructions. Probably not the way they are supposed to do it, but I think this is what they think is correct.
 

waitingonanr1s

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I still haven’t filed yet, but I’m pretty sure that is the position that the CO Dept of Revenue is taking. I think they decided that they would try and clear up the confusion (including perhaps even their own phone guidance) using the form and its instructions. Probably not the way they are supposed to do it, but I think this is what they think is correct.
I'm just starting to work on my 2023 return and I'm still catching up with you guys on the $2,000 vs. $2,800 and R1T versus R1S debate.

I don't know whether the forms were available when you were debating the question of whether both the T and S are considered a light-duty passenger vehicle or a light-duty truck for the purposes of claiming the credit on 2023 Form DR0617, Innovative Motor Vehicle and Truck Credits. The form I have in TurboTax has a date of 09/01/23. I recognize that the forms themselves are not authoritative, but I just noticed that Box 7, Qualifying Vehicle Type has a parenthetical by light-duty truck "Light-Duty Electric Trucks (for commercial vehicles only)"

It appears that whoever created the form thinks that non-commercial R1Ts and R1Ss for 2023 should only be entitled to the $2,000 credit for 2023.
That's where I landed on the analysis once gokcabaga was able to pull the relevant tax code. Glad they added that to the forms (https://tax.colorado.gov/sites/tax/files/documents/DR0617_2023.pdf). They even referenced the code section gokcabaga cited at the bottom of page 2 of the instructions.

The "income tax topic" sheet still hasn't been updated to clarify that. $2,000 is what I'll be claiming on mine when I get around to actually doing my taxes. Too busy doing others right now, lol.



Not a tax professional but looking at the statutes referenced by the Innovative Truck Credit tax publication, I think privately owned GVWR>8500 like the typical R1T and R1S are due $2000 in 2023, not $2800. C.R.S. 39-22-516.8(1)(x) says a “Light-duty electric truck ... does not include a light-duty passenger motor vehicle", then C.R.S. 39-22-516.8(1)(y) says a "Light-duty passenger motor vehicle means a private passenger motor vehicle ... capable of seating twelve passengers or less;  except [stuff irrelevant to Rivians]."

R1S and R1T can both fit in that last definition, the key word being private, i.e. non-commercial.

Anyway the statute and the tax publication both say $2000 in 2023 for "Light-Duty Passenger Motor Vehicles (greater than 8,500 lbs. GVWR)".

Maybe a Rivian licensed for commercial/business use could get $2800 this year under the credit for "Light Duty Electric Trucks (8,500 – 10,000 lbs. GVWR)"
 
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Sculpix

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Starting 2024 you can transfer the CO credit to Rivian, instead of waiting to file your tax return.
Now that we're in 2024, has anyone in CO successfully done this? I plan to ask next time I'm able to reach one of the guides and I'll update the thread if there's any info
 

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I tried, they were not set up for it at the time I made my purchase..
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