Price
No IRS purchase-price or MSRP cap on the car loan interest deduction
Free VIN check · US assembly
Free VIN check — was it assembled in the US?
Paste the 17-character VIN. This reads NHTSA PlantCountry. It is a data check, not tax advice, and it does not decide whether any loan is deductible.
This page does not decide a return. AssemblyAlert never says a loan is deductible and never says a reader qualifies.
The IRS Working Families Tax Cuts deductions page and the individuals and workers page list these dollars limits for the car-loan interest deduction:
- Maximum annual deduction $10,000 of qualified interest
- MAGI phaseout over $100,000 ($200,000 joint)
They also list vehicle-type, GVWR under 14,000 pounds, US final assembly, original use, personal use, lien, and dates. They do not list a purchase-price or MSRP ceiling.
Topic no. 505 repeats the $10,000 interest cap and MAGI limitations. It does not add an MSRP test.
What it means for filers
Sticker price is not the IRS gate those pages describe. A cheap car can still fail assembly, original use, or MAGI. An expensive car is not automatically disqualified by MSRP on those IRS pages.
The interest cap can still bite: $10,000 of qualified interest is the annual line, then MAGI. See the $10,000 cap.
26 U.S.C. § 163 is the interest statute. Do not confuse a dealer “EV credit / MSRP cap” talking point with this deduction. Those are different rules.
Common misconceptions
- “Luxury cars are excluded by price.” Not on the IRS pages this site cites. Other gates can still fail.
- “Under $X MSRP means I qualify.” There is no such IRS purchase-price line on the Working Families Tax Cuts fact sheet or Topic 505.
- “The $10,000 cap is the car’s price.” It is a cap on interest, not on the vehicle.
How AssemblyAlert tools relate
The decode report states there is no IRS purchase-price / MSRP cap. The longer explainer is Is there an MSRP cap?. The interest estimator compares interest to $10,000, not sticker. Check assembly with the VIN checker.
Official citations
- IRS Working Families Tax Cuts — deductions
- IRS Working Families Tax Cuts — individuals and workers
- IRS Topic no. 505
- Schedule 1-A fact sheet
- Form 1040 Schedule 1-A (PDF)
- 26 U.S.C. § 163 (Cornell LII)
- NHTSA vPIC VIN Decoder
Not tax advice. Owned by Record of Sale, LLC.