Federal Incentives

The federal EV tax credit is gone. One federal break isn't.

Two federal programs that mattered to Rivian buyers expired eleven months apart, and a third one arrived that almost nobody is writing about in a Rivian context. Here is the honest accounting of what you can and cannot claim on a 2026 Rivian purchase.

9 min read · Last updated August 2026 · Written by Rick, verified R1S owner, Morrison, Colorado

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The Quick Answer

$7,500 Clean Vehicle Credit (30D): Expired September 30, 2025
Lease loophole (45W): Expired the same day
Used EV credit (25E): Expired the same day
Home charger credit (30C): Expired June 30, 2026
Auto loan interest deduction: Active through 2028 — up to $10,000/year, financed purchases only, income-limited
Section 179: Still available if you use the vehicle more than 50% for business
Bottom line for most buyers: No federal purchase credit exists. Your remaining federal option is a deduction, not a credit, and only if you finance and your income is under the threshold.

What expired, and exactly when

Conflating these dates is the single most common error in EV incentive coverage right now, including on sites that should know better. Three programs died on one date and a fourth died eight months later.

September 30, 2025 — the vehicle credits. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, terminated the Clean Vehicle Credit. Section 30D, the up-to-$7,500 consumer purchase credit, ended. Section 45W, the commercial credit that leasing companies captured and passed through as a capitalized cost reduction — the so-called lease loophole — ended on the same date. Section 25E, the $4,000 used clean vehicle credit, ended too.

There was no Rivian-specific carve-out in the final bill. Earlier drafts contained provisions that would have benefited certain domestic manufacturers, and none of them survived.

June 30, 2026 — the charger credit. Section 30C, the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit, covered 30% of home charger hardware and installation up to $1,000. It was originally extended through 2032 by the Inflation Reduction Act. OBBBA pulled that date forward to June 30, 2026. Equipment placed in service after that date receives nothing.

If your charger was installed and operational on or before June 30, 2026, the credit is still yours to claim on your 2026 return using IRS Form 8911. It was not clawed back — it simply stopped applying to new installations. Note that 30C also required your home to be in a qualifying census tract, which caught some people out even while the credit was alive.

The binding contract exception

There is one narrow path by which a 2026 delivery can still carry the $7,500 credit.

If you signed a binding purchase contract and made a payment — a deposit or a trade-in counts — on or before September 30, 2025, you may still claim the credit when you take delivery, even if delivery happens well into 2026. The seller must furnish a time-of-sale report and file it with the IRS.

This matters for a small number of Rivian buyers with long delivery windows on 2025 orders. If you think you are in this group, the two things to confirm are whether your paperwork constitutes a binding contract under the transition rule, and whether Rivian filed the time-of-sale report. Both are questions for your CPA, not for a website.

Everyone who ordered after September 30, 2025 gets nothing here, regardless of when the vehicle arrives.

The auto loan interest deduction

The same law that killed the EV credit created a new deduction, codified at IRC §163(h)(4). For tax years 2025 through 2028, you can deduct up to $10,000 per year of interest paid on a qualifying new vehicle loan. It is an above-the-line deduction, so you do not need to itemize to take it.

Rivian clears the hardest test. The vehicle must undergo final assembly in the United States, and every R1T, R1S, and R2 is built at Rivian's plant in Normal, Illinois.

The VIN shortcut is wrong for Rivian

A widely circulated rule of thumb says U.S.-assembled vehicles have a VIN beginning with 1, 4, or 5. Every Rivian VIN begins with 7 — 7PD for the R1S, 7FC for the R1T. A Rivian owner following that shortcut would wrongly conclude their vehicle does not qualify. It does. The authoritative check is the final assembly point printed on the vehicle information label, not the first character of the VIN.

Requirement	Detail
Vehicle condition	Must be new — original use begins with you. Used vehicles are excluded outright.
Final assembly	United States. Rivian: Normal, Illinois.
Vehicle class	Car, minivan, van, SUV, pickup, or motorcycle under 14,000 lbs GVWR. R1S and R1T qualify.
Use	Personal. Business, fleet, and commercial use generally excluded.
Loan origination	After December 31, 2024
Loan structure	First lien secured by the vehicle
Leases	Do not qualify
Cap	$10,000 per return per year — same cap for single and joint filers
Reporting	VIN reported each year you claim it. Lender issues Form 1098. Claimed on Schedule 1-A.

The income test is where most Rivian buyers fall out

The deduction phases out starting at $100,000 of modified adjusted gross income for single filers and $200,000 for joint filers. Above the threshold, the deduction is reduced by $200 for every $1,000 of excess MAGI. That means it is fully phased out at $150,000 single and $250,000 joint.

MAGI (single filer)	Maximum deduction
$100,000 or below	$10,000
$110,000	$8,000
$125,000	$5,000
$140,000	$2,000
$150,000 or above	$0

Joint filers: same structure, thresholds doubled to $200,000 and $250,000.

Be honest with yourself about this before factoring it into your purchase math. An $84,000 R1S is not typically bought by a household under $100,000 of MAGI. A meaningful share of Rivian buyers will get nothing from this deduction, and a guide that pretends otherwise is not doing you any favors.

The 0% APR trap

Here is the part that is genuinely counterintuitive, and it only bites people who do qualify on income.

The deduction applies to interest paid. A promotional 0% or 1.99% APR generates little or no interest, and therefore little or no deduction. If you are comfortably under the income threshold, a conventional loan at a higher rate that you can deduct is not automatically worse than a promotional rate you cannot.

Work the arithmetic on your actual numbers before assuming the lowest advertised rate wins. Compare total after-tax interest cost across both paths, not the headline rate. The gap is usually smaller than the rate difference suggests, and occasionally it flips.

Two things to hold steady while you run it: the deduction is capped at $10,000 of interest per year regardless of loan size, and it reduces taxable income rather than tax owed — so its value scales with your marginal rate, not dollar for dollar.

IRS regulations implementing this deduction are still in proposed form and may change before they are finalized. This is general information, not tax advice. Confirm with your CPA before relying on it.

If you use your Rivian for business

Section 179 was not touched by OBBBA's EV provisions and remains available. Rivian's own support documentation states that both the R1S and R1T meet the requirements, with a deduction of up to $30,500 for the tax year the vehicle is purchased and placed in service.

The threshold requirement is that the vehicle is used more than 50% for business purposes, and the deduction is proportional to business use. This is a genuinely different mechanism from anything above — it is a depreciation deduction on a business asset, not a consumer incentive — and it comes with recapture rules if business use drops below 50% in later years.

Note that business use also disqualifies you from the auto loan interest deduction, which is a personal-use provision. You are choosing between paths, not stacking them.

If you are a business owner considering a Rivian, this is worth a real conversation with your CPA rather than a website. Current-year limits change and the interaction with bonus depreciation is not something to guess at.

What's actually left, all together

For a Colorado buyer taking delivery of a 2027 R1S Premium in 2026:

Program	Amount	Status
Federal Clean Vehicle Credit (30D)	$0	Expired Sept 30, 2025
Federal lease credit (45W)	$0	Expired Sept 30, 2025
Federal home charger credit (30C)	$0	Expired June 30, 2026
Auto loan interest deduction	Varies	Active — financed, income-limited
Colorado state EV credit	$0	R1S MSRP exceeds the $80,000 cap
Xcel Energy charger rebate	$500–$1,300	Active
Costco Auto Program	$1,000–$5,000	Active
Rivian referral code (RICK4348389)	$100–$500 + 3 mo. charging	Active — by configuration, R1S/R1T

In 2025 this same buyer could have stacked $7,500 federal and $3,500 Colorado on top of everything else. The Costco discount is now doing the work that two tax credits used to do — which is why it is worth the extra step of routing your order through the program. See the Costco guide and the Colorado eligibility table.

Will the federal credit come back?

Unknown, and worth treating as unknown.

OBBBA eliminated the credit as part of a broad tax package, not as a standalone EV measure, which makes a clean reversal harder than a single vote. No concrete restoration proposal is pending as of this writing. If something does pass, there is no reason to expect it would carry the same amounts, eligibility rules, or MSRP caps as the old program.

Plan your purchase on current law. Buying now on the assumption that a credit returns and applies retroactively is a bet with no evidence behind it.

Frequently asked questions

Is the federal EV tax credit still available for a Rivian in 2026?

No. The federal Clean Vehicle Credit expired September 30, 2025 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025. Both the consumer credit under Section 30D and the commercial credit used by leasing companies under Section 45W ended on that date. The used EV credit under Section 25E ended then as well. No federal vehicle purchase credit is available for a new Rivian ordered in 2026.

I ordered before September 30, 2025 but haven't taken delivery. Do I still get it?

Possibly. If you signed a binding purchase contract and made a payment, including a deposit or trade-in, on or before September 30, 2025, you may still claim the credit when you take delivery. The seller must provide a time-of-sale report and file it with the IRS. Confirm both the binding contract status and the report filing with a tax professional before counting on it.

Is the lease loophole still available?

No. The Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit under Section 45W, which leasing companies captured and passed through as a lease cap cost reduction, expired September 30, 2025 alongside the consumer credit. Leasing a Rivian in 2026 carries no federal tax benefit, and leases are also excluded from the new auto loan interest deduction.

Is the federal home charger tax credit still available?

No. The Section 30C residential charger credit, worth 30 percent of hardware and installation up to $1,000, expired June 30, 2026. Installations placed in service after that date receive no federal credit. If your charger was installed and operational on or before June 30, 2026, you can still claim it on your 2026 return using IRS Form 8911. Xcel Energy rebates of $500 to $1,300 remain available to Colorado residents.

Can I deduct the interest on my Rivian loan?

Possibly. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created an above-the-line deduction of up to $10,000 per year on interest paid on qualifying new vehicle loans for tax years 2025 through 2028. Rivian vehicles are assembled in Normal, Illinois, so they meet the U.S. final assembly requirement. The loan must originate after December 31, 2024 and be a first lien secured by the vehicle, the vehicle must be new and for personal use, and leases do not qualify. The deduction phases out starting at $100,000 of modified adjusted gross income for single filers and $200,000 for joint filers, reduced by $200 for every $1,000 above the threshold.

Does a Rivian qualify for the auto loan interest deduction if my VIN starts with 7?

Yes. A common shortcut says U.S.-assembled vehicles have VINs starting with 1, 4, or 5, but that rule is incomplete. Every Rivian VIN starts with 7 — 7PD for the R1S and 7FC for the R1T — and every Rivian consumer vehicle is assembled in Normal, Illinois. The authoritative check is the final assembly point printed on the vehicle information label, not the first character of the VIN.

Does 0% APR financing affect the loan interest deduction?

Yes, significantly. The deduction applies to interest actually paid. A promotional 0% or low-rate APR generates little or no interest, and therefore little or no deduction. If your income is below the phase-out threshold, compare the total after-tax cost of a promotional rate against a conventional loan whose interest you can deduct. The lowest advertised rate is not automatically the cheapest outcome.

Can I claim Section 179 on a Rivian?

If you use the vehicle more than 50 percent for business purposes, yes. Rivian’s support documentation states that both the R1S and R1T meet the requirements for a Section 179 deduction of up to $30,500 in the tax year the vehicle is purchased and placed in service, proportional to business use. Recapture rules apply if business use later drops below 50 percent. Business use also disqualifies the vehicle from the personal-use auto loan interest deduction, so these are alternative paths rather than a stack.

What incentives can I still stack on a Rivian in 2026?

The Costco Auto Program discount of $1,000 to $5,000 off MSRP is the largest remaining incentive for most buyers and has no price cap. Colorado residents can add the $750 state credit, but only on vehicles at or below $80,000 MSRP, which excludes every R1S trim. Xcel Energy offers $500 to $1,300 in charger rebates. The Rivian referral code adds $100 to $500 in Rewards points depending on your configuration, plus 3 months of Adventure Network charging, on R1S and R1T orders. Income-qualified Colorado households may qualify for Vehicle Exchange Colorado.

Could the federal EV tax credit come back?

Unknown. The credit was eliminated as part of a broad tax package rather than a standalone measure, and no concrete restoration proposal is pending. If new legislation passes, there is no reason to expect it would carry the same amounts, eligibility rules, or caps as the previous program. Plan your purchase based on current law.

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