[Equalizir]

We got solar installed on our house last summer and when the salesperson came to talk to us he kept mentioning this 13k tax credit. So we bought our solar system and financed it for 25 years. One of the biggest selling points was this tax credit. So our payment per month is $160.00. To keep that monthly payment we were told to take the 13k tax credit and pay down our loan. If we didnt pay down the loan with the tax credit then our payment would go up to $240.00 a month. So fast forward to this week and we go to our accountant to get our taxes done and because we don't pay enough taxes at the end of the year we don't qualify for the 13k tax credit. To be fair we would have still installed the solar its just it seems shady that they don't tell you this when you're talking to the salesman. They never bring this fact up. To me it's the same as lying really. I'm not posting this to bash solar or anything like that, Im just posting it as more for informational purposes. People should have all the information before making an important decision like going solar. So please don't attack the messenger. I hope this helps someone.

[timothyaw]

Thank you for sharing this.

[Pesnya]

You get tax credit 30%of final price on your federal income filling. If you do not own to federal gov, then there is no credit.
I jus5 my 7,200 credit on income tax, since I own almost 11,000.

[boatpi]

As noted above, it is 30%, but of course you need to have the amount of tax liability in order to obtain this credit. Same for EV vehicles.

[ochodedos]

If you don’t have a tax liability, you can get one easily by converting your IRA to a Roth IRA if you have one. Convert just enough to get to whatever tax liability you need.

[DAXhound]

Tax credit and refundable tax credit....two different things. You got robbed.

[Seguinite]

Originally Posted by DAXhound

Tax credit and refundable tax credit....two different things. You got robbed.

I've read probably 100 different places that the EV credits were 'refundable'... including (I thought), on the IRS website. But they're not.

[Equalizir]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I really just posted this so people thinking about getting solar would be more informed. We didn't get robbed because we are still paying a lot less than if we didn't have solar. I just think its very shady not explaining the whole aspect of the tax credit. I'm not a tax guy so I'm very ignorant to it. Of course now I understand haha.

[ochodedos]

Originally Posted by Seguinite

I've read probably 100 different places that the EV credits were 'refundable'... including (I thought), on the IRS website. But they're not.

Hence my suggestion above

[Threerun]

Originally Posted by Seguinite

I've read probably 100 different places that the EV credits were 'refundable'... including (I thought), on the IRS website. But they're not.

You can rollover the left over credit to future years tax liability. In our case it would work because we owe the feds every year.

I think it's 5 years to exhaust the credit.

I know it sucks because 4 or so years ago we installed solar on my primary house and we claimed the credit and got back 26% of the cost from the feds. And we did pay down a low interest state program loan. Now you can't do that. I plan to install some additional panels on my detached shop, so at least my annual Fed tax liability will be covered a few years (and we get more juice).