Rule delay makes big EV tax credit possible early next year

By HOPE YEN and TOM KRISHER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — People who want to buy an electric vehicle could get a bigger-than-expected tax credit come Jan. 1 because of a delay by the Treasury Department in drawing up rules for the tax breaks. The department says it won’t finish the rules that govern where battery minerals and parts have to be sourced until sometime in March. As a result, it appears that buyers of EVs assembled in North America with batteries made in the U.S., Canada or Mexico will be eligible for a full $7,500 tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act. That law calls for the batteries’ minerals and parts to also come from North America or a country with a U.S. free-trade agreement, but that provision is now on hold.