Form 8936 for 2026: Who Can Still Claim the EV Tax Credit

The 2025 budget law ended three vehicle credits early: the new clean vehicle credit in section 30D, the previously owned clean vehicle credit in section 25E, and the commercial clean vehicle credit in section 45W. Each statute now ends the same way: no credit “with respect to any vehicle acquired after September 30, 2025.” That is why the IRS is still printing Form 8936 for 2026. A buyer who ordered a car in September 2025 and received it in 2026 places it in service in 2026 and claims the credit on that year’s return.

What “acquired” means

The draft instructions give the definition in one sentence: “a vehicle is ‘acquired’ as of the date a written binding contract is entered into and a payment has been made. A payment includes a nominal down payment or a vehicle trade-in.” The IRS gave the same rule in its frequently asked questions on the 2025 law, and added that the buyer “will be entitled to claim the credit when they place the vehicle in service (namely, when they take possession of the vehicle), even if the vehicle is placed in service after September 30, 2025.”

Two conditions, both by September 30, 2025:

• A written binding contract. A purchase agreement you signed. The IRS guidance does not address online reservations; in our reading, one you can cancel freely, without a purchase contract, is weaker evidence than a signed agreement. What matters is the document, not what the dealer called it.
• A payment. Any amount counts, including a nominal deposit or a trade-in handed over.

The tax year of the credit is the year you take possession. A contract signed in September 2025 for a truck delivered in March 2026 means the credit is claimed on the 2026 return, filed in 2027, using the 2026 Form 8936.

Three tests that can still cut the credit

1. The battery tests use the 2026 percentages

This is the trap for late deliveries. The new clean vehicle credit is two halves of $3,750: one for critical minerals, one for battery components. The draft instructions say the battery “must meet the critical mineral and battery component requirements in section 30D(e) for the calendar year the vehicle is placed in service.” Section 30D(e) sets those percentages by year:

So a model that earned the full $7,500 in 2025 may earn $3,750 or nothing when it is delivered in 2026, depending on what the manufacturer certified for that year. The battery also cannot contain components manufactured or assembled by a “foreign entity of concern.” The IRS points to the manufacturers’ reports at fueleconomy.gov; check the listing for your model and the placed-in-service date, not the date of the contract. The dealer’s time-of-sale report, which the dealer must give you, states the maximum credit for your specific vehicle.

The price caps apply to the vehicle itself: the manufacturer’s suggested retail price cannot exceed $55,000, or $80,000 for a van, SUV or pickup truck.

2. Modified AGI in 2025 or 2026

You pass the income test if your modified AGI was at or below the limit in either 2025 or 2026; you only need one year.

The two-year rule helps people with irregular income. A couple with $310,000 of modified AGI in 2025, above the $300,000 limit, still qualifies for a vehicle delivered in 2026 if their 2026 modified AGI is $280,000. There is also a rule for a change in filing status between the two years: you can use the threshold for your status in either year.

3. Unused credit is lost

The personal part of the credit is nonrefundable. The draft instructions say that if your tax is too low to use all of it, “the unused credit is lost. The unused personal portion of the credit cannot be carried back or forward to other tax years.” A household with $5,000 of income tax after other credits can use only $5,000 of a $7,500 credit. The exception is a credit transferred to the dealer at the time of sale: the dealer applies the full amount as a reduction of the price.

Transferring the credit at delivery

Transfer to the dealer still exists for these late deliveries, with conditions. The IRS frequently asked questions say:

• the Energy Credits Online portal closed to new dealer registrations on September 30, 2025, but remains open “for limited usage by previously registered users to submit time of sale reports,” so the dealer must have registered before that date;
• the transfer election is made at the time of sale, when you take possession, not when you sign the contract;
• you should receive the time-of-sale report “at the time they take possession or within three days.”

If you transfer the credit, you still file Form 8936 and Schedule A (Form 8936) for 2026. If your modified AGI ends up over the limit in both years, you must repay the amount transferred when you file.

Used vehicles

The previously owned clean vehicle credit is the lesser of $4,000 or 30 percent of the sale price. The price cannot exceed $25,000, the purchase must be from a dealer, and the model year must be at least two years earlier than the calendar year in which you acquire the vehicle. That last test uses the acquisition year, so a used EV acquired by September 30, 2025 needed a model year of 2023 or earlier, even if you took possession in 2026.

What to do before filing a 2026 return

1. Find the contract and proof of payment. Both need to be dated on or before September 30, 2025. Keep them with your tax records.
2. Get the time-of-sale report. Check the VIN, your taxpayer identification number and the maximum credit it states.
3. Check the battery certification for 2026. Your vehicle’s credit depends on what the manufacturer certified for vehicles placed in service in 2026.
4. Run the income test for both years. Use your 2025 return and your projected 2026 figure.
5. Reduce the vehicle’s basis by the credit, as the instructions require; it matters if you depreciate the vehicle. Any part of the credit for business use is a general business credit, reported through Form 3800.

The clean vehicle credit is not the only 2026 change involving a car. If the vehicle was financed and is new and U.S.-assembled, the interest may qualify for the car loan interest deduction on Schedule 1-A, reported to you on Form 1098-VLI. If you use it for a business, see the 2026 Schedule C changes. The residential energy credits for heat pumps and solar panels ended at the end of 2025; see Form 5695 for 2026.

Sources

• Internal Revenue Service — Draft Instructions for Form 8936 (2026), dated August 10, 2026: What’s New, Reminders (Clean vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025), New Clean Vehicle Credit, Previously Owned Clean Vehicle Credit, Part I, lines 13 and 18
• Internal Revenue Service — FAQs for modification of sections 25C, 25D, 25E, 30C, 30D, 45L, 45W and 179D under Public Law 119-21, questions 1 to 5
• Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School — 26 U.S.C. 30D, subsections (b), (e) and (h); 26 U.S.C. 25E
• U.S. Department of Energy and EPA — Fueleconomy.gov list of new clean vehicles reported by manufacturers