Form 8911

Department of the Treasury 

Internal Revenue Service

Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit

▶ Attach to your tax return.

OMB No. 1545-1981

2011

Attachment 

Sequence No. 151

Name(s) shown on return Identifying number

Part I Total Cost of Refueling Property

1 Total cost of qualified alternative fuel vehicle refueling property placed in service during the tax year 

(see What's New in the instructions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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 Multiply line 4 by 30% (.30) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

6 Maximum business/investment use part of credit (see instructions) . . . . . . . . . 6

7 Enter the smaller of line 5 or line 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

8 Alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit from partnerships and S corporations . . . 8

9 Business/investment use part of credit. Add lines 7 and 8. Partnerships and S corporations,

report this amount on Schedule K. All others, report this amount on Form 3800, line 1s . . . 9

Part III Credit for Personal Use Part of Refueling Property

10 Subtract line 2 from line 1. If zero, stop here; do not file this form unless you are claiming a 

credit on line 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

11 Multiply line 10 by 30% (.30) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

12 Maximum personal use part of credit (see instructions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

13 Enter the smaller of line 11 or line 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

14 Regular tax before credits:

• Individuals. Enter the amount from Form 1040, line 44 (or Form 1040NR, line 42).

• Other filers. Enter the regular tax before credits from your return. } . . . . 14

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

a Foreign tax credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15a

b Personal credits from Form 1040 or 1040NR (see instructions) . 15b

c Non-business qualified electric vehicle credit from Form 8834, line 30 15c

d Add lines 15a through 15c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15d

16 Net regular tax. Subtract line 15d from line 14. If zero or less, stop here; do not file this form

unless you are claiming a credit on line 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

17 Tentative minimum tax (see instructions):

• Individuals. Enter the amount from Form 6251, line 33.

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

form or schedule. } . . . 17 

18 Subtract line 17 from line 16. If zero or less, stop here; do not file this form unless you are 

claiming a credit on line 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 

19 Personal use part of credit. Enter the smaller of line 13 or line 18 here and on Form 

1040, line 53; Form 1040NR, line 50; or the appropriate line of your return. If line 18 is smaller 

than line 13, see instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 

For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see instructions. Cat. No. 37721Q Form 8911 (2011)
Form 8911 (2011) Page 2

General Instructions

Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code.

What's New

The alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit is scheduled 

to expire for non-hydrogen refueling property placed in service 

after 2011. Do not report this property on Form 8911 unless the 

credit is extended. See www.irs.gov/form8911 for the latest 

information about this credit.

The 50% credit rate and higher credit limits expired for 

refueling property placed in service in tax years beginning after 

2010. The extra column used to reflect the higher rate on the 

2009 and 2010 Forms 8911 has been removed. 

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, other than partnerships or S corporations, 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 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 30% of the property’s cost or $30,000. 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 30% of the property’s cost or $1,000.

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 for either of the following. 

• To store or dispense an alternative fuel (defined below) other 

than electricity 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.

• To recharge an electric motor vehicle, but only if the 

recharging property is located at the point where the vehicle is 

recharged. 

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 7 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 7 and 13 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 more 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 6

If you placed refueling property with business/investment use in 

service at just one location, enter $30,000.

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 $30,000 if property from that location was reported 

separately on line 5, enter the amount from line 5 on both line 6 

and line 7. 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 $30,000 if property from that location was reported 

separately on line 5, add the separate amounts for each 

location, but do not include in the total more than $30,000 for 

any single location.

Line 12

Generally, enter $1,000. 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 $2,000. 

Line 15b

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

52 (or Form 1040NR, lines 46 through 49); Form 8396, line 9; 

Form 8859, line 9; Form 8834, line 23; Form 8910, line 22; Form 

8936, line 15; and Schedule R, line 22. 

Line 17

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 17.
Form 8911 (2011) Page 3

Line 19

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., 3 min.

Preparing 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.