Tax Credit for Propane Motor Fuel

Many retailers of propane motor fuel can claim a 50-cent-per-gallon tax credit. The credit is part of the federal highway bill, SAFETEA. The tax credit began October 1, 2006 and is effective through September 30, 2009. For many customers, this credit can be worth thousands of dollars per lift truck per year!

Under IRS rules, the entity that buys the propane fuel and loads the propane cylinders onto lift trucks is considered the alternative fueler and is eligible to file for the credit. Please note the propane fueled forklift must be associated with a trade or business, no personal activity can be claimed.

How do I claim the tax credit?

You must register with the IRS and be classified as an “Alternative Fueler.???

This is accomplished by completing and mailing IRS Form 637 entitled “Application for Registration for Certain Excise Tax Activities.???Obtain the form by downloading at WWW.IRS.GOV

If you already have either a Certificate of Registry or a Letter of Registration, you may be grandfathered in and would not have to register immediately

However, we recommend that you file Form 637 regardless of previous status as everyone must be registered as an “Alternative Fueler???by July 1, 2007 in order to take the credit.

File IRS Form 4136 at the end of the taxable year

Form 4136 allows you to claim a credit against your income tax liability

If your income tax liability is less than the credit, the IRS will send you a check for the difference

In other words, this is a refundable credit and is due to you even if you have no further federal tax liability

We encourage you to consult with your tax advisor for any questions you may have

You can find more details from the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) by visiting them at WWW.IRS.GOV .

You can also find additional information at the AFRED (Alternative Fuels Research & Education Division) website at http://www.propane.tx.gov/taxcredit/taxcredit.html

• Enhanced 2009 tax benefits
• Extra 50% bonus depreciation
• Reduced equipment lease rates
• Section 179 expense allowance has doubled

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Visit the California Air Resources Board website.

Although it is too soon to know whether the $789 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 will stimulate the U.S. economy to the extent hoped, the $51 billion in temporary tax cuts for business that are included in the package do offer tangible short-term benefits for companies making capital expenditures this year.

The tax cuts include a one-year, 50 percent bonus depreciation on capital expenditures. After applying the bonus depreciation to a new machinery purchase, business owner can then apply the standard first-year depreciation on the remaining property basis. For a company in a seven-year asset depreciation class, for example, a new machine costing $100,000 would be entitled to a total 2009 depreciation of $57,000 ($50,000 bonus depreciation, plus $7,000 standard depreciation).

The stimulus package also includes a provision that increases the Section 179 deduction from $128,000 to $250,000 for companies whose total 2009 equipment purchases don’t exceed $800,000. Combined with the 50% bonus depreciation and 14% standard depreciation, it would result in a $335,500 deduction on a $400,000 new equipment purchase in 2009.

Another of the ARRA’s tax provisions makes companies potentially eligible for tax refunds by extending the carryback period for an operating loss incurred in 2008 from two years to five years.

In addition to the temporary federal tax cuts for business, the ARRA also includes tax relief for individuals, expansion of unemployment benefits, social welfare provisions, and spending on education, energy, infrastructure, scientific research, and health care.

Visit TruckTruth often for periodic updates on the ARRA’s impact on business and the economy. In the meantime, you can find additional information at www.recovery.gov.

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  • Where can you find information on available funds?
  • Where is detailed information on your specific funding opportunity?
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• Registration Basics: what you need to register to apply for grants
• Application Basics: completing and tracking applications

In the meantime, contact your state energy office right away at www.APPAnet.org and register now at www.Grants.gov if you want to apply for funding directly from the federal government.

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• What does it mean to be “in compliance????
• How can I determine my “fleet average????
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Hyster Company representatives were joined by Mark Williams, CARB’s Off-Road Large Spark Ignition regulatory expert, to help answer these questions and more.

Click here to view and listen to a recorded version of this seminar

Also, use the links below to download a PDF version of our CARB/EPA Warranty statements.

California and EPA Emission Control Warranty Statement (2004)

California and EPA Emission Control Warranty Statement (2007-2009)

Biodiesel Emissions Studied in Forklifts

A Hyster forklift was part of one of the largest biodiesel studies funded by the US Department of Defense (DoD).

The DoD’s Environmental Security Technology Certification program funded the project, which was a joint effort between the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center , the University of California Riverside College of Engineering, the Center for Environmental Research and Technology, the US Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) and various military bases.

The goal of the study was to expand the database of emissions from military applications and provide a greater emphasis on emissions from biodiesel produced from vegetable oil sources (yellow grease).

The 10 vehicles and pieces of equipment tested included the Hyster forklift, two medium-duty trucks, two Humvees, a heavy-duty diesel truck, a bus, two stationary backup generators and an airport tow vehicle.

They were acquired from southern California military bases of the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Aberdeen , Maryland .

The 2001 Hyster 65 forklift with a 2.6L Perkins engine was tested with an on-road, CARB-certified ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD) fuel and a soy-based biodiesel obtained from World Energy (B20-Soy fuel).

For the forklift, the test run simulated forklift usage including idling, hydraulic usage while idling, and driving with and without hydraulic usage over a 3.6 mile (5.8km) test run.

The ATC used EPA’s real-time on-road vehicle emissions reporter to record NOx, HC, CO, CO2 and other vehicle-operating parameters for the forklift.

A 20% increase in CO emissions was found for the B20-Soy fuel and the differences for total hydrocarbons and NOx were small and likely within experimental variability, the study found.

The study was published in the Atmospheric Environment journal in September.

Source: Forkliftaction.com ( www.forkliftaction.com ), global industry centre online.

Remanufacturers have been “recycling” for more than 60 years. During World War II, the tremendous need to reuse automotive and truck parts gave birth to a whole new industry. Natural resources were scarce during wartime, and many of the resources we did have were going to the war effort to build planes, ships, tanks, etc. Remanufacturing met the demand for quality replacements.

The remanufacturing industry helps the environment in a number of different ways:

• Energy Conservation: Lift truck parts are kept out of the re-smelting process longer because of remanufacturing. As a result, millions of barrels of oil or comparable forms of energy are saved.
• Raw Material Conservation: Remanufacturing gives a product numerous lives instead of just one, thereby saving on raw materials. Remanufacturers annually save millions of tons of natural resources such as iron, aluminum, copper, etc.
• Landfill Space Conservation: Landfills are spared from the dumping of millions of tons of iron, aluminum, copper, etc., because of the monetary value the industry places on parts. This “core charge” ensures used parts are returned to be rebuilt.
• Air Pollution Reduction: Once again, keeping parts out of the re-smelting process benefits the environment by reducing the air pollution that is generated by re-smelting.

Studies performed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) concluded that:

• About 50% of the original component is recovered in the remanufacturing process. This can result in annual savings in the U.S. of 8.2 gallons of crude oil from steel manufacturing, 51,500 tons of iron ore, and 6,000 tons of copper and other metals.
• Rebuilt engines require 50% of the energy and 67% of the labor that is required to produce new engines.

Studies by the Fraunhofer Institute in Stuttgart, Germany demonstrated that:

• The yearly energy saved by remanufacturing worldwide equals the electricity generated by five nuclear power plants or 10,774,000 barrels of crude oil, which corresponds to a fleet of 233 oil tankers.
• The yearly raw materials saved by remanufacturing worldwide would fill 155,000 railroad cars, forming a train 1,100 miles long.

As people grow more and more concerned about the environment, we must seek public policies that will encourage even more remanufacturing. There are enough social and environmental benefits to justify remanufacturing. Also, imagine the benefits if products were originally manufactured with the sole purpose of being rebuilt and not thrown away.

The preceding article has been provided courtesy of American Industrial Transmission. American Industrial Transmission has been remanufacturing thousands of lift truck transmissions and converters since 1977.

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