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Form 8936 Part I Lines 1 to 5: Modified AGI (2025 Return)

Updated October 18, 2026. Quick answer: Part I builds your modified AGI twice. Lines 1a to 2 do it for 2025, starting from line 11a of your 2025 return, and lines 3a to 4 do it for 2024, starting from line 11 of your 2024 return. Line 5 is your 2024 filing status. Both years’ totals are read against the limit chart printed on the form.

What lines 1 to 5 ask for

Part I is headed “Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) Amount”. Line 1a reads “Enter the amount from line 11a of your 2025 Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR.” Line 3a is the same step for the year before: “Enter the amount from line 11 of your 2024 Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR.” The instructions put it in one sentence: “Enter your modified AGI for the current and prior tax year.” This page is part of the Form 8936 walk-through.

Where the number comes from

Lines 1a and 3a copy your adjusted gross income from the return for each year. Adjusted gross income on the current return is explained at Form 1040 lines 9, 10 and 11. Lines 1b to 1e and 3b to 3e then add back certain excluded amounts. The captions are “Enter any income from Puerto Rico you excluded”, “Enter any amount from Form 2555, line 45”, and “Enter any amount from Form 4563, line 15”. Line 1d does the same for Form 2555, line 50. The instructions have no separate paragraph for lines 1b to 1e or 3b to 3e, so the form’s own captions are the guide.

Lines 2, 4 and 5

Line 2 says “Add lines 1a through 1e” and line 4 says “Add lines 3a through 3e”. Line 5 says “Enter your 2024 filing status (S, MFS, etc., see chart below)”. The chart is a table printed on the form with limits for each filing status, so read it there. The instructions state the limit for a new clean vehicle in running prose: “Your modified adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2024 or 2025 is not more than $150,000 ($300,000 if married filing jointly or a qualifying surviving spouse; $225,000 if head of household).” For a previously owned vehicle they say “Your modified adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2024 or 2025 is not more than $75,000 ($150,000 if married filing jointly or a qualifying surviving spouse; $112,500 if head of household).” Both sentences end by sending you to this Part: “Use Part I of Form 8936 to figure your modified AGI.”

If your filing status changed

The instructions give a special rule: “If your filing status changes between the preceding year and the current year, you may claim the new clean vehicle credit and previously owned clean vehicle credit if your modified AGI is less than or equal to the threshold applicable to” “your filing status for the preceding year or current year.” That is why line 5 asks for the 2024 status.

Estates and trusts

Lines 1a and 3a carry the caption “Estates and trusts, Form 1041, see instructions”. The instructions say “Enter $150,001 for any year the estate or nongrantor trust was not in existence.” They add “Otherwise, enter the amount from line 17 of Form 1041.”

Where it goes next

Part I does not carry a credit to your return. The lines hold the income figures that the credit parts rely on: the instructions send you to Part I from the new vehicle and previously owned vehicle conditions quoted above. The credit lines themselves are on the Part III, lines 9 to 13 and Part IV, lines 14 to 18 pages.

Edition and line numbers

This page reads the 2025 Form 8936, Clean Vehicle Credits and its 2025 instructions, the current files irs.gov served on 2026-10-18. They are the files for the tax year 2025 return, filed in 2026. The form’s own header says “Attach to your tax return.” Check the tax year printed on the form you are filling in and use the line numbers on that year’s form, because a different year’s form can number or word its lines differently.

Common mistakes

  • Using the wrong year’s return for a line. Line 1a asks for “line 11a of your 2025 Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR” and line 3a asks for “line 11 of your 2024 Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR”.
  • Leaving out an excluded amount. Line 1b asks you to “Enter any income from Puerto Rico you excluded” and lines 1c to 1e cover Form 2555 and Form 4563.
  • Entering zero for an estate or trust that did not exist the year before. The instructions say “Enter $150,001 for any year the estate or nongrantor trust was not in existence.”

Related: Form 8936, Form 1040 lines 9, 10 and 11, Schedule 3 lines 6f to 6k, and Form 1040 line by line.

Sources

Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 18, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.

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