Relating to registration fees paid for certain electric vehicles, including by altering the amounts of the registration fees, creating a tax credit for registration fees paid, and exempting customers of an electric utility who have paid registration fees from certain user or franchise fees, and including applicability provisions

The tax credit is not refundable but can be credited to the tax liability for the following five years or until depleted, whichever is earlier. However, the tax credit cannot be carried back to a tax year prior to the tax year in which the taxpayer first receives the tax credit. The bill provides that the DOT controls the issuance of tax credit certificates to persons who pay registration fees for battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric motor vehicles and motorcycles. The tax credit certificate must contain the taxpayer’s name, address, tax identification number, amount of the credit, and any other information as required by the department of revenue (DOR). A person must include the tax credit certificate with the person’s tax return in order to claim the tax credit, which, unless rescinded by the DOT, must be accepted by the DOR as payment for taxes. The bill prohibits a person from transferring the tax credit certificate to any other person. The portions of the bill instituting the new tax credit apply to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2021. Lastly, the bill provides that a residential customer of an electric utility subject to rate regulation by the Iowa utilities board is exempt from paying any user fee or franchise fee on the first 282 kilowatt hours of electricity per month if the residential customer submits to the electric utility proof that the customer paid a registration fee for a battery electric motor vehicle, plug-in hybrid electric motor vehicle, or electric motorcycle within the previous one-year period.