--- title: The EV Tax Credit Is Dead... or Is It? Here’s a New Loophole description: Ford and GM extend $7,500 EV tax credit on leases using IRS loophole, keeping electric vehicle deals alive through 2025. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 602 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!) Katherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. Katherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 14 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes published: '2025-10-03T12:30:44.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - News word_count: 657 canonical: https://money.com/ev-tax-credit-lease-loophole/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Mom and son plugging in their electric vehicle](https://img.money.com/2025/10/News-EV-Tax-Credit-Over.jpg) The last day to buy an electric vehicle and claim a now-expired $7,500 federal [tax credit](https://money.com/what-is-ev-tax-credit/) was Tuesday. However, several major automakers have announced that EV shoppers will be able to claim the credit on certain leases for a few more months through a new loophole. General Motors and Ford worked behind the scenes in the weeks leading up to the credit's expiration to cement tax credit eligibility for some of their EVs that were already on dealer lots or in transit. GM Financial and Ford Credit — the automakers' financing arms — made down payments on dealerships' EV models before the credit expired, according to company officials. Those down payments were enough to satisfy the tax credit requirements. In August, the IRS confirmed that it was not necessary for shoppers to take possession of their EVs before the Sept. 30 deadline. "You can demonstrate acquisition by entering into a binding written contract and making a payment on the vehicle on or before Sept. 30," the agency's [guidance read](https://www.irs.gov/clean-vehicle-tax-credits). Ford and GM realized they could satisfy IRS rules for the tax credit on EV leases by making that initial down payment themselves. In the case of EV leases, the tax credit goes to the dealer rather than the buyer. Through their new workaround, dealers can continue passing tax credit savings along to the consumer. "Ford is working to provide Ford electric vehicle shoppers with competitive lease payments on retail leases through Ford Credit until December 31," a Ford spokesperson told multiple outlets. ## How to still get the EV tax credit Ford expects to be able to offer this discount with EV leasing through the end of the year, according to multiple reports, while GM is confident it has enough inventory to last deep into the fourth quarter. "We worked with our GM dealers on an extended offer for customers to benefit from the tax credit for leases," GM said in a statement to [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/ford-gm-launch-programs-extend-use-7500-ev-lease-credit-2025-09-30/). Citing unnamed sources, the wire service reported that "Ford and GM devised their programs after discussions with officials at the Internal Revenue Service." The lease deal announcements come as the automakers reported record EV sales in the third quarter, with Ford [reporting](https://www.fromtheroad.ford.com/us/en/articles/2025/ford-third-quarter-us-sales-results) 30,612 U.S. EV sales and GM [announcing](https://news.gm.com/home.detail.html/Pages/news/us/en/2025/oct/1001-gmsales.html) 66,501 deliveries. Sales ticked up as shoppers pounced on what they thought was their last chance to get the credit. On Tuesday, Ford CEO Jim Farley said he expects EV sales to soon plummet with the elimination of the tax credit. As a share of all vehicle sales, EV market share could drop from about 10-12% last month down to roughly 5% when incentives are gone, he said during a [company event](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/30/ford-ceo-jim-farley-ev-incentives.html) in Detroit Tuesday. However, he told reporters that the move to extend access to the tax credit on select leases should help keep Ford's EVs affordable in the near term. "There's a period of time when we'll have to transition consumers out of the government's support," he said, according to the *[Detroit Free Press](https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2025/09/30/ford-electric-vehicle-tax-credits/86438300007/)*. "But as far as how long we do that, and how deep we do it, you know, we'll see." As of press time, it was unknown how much the companies spent on these down payments — or how many vehicles are involved. This week, EV-only automakers, including [Tesla](https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-hikes-lease-price-all-us-models-7500-ev-tax-credit-expires-website-shows-2025-10-01/) and [Rivian](https://electrek.co/2025/10/01/latest-rivian-lease-prices-federal-ev-tax-credit-ended/), also edited their lease prices as the credit expired. Tesla Model Y lease prices went up by between $50 and $70 per month (depending on the trim). With a $3,000 down payment and a $6,500 Tesla lease credit, the cost is now $529 per month for 36 months for the rear-wheel drive version and $599 per month for all-wheel drive. That range is up from $479 to $529 per month. Tesla also set a sales record in the third quarter, [reporting](https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-third-quarter-2025-production-deliveries-deployments) 497,099 global vehicle deliveries. ## Protect yourself and your car with Auto Insurance [Get a Free Quote](https://money.com/pr/hcdfd6986e86?ap_referrer=%2Fev-tax-credit-lease-loophole%2F&url=%2Fcar-insurance%2Flp%2Fcar-insurance-match-tool-pub-t1) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/ev-tax-credit-lease-loophole/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Auto Industry", "item": "https://money.com/auto-industry/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The EV Tax Credit Is Dead... or Is It? 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