WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has reimbursed auto dealers for more than $580 million in advance point-of-sale consumer electric vehicle (EV) tax credit payments since Jan. 1, the Treasury said on Friday.
Prior to 2024, U.S. auto buyers could only take advantage of the new EV credit of up to $7,500 or the $4,000 used EV credit when they filed tax returns the following year.
The Internal Revenue Service has received approximately 100,000 time of sale EV reports this year and paid more than $580 million in advance payments to dealers
Starting Jan. 1, consumers can transfer the credits to a car dealer at the time of sale, effectively lowering the purchase price.
Treasury spokesperson Haris Talwar said “demand is high four months into implementation of this new provision.”
The Treasury issued guidelines in December aimed at weaning the U.S. EV supply chain away from China. The number of EV models qualifying for U.S. EV tax credits fell on Jan. 1 to 19 from 43 with some Tesla