Form 8911

Department of the Treasury 

Internal Revenue Service

Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit

© Attach to your tax return.

OMB No. 1545-1981

2009

Attachment 

Sequence No. 151

Name(s) shown on return Identifying number

Part I Total Cost of Refueling Property

(a) Hydrogen Refueling 

Property

(b) Other Refueling

Property

1 Total cost of qualified alternative fuel vehicle refueling property placed in 

service during the tax year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 

Part II Credit for Business/Investment Use Part of Refueling Property

2 Business/investment use part (see instructions) . . . . . . . 2 

3 Section 179 expense deduction (see instructions) . . . . . . 3 

4 Subtract line 3 from line 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 

5 Applicable credit rate decimal amount . . . . . . . . . . 5 .30 .50

6 Multiply line 4 by the applicable decimal amount on line 5 . . . . 6

7 Maximum business/investment use part of credit (see instructions) . 7

8 Enter the smaller of line 6 or line 7. . . . . . . . . . . . 8

9 Add columns (a) and (b) on line 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

10 Alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit from partnerships and S corporations . . . 10

11 Business/investment use part of credit. Add lines 9 and 10. Partnerships and S corporations,

report this amount on Schedule K; all others, report this amount on Form 3800, line 1s . . . . . 11

Part III Credit for Personal Use Part of Refueling Property

12 Subtract line 2 from line 1. If zero, stop here; do not file this form 

unless you are claiming a credit on line 11 . . . . . . . . . 12 

13 Applicable credit rate decimal amount . . . . . . . . . . 13 .30 .50

14 Multiply line 12 by the applicable decimal amount on line 13 . . . 14

15 Maximum personal use part of credit (see instructions) . . . . . 15

16 Enter the smaller of line 14 or line 15 . . . . . . . . . . 16

17 Add columns (a) and (b) on line 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

18 Regular tax before credits:

● Individuals. Enter the amount from Form 1040, line 44 (or Form 1040NR, line 41)

● Other filers. Enter the regular tax before credits from your return . . . . % . . . . 18

19 Credits that reduce regular tax before the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit:

a Foreign tax credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19a

b Personal credits from Form 1040 or 1040NR (see instructions) . 19b

c Non-business qualified electric vehicle credit from Form 8834, line 29 19c

d Add lines 19a through 19c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19d

20 Net regular tax. Subtract line 19d from line 18. If zero or less, stop here; do not file this form

unless you are claiming a credit on line 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 

21 Tentative minimum tax (see instructions):

● Individuals. Enter the amount from Form 6251, line 34 . . . . . . . .

● Other filers. Enter the tentative minimum tax from your alternative minimum tax 

form or schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . % . . . 21

22 Subtract line 21 from line 20. If zero or less, stop here; do not file this form unless you are 

claiming a credit on line 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

23 Personal use part of credit. Enter the smaller of line 17 or line 22 here and on Form

1040, line 53; Form 1040NR, line 49; or the appropriate line of your return. If line 22 is smaller 

than line 17, see instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see instructions. Cat. No. 37721Q Form 8911 (2009)
Form 8911 (2009) Page 2

General Instructions

Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code.

What's New

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009 has temporarily 

increased the credit for alternative fuel refueling property for property placed 

in service in 2009 and 2010. See Amount of Credit below.

Purpose of Form

Use Form 8911 to figure your credit for alternative fuel vehicle refueling 

property you placed in service during your tax year. The credit attributable to 

depreciable property (refueling property used for business or investment 

purposes) is treated as a general business credit. Any credit not attributable 

to depreciable property is treated as a personal credit. For more details, see 

section 30C and Notice 2007-43. Notice 2007-43 is available at 

www.irs.gov/irb/2007-22_IRB/ar10.html.

Taxpayers that are not partnerships, S corporations, or cooperatives, and 

whose only source of this credit is from those pass-through entities, are not 

required to complete or file this form. Instead, they can report this credit 

directly on line 1s of Form 3800.

Amount of Credit

For property of a character subject to an allowance for depreciation 

(business/investment use property), the credit for all property placed in 

service at each location is generally the smaller of 50% (30% for hydrogen 

refueling property) of the property’s cost or $50,000 ($200,000 for hydrogen 

refueling property). For property of a character not subject to an allowance 

for depreciation placed in service at your main home (personal use property), 

the credit for all property placed in service at your main home is generally the 

smaller of 50% (30% for hydrogen refueling property) of the property’s cost 

or $2,000 ($1,000 for hydrogen refueling property).

Each property’s cost must first be reduced by any section 179 expense 

deduction taken for the property.

Qualified Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property

Qualified alternative fuel vehicle refueling property is any property (other than 

a building or its structural components) used to store or dispense an 

alternative fuel (defined below) into the fuel tank of a motor vehicle propelled 

by the fuel, but only if the storage or dispensing is at the point where the fuel 

is delivered into that tank.

In addition, the following requirements must be met to qualify for the credit.

● You placed the refueling property in service during your tax year.

● The original use of the property began with you.

● The property is not used predominantly outside the United States.

● If the property is not business/investment use property, the property must 

be installed on property used as your main home.

Exception. If you are the seller of new refueling property to a tax-exempt

organization, governmental unit, or a foreign person or entity, and the use of

that property is described in section 50(b)(3) or (4), you can claim the credit, 

but only if you clearly disclose in writing to the purchaser the amount of the

tentative credit allowable for the refueling property (included on line 8 of 

Form 8911). Treat all property eligible for this exception as 

business/investment use property.

Alternative fuel. The following are alternative fuels.

● Any fuel at least 85 percent of the volume of which consists of one or more 

of the following: ethanol, natural gas, compressed natural gas, liquefied 

natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, or hydrogen.

● Any mixture which consists of two or more of the following: biodiesel (as 

defined in section 40A(d)(1)), diesel fuel (as defined in section 4083(a)(3)), or 

kerosene, and at least 20% of the volume of which consists of biodiesel 

determined without regard to any kerosene in such mixture.

● Electricity.

Basis Reduction

Unless you elect not to take the credit, you must reduce the basis of the 

property by the sum of the amounts entered on lines 8 and 16 for that 

property.

Recapture

If the property no longer qualifies for the credit, you may have to recapture 

part or all of the credit. For details, see section 30C(e)(5).

Specific Instructions

Line 2

To figure the business/investment use part of the total cost, multiply the cost 

of each separate refueling property by the percentage of 

business/investment use for that property. If during the tax year you convert 

property used solely for personal purposes to business/investment use (or 

vice versa), figure the percentage of business/investment use only for the 

number of months you use the property in your business or for the 

production of income. Multiply that percentage by the number of months you 

use the property in your business or for the production of income and divide 

the result by 12.

Line 3

Enter any section 179 expense deduction you claimed for the property from 

Part I of Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization.

Line 7

If you placed refueling property with business/investment use in service at 

just one location, enter $50,000 ($200,000 for hydrogen refueling property).

If you placed refueling property with business/investment use in service at 

more than one location, but all property placed in service at any one location 

would result in an amount of not more than $50,000 ($200,000 for hydrogen 

refueling property) if property from that location was reported separately on 

line 6, enter the amount from line 6 on both line 7 and line 8. If you placed 

refueling property with business/investment use in service at more than one 

location, and property at at least one location would result in an amount of 

more than $50,000 ($200,000 for hydrogen refueling property) if property 

from that location was reported separately on line 6, add the separate 

amounts for each location, but do not include in the total more than $50,000 

($200,000 for hydrogen refueling property) for any single location.

Line 15

Generally, enter $2,000 ($1,000 for hydrogen refueling property). However, if 

the location of your main home changed during the tax year and you placed 

personal use refueling property in service at both locations during the tax 

year, enter $4,000 ($2,000 for hydrogen refueling property). 

Line 19b

Enter the total, if any, credits from Form 1040, lines 48 through 52 (or Form 

1040NR, lines 45 through 48); Form 8859, line 11; Form 8834, line 22; Form 

8910, line 21; Form 8936, line 14; and Schedule R, line 24. 

Line 21

Although you may not owe alternative minimum tax (AMT), you must still 

figure the tentative minimum tax (TMT) to figure your credit. Complete and 

attach the applicable AMT form or schedule and enter the TMT on line 21.

Line 23

If you cannot use part of the personal portion of the credit because of the tax 

liability limit, the unused credit is lost. The unused personal portion of the 

credit cannot be carried back or forward to other tax years.

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We ask for the information on this form 

to carry out the Internal Revenue laws of the United States. You are required 

to give us the information. We need it to ensure that you are complying with 

these laws and to allow us to figure and collect the right amount of tax.

You are not required to provide the information requested on a form that is 

subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act unless the form displays a valid 

OMB control number. Books or records relating to a form or its instructions 

must be retained as long as their contents may become material in the 

administration of any Internal Revenue law. Generally, tax returns and return 

information are confidential, as required by section 6103.

The time needed to complete and file this form will vary depending on 

individual circumstances. The estimated burden for individual taxpayers filing 

this form is approved under OMB control number 1545-0074 and is included 

in the estimates shown in the instructions for their individual income tax 

return. The estimated burden for all other taxpayers who file this form is 

shown below.

Recordkeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 hr., 51 min.

Learning about the 

law or the form . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 hr., 03 min.

Preparing, copying, assembling, 

and sending the form to the IRS . . . . . . . . 2 hr., 27 min.

If you have comments concerning the accuracy of these time estimates or 

suggestions for making this form simpler, we would be happy to hear from 

you. See the instructions for the tax return with which this form is filed.