Publication 225 |
2000 Tax Year |
How To Claim a Credit or Refund
You may be able to claim a credit or refund of the excise tax on
fuels you use for nontaxable uses. The basic rules for claiming
credits and refunds (discussed later) are listed in Table
18-4.
Keep at your principal place of business all records needed to
enable the IRS to verify the amount you claimed. You do not have to
use any special form, but the records should establish the following
information.
- The total number of gallons bought and used during the
period covered by your claim.
- The dates of the purchases.
- The names and addresses of suppliers and amounts bought from
each during the period covered by your claim.
- The nontaxable use for which you used the fuel.
- The number of gallons used for each nontaxable use.
It is important that your records show separately the number of
gallons used for each nontaxable use that qualifies as a claim. For
more information about recordkeeping, see Publication 583,
Starting a Business and Keeping Records.
Taxpayer identification number.
To file a claim for credit or refund, you must have a
taxpayer identification number. See Taxpayer Identification
Number in chapter 2.
Filing date on holiday or weekend.
If the last day for filing your claim falls on a Saturday, Sunday,
or legal holiday, the due date is delayed until the next business day.
Credit or refund.
A credit is an amount that reduces the tax on your income tax
return when you file it at the end of the year. If you meet certain
requirements, you can claim a refund during the year instead of
waiting until you file your tax return.
Credit only.
You can claim the following taxes only as a credit.
- Tax on gasoline you used on a farm for farming
purposes.
- Tax on fuels you used for nontaxable uses if the total for
the tax year is less than $750.
- Tax on fuel you did not include in any claim for refund
previously filed for the tax year.
Claiming a Credit
You make a claim for a fuel tax credit on Form 4136
and attach it to your income tax
return. Do not claim a credit for any excise tax for which you have
filed a refund claim.
Table 18-4
How to claim a credit.
How you claim a credit depends on whether you are an individual,
partnership, corporation, S corporation, trust, or farmers'
cooperative association.
Individuals.
You claim the credit on line 64 of your 2000 Form 1040. Check box
b. If you would not otherwise have to file an income tax return, you
must do so to get a fuel tax credit. See the instructions for Form
1040.
Partnership.
A partnership cannot claim the credit on Form 1065, U.S.
Return of Partnership Income. The partnership must include on
line 25 of Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), Partner's Share of Income,
Credits, Deductions, etc. each partner's share of the number of
gallons of each fuel sold or used for a nontaxable use, the type of
use, and the applicable credit per gallon. Each partner claims the
credit on his or her income tax return for the partner's share of the
fuel used by the partnership.
An electing large partnership can claim the credit on line 27 of
Form 1065-B, U.S. Return of Income for Electing Large
Partnerships.
Corporation.
To claim the credit, a corporation uses either line 32g of Form
1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, or line 28g of
Form 1120-A, U.S. Corporation Short-Form Income Tax
Return.
S corporation.
To claim the credit, an S corporation uses line 23c of Form 1120S,
U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation.
Farmers' cooperative association.
If a cooperative must file Form 990-C, Farmers'
Cooperative Association Income Tax Return, it uses line 32g to
claim the credit.
Trust.
A trust required to file Form 1041, U.S. Income Tax Return for
Estates and Trusts, uses line 24g to claim the credit.
When to claim a credit.
You can claim a fuel tax credit on your income tax return for the
year you used the fuel.
Once you have filed a Form 4136, you cannot file an amended return
to show an increase in the number of gallons reported on a line of
that form. See the following discussion for when you can file a claim
on an amended return.
Fuel tax claim on amended return.
You may be able to make a fuel tax claim on an amended return for
the year you used the fuel. You can file an amended return to claim a
fuel tax credit only in the following situations.
- You did not claim any credit for fuel taxes on Form 4136 for
the tax year.
- Your credit is for gasohol blending, discussed in
Publication 378.
- Your credit is for a claim group, explained next, for which
you did not previously file a claim on Form 4136 for the tax
year.
Claims on Form 4136 (other than for gasohol blending, line 8) are
separated into seven claim groups. Once you file Form 4136
with a claim for a group, you cannot file an amended return with
another claim for that group. However, you can file an amended return
with a claim for another group.
The following table shows which claims are in each group. The
numbers in the second column refer to the line numbers on Form 4136.
The numbers in the third column are from the Type of Use Table
in the Form 4136 instructions.
Group |
Line No. |
Type of Use |
I |
1b, 1d-f, 2b |
1 |
II |
1a, 1d-f |
2 |
2a |
See line instructions |
III |
1c-f |
5, 7 |
IV |
1c-f, 2b |
3, 4, 9 |
V |
3c, 7 |
5, 7 |
VI |
3a-b, 4, 5, 6 |
See line instructions |
VII |
2b |
10 |
For each tax year, you can make only one claim for each group.
Example.
You file your income tax return and claim a fuel tax credit. Your
Form 4136 shows an amount on line 1b for use of gasoline on a farm for
farming purposes. This is a Group I claim. You cannot amend your
return to claim a credit for an amount on line 2b for use of aviation
gasoline on a farm for farming purposes (Type of Use 1), since that is
also a Group I claim. However, if you used aviation fuel on a farm for
farming purposes, you can amend your return to claim the credit for
that fuel tax because that would be a Group VI claim reported on line
4b (Type of Use 1).
Generally, if you are allowed to file an amended return, you must
file the amended return by the later of 3 years after the date you
filed your original return or within 2 years after you paid the tax. A
return filed early is considered filed on the due date.
Claiming a Refund
You make a claim for refund of the excise tax on fuel on Form
8849.
Do not claim a credit against your
income tax for any excise tax for which you filed a timely claim for
refund.
You can file a claim for refund for any quarter of your tax year
for which you can claim $750 or more. This amount is the excise tax
paid on all fuels used for a nontaxable use during that quarter or any
prior quarter (for which no other claim has been filed) during the tax
year.
If you cannot claim at least $750 at the end of a quarter, you
carry the amount over to the next quarter of your tax year to
determine if you can claim at least $750 for that quarter. If you
cannot claim at least $750 at the end of the fourth quarter of your
tax year, you must claim a credit on your income tax return using Form
4136. Only one claim can be filed for a quarter.
You cannot claim a refund for excise tax on gasoline used on a farm
for farming purposes. You must claim a credit on your income tax
return for the tax.
How to file a quarterly claim.
File the claim for refund by filling out Schedule 1 (Form 8849) and
attaching it to Form 8849. Send it to the address shown in the
instructions. If you file Form 720, you can use the Schedule C portion
of Form 720 for your refund claims. (See the Form 720 instructions.)
When to file a quarterly claim.
You must file a quarterly claim by the last day of the first
quarter following the last quarter included in the claim. If you do
not file a timely refund claim for the fourth quarter of your tax
year, you will have to claim a credit for that amount on your income
tax return, as discussed earlier.
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