Electric vehicle charging in a suburban Austin, Texas, garage. Texas in 2023 joined the growing ranks of states that collect a special registration fee from EV drivers. (Photo by Kay Bell) A federal fee of $250 a year for electric vehicle owners is part of the transportation component of the Republican budget reconciliation bill. The new revenue would supplement the Highway Trust Fund, which currently is primarily funded by traditional fuel excise taxes which are added to pump prices. The financial requirement would ensure that electric vehicles (EVs) “begin paying for their use of the highway system just like other... Read more →
Autos
Photo by cottonbro studio All of us with older cars, but not enough to buy a newer one right now, are watching Donald J. Trump's latest tariff move. What he sees at Liberation Day on April 3, could mean we drivers are stuck dealing with aging autos for a bit longer. Trump's convinced that his latest trade war volley, a 25 percent tariff on foreign-made vehicles and parts, will lead to a fundamental transformation of the U.S. economy. A lot of people, both economic experts and U.S. consumers agree, but not in the same positive reconfiguration that the 47th president... Read more →
Some roads, like this rural one in Central Texas, don't get much funding from the state. (Photo by Kay Bell) I know, spring just officially arrived last week. But temperatures already in the 80s here in Central Texas have me contemplating summer travel. Thinking back on my family’s summer road trips when I was child, also made me realize that my interest in the tax world was foretold back then. Every time we’d run into a travel delay due to road crews repairing and/or resurfacing our routes across the Lone Star State, my father would announce, “Your tax dollars at... Read more →
Getting to a doctor's appointment is challenging for many patients. But the travel costs could count as an itemized tax deduction. (Photo by RDNE Stock project) The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s increased standard deduction amounts moved me from an itemizing taxpayer to one who claims the standard deduction. Well, my improved health also helped. Even after the Republican tax reform bill took effect, for a couple of years I still had enough medical expenses — not to get too personal, but the serious medical scares included, even with insurance, some costly surgeries — to make tallying them on Schedule... Read more →
Photo by Pixabay The 2025 federal tax filing season officially starts Monday, Jan. 27. Millions of taxpayers already are working on their returns. Some have even completed them. Most of these folks are in a hurry to get their Form 1040 to the Internal Revenue Service because they are expecting a refund. Many also don’t have very complicated tax situations. Or they think they don’t. But something may have changed in their personal lives that could affect their filings, for better or worse. So before they — or you — hit send on their tax year 2024 filing, it’s a... Read more →
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay Even in those few years when Congress mercifully stays out of major messing with the Internal Revenue Code, we taxpayers still encounter some changes at return filing time. Here are some highlights of what you might find as you file your taxes this year. Standard deduction amount increased. Around 90 percent of taxpayers claim the standard deduction. The choice was always the favorite, in large part because it’s easy. The numbers are show directly on Form 1040. But the number of standard deduction claims increased when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 essentially... Read more →
If you're self-employed, use your car for work, and have taken your last business trip of 2024, go out to your vehicle and take a photo of the odometer. It could help when you file your tax return next year. (Photo by Fortune Vieyra on Unsplash) I grocery shop every Tuesday. That meant today’s weekly trip was to my local H-E-B was on the last day of 2024. It was the last time I’ll get in the car this year. So when I pulled into my garage after stocking up on necessities (milk, bread, produce) and other items (potato chips... Read more →
Photo by Tatyana Mazepova It’s the holiday season, so many of us have travel on our minds. That includes the Internal Revenue Service. AAA expects 2.5 million more people will be on the roads for the year-end holiday period, which is classifies as Saturday, Dec. 21 to Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. That comes to a total of 107 million people making a road trip of 50 miles or more, just shy of the record 108 million drivers in 2019. But Uncle Sam’s tax collector isn’t narrowly focused on who is hitting the highways over the next few days. The IRS,... Read more →
Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images I haven’t yet seen any of those holiday car commercials with big red bows atop the gifted vehicles. But is a good time to start thinking of new transportation, particularly if you’re considering an electric vehicle (EV). That’s because under the second Trump Administration, and with the support of a Republican-led House and Senate, the $7,500 EV tax credit soon could be history. Trump's tax credit aversion: While Donald J. Trump has vacillated between loving or hating electric vehicles, he’s more consistently been opposed to them, or at least the associated tax breaks. "Tax... Read more →
Election results, however, could change that. Here's how to claim the alternative fuel vehicle tax credit now, just in case things change after the Nov. 5 results. Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump has softened his stance on electric vehicles, likely because of his burgeoning personal relationship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But even though Trump says he’s now “totally for” EVs, he also says he would consider eliminating a $7,500 tax credit for some of the vehicles. “Tax credits and tax incentives are not generally a very good thing,” Trump told Reuters after a campaign event Monday, Aug. 19,... Read more →
For most U.S. families, summer vacation involves a road trip. Taking to the country’s highways is a chance to enjoy new landscapes, listen to (and sing along with) favorite playlists, and share time with the family. Road trips also mean stops for fuel, both for auto occupants and the vehicle. The good news for summer 2024 drivers is that the cost of gasoline isn’t that bad. AAA data show that the average price of gas as of mid-July is just more than $3.50 a gallon. That’s the same as the average price per gallon in 2023. Motorists in seven states,... Read more →
Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images Tax credits are better than deductions because credits provide a dollar-for-dollar reduction of tax you owe. But sometimes, getting a credit’s benefit in a real-life cash-flow situation is better than the financial results at tax filing time. That’s the case, for example, in making a major consumer purchase, like a car. And that’s why the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service last year issued guidance on the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act clean vehicle provisions to help buyers of qualifying energy-efficient autos get immediate use of the credit. Under the rules, eligible vehicle buyers... Read more →
The coming Memorial Day break is seen as the unofficial start of summer in the United States. It’s also usually been the start of higher summer gasoline prices. That’s not the case this year. So far. Pump prices rose nationwide this spring, but actually have fallen a tad recently. Today’s AAA national average of a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.598. That was up a smidge (0.008) from yesterday, May 20, but less than the $3.612 recorded a week ago. Record road trips: Will the lower gas prices hold? An expected record number of drivers hope so, at least until... Read more →
Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images If you're self-employed, use your car for work, and have taken your last business trip of 2023, go out to your vehicle and take a photo of the odometer. There's no Internal Revenue Service rule that you record your odometer's annual reading. But it's a good idea. A date-stamped smartphone image — either on the last day of the year, the first day of the next year, or, say some tax advisers, on both days — is a digital record that can help you determine how much you drove your vehicle for business. If... Read more →
Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images Electric vehicles (EVs) are supposed to be one way to cut fossil fuel emissions and help slow, if not stop, climate change. But the best laid plans often go awry when lawmakers get involved. A $7,500 EV tax credit was part of the climate-related tax provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act achieve change. But it came with limits, with the full amount applying only to EVs and plug-in hybrids assembled in North America. Then this week, the Treasury Department further tightened the EV credit rules. Now a certain percentage of the components and minerals... Read more →
Photo by Xingchen Yan on Unsplash If your work involves driving, the Internal Revenue Service has some good news for your 2024 business trips. Today, the tax agency announced that on Jan. 1, 2024, the standard optional mileage rate you can use to claim those eligible miles will go to 67 cents per mile. That's a 1.5 cent increase over the 2023 mileage rate. However, the other two mileage rates that the IRS evaluates and adjusts each year are going down. Travel for medical and, in the case of qualified active-duty members of the Armed Forces, moving purposes will be... Read more →
If you stopped at a Georgia gas station today to top off your tank, you might have encountered a line. Peach State motorists will see fuel prices increase tomorrow, Nov. 30, as the governor's emergency suspension of the state fuel excise taxes expires. So you couldn't blame them for trying to get one last bargain at the pump. Gov. Brian Kemp's decree, first issued in September and then extended in October through most of this month, saved drivers of gasoline-powered vehicles 31.2 cents per gallon. Drivers of auto that use diesel saved 35 cents per gallon. In addition to the... Read more →
One of the advantages of traveling by car is you can stop and enjoy the scenery. Just be sure to budget enough to cover your fuel costs, which could be higher due to state gasoline taxes. (Photo by Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images) The hubby and I are Thanksgiving outliers. Our holiday spread is good ol' Texas smoked brisket and sausage and all the sides instead of turkey and all those sides. We do, however, add a pumpkin pie to the banana pudding dessert menu. We also don't go anywhere on this holiday. One of the great homebody benefits... Read more →
If the owner of this Tesla I was behind a few years ago sells it, it could get the buyer a $4,000 used EV tax credit. (Photo by Kay Bell) This week brought a tale of two tax credits that were expanded as part of the Inflation Reduction Act for electric vehicles, usually referred to as EVs. Tesla fans got some good news. It appears that the electric automaker's used vehicle now qualifies for the $4,000 electric vehicle (EV) tax credit. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese EV manufacturer VinFast is working to get its autos on the list of new EVs that... Read more →
Danielle Scott via Flickr CC I'm exploring an auto insurance option that could my policy premiums. It's a discount for folks who don't drive very much. The trade-off is that I must install a travel tracker in my car. That same sort of tracking system is what a handful of states use to charge motorists by the distance they drive instead of by their fossil fuel usage. Oregon, Utah, and Virginia have implemented per-mileage vehicle taxes. Hawai'i is poised to be the fourth. And a national per-mile pilot program is planned, thanks to funding included in 2021's Infrastructure Investment and... Read more →