- A $7,500 tax credit on the purchase or lease of a new electric vehicle (EV) ends at midnight, September 30
- The IRS will allow some buyers to claim it afterward if they have a binding contract to buy and have made a down payment by the deadline
The $7,500 tax rebate on the purchase or lease of a new electric vehicle (EV) will expire at midnight on Tuesday.
A measure in the so-called “big, beautiful bill” President Trump signed into law this summer will end the program when September closes.
The IRS has announced that it will allow car shoppers some flexibility regarding the rebate’s formal end. If you have signed a binding contract to buy and made a down payment, the agency says, you may be eligible to claim it even if you don’t take possession of your new car until after the deadline.
However, it pays to buy today if possible. CNBC reports, “The Internal Revenue Service has been slow in recent weeks to approve and pay federal tax credits for electric vehicles, according to auto dealers and industry analysts — creating confusion for car dealers and hindering EV sales less than a week before the tax break is slated to disappear.”
Getting the credit on a lease is easier than on a purchase.
Congress designed the credit to encourage automakers to move EV production and supply chains to the United States. For a car to qualify, automakers must build most of it in North America. Batteries must use certain critical minerals originating in the U.S. or its close trade partners. The car’s price must fall below specific price caps, and buyers must have incomes below income caps.
However, the IRS waives all those requirements for leased cars.
