Alt Fuel Tax Credits Will Save Millions
In last month’s Alt Fuels, we announced that alternative fuel tax credits have been extended. This is great news for every school district operating propane school buses. Let’s take a quick look at what this legislation means overall and especially how much money our propane buses operators could save.
At the end of last year, Congress passed H.R. 1865, which provides the propane industry with prospective tax certainty as well as valuable research and development funding.
H.R. 1865 includes an extension of the alternative fuel tax credit and the fueling property credit, covering the years 2018 through 2020. The credits incentivize the use and adoption of propane as an engine fuel, putting more clean vehicles on the road and money back in the pockets of consumers.
Propane credits are covered at 36 cents per U.S. gallon. There’s an energy adjustment calculation for propane behind this, so ignore where you see other reimbursement amounts.
For the alternative fuel infrastructure portion, the fueling equipment for propane is eligible for a tax credit of up to 30 percent of the cost, not to exceed $30,000 per property installation.
Just how much are we talking about here? With the 36 cents per propane gallon credit at an average of 4,000 gallons per year for all 15,000 Blue Bird Vision Propane buses on the road, that’s almost $65 million in just three years!
This is money that school districts can put back into the classrooms — or toward purchasing more propane buses. Make sure that your customers take advantage of this credit because the savings will add up nicely.
If you or your customers have any questions about the specifics of the alternative fuel excise tax credit, please refer them to the Alternative Fuels Data Center or the IRS.
