Car dealer failed to file 15400 form for used clean vehicle tax credit and are now refusing to file it late, insisting it's only for new vehicles. Is this true?
Back in September, just before the clean vehicle tax credit was eliminated by the Big Beautiful Bill, I bought a used, 2022 Volkswagen ID.4. This car qualifies for the $4000 used vehicle credit. When I was at the dealer at the time of purchase, I was assured repeatedly by both the sales person and finance manager that they participated in the clean vehicle tax credit program, that they had done this all before, and that they would assist me when it came time to file my taxes.
Well it's tax season now and I have come to find out they never registered the car on the IRS Eco portal or filed a 15400 form. I tried filling myself on FreetaxUSA, but was rejected twice due to mismatched VIN and SS#. When I called the dealer to ask them about this, they were extremely rude and insisted that the 15400 form and the Eco portal are only required for new, not pre-owned vehicles. I tried explaining to them that, as far as I am aware, this is not true. They doubled down and told me I had to talk to a "qualified tax professional."
So I did. I made an appointment this afternoon with H&R block, paid $350 for them to file my taxes, just for my return to be rejected again and told that the dealer needs to submit a 15400 on the Eco portal.
Am I screwed? the IRS reject code H&R block has given me is SA-f8936-030-01. The people at H&R block were very nice and supportive, but they clearly have not had to process this tax credit before and were all kind of clueless. As far as they could tell, I was right, but they seemed to mostly be relying on Google AI for answers. Is there any work around for this? Do I file for an extension, or file without the credit and amend my return later? I will be calling the dealer again tomorrow and telling them that H&R Block came to the same conclusion as me.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.