So he said ‘get a new accountant’...

I talked to my accountant and they said the 30% tax credit is only for residential. My business would only get depreciation…

Great question. I didn’t truly know the answer from a ‘I read it myself’ kind of position, so I read further into the comments.

Of course, there were several answers that all basically said that yes, the benefits do in fact apply to businesses as well.

Some were actually pretty inflaming with ALL CAPS (you could just hear the feet stamping in cadence with the message) and some were more informative or supportive but one took the prize for me…

“100% get a new accountant.”

That’s pretty severe, I thought. To me, finding a new accountant suggests that this one is wrong in the extreme…

Not just the garden variety kind of thing where maybe they didnt fully read the new laws for that year and would catch up soon enough.

No, we’re talking about intentionally negligent levels of wrong…

So I started looking.

And it took me a while, too. Those sorts of things can be hard to find and pick out of all the mumbo-jumbo in the IRS or other Gov type websites.

At first, all I could find was language that talked about ‘residential’ and ‘home’.

Definitions for things like ‘main home’ that said:

“your main home is generally the home where you live most of the time. A temporary absence due to special circumstances, such as illness, education, business, military service, or vacation, won’t change your main home”

But nothing about a business tax credit…

So, doing what I do, I dug deeper- and found it.

DISCLAIMER!!! Be Fully Aware- I am not a professional tax person and cannot give ANY advice on taxes… Consult your very own tax advisor(s), and giggle at me if I am wrong (because I very well could be…)

Here’s what I found:

A webpage over on the official dot-gov website about ‘Federal Solar Tax Credits for Businesses”

https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/federal-solar-tax-credits-businesses

What I picked up from that page, more or less, is that indeed the tax credit does apply to businesses.

More-

There are basically two options for a business. They can choose either the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) or the Production Tax Credit (PTC) but generally not both.

Just to make sure we’re all on the same page:

The investment tax credit (ITC) is a tax credit that reduces the federal income tax liability for a percentage of the cost of a solar system that is installed during the tax year.

The production tax credit (PTC) is a per kilowatt-hour (kWh) tax credit for electricity generated by solar and other qualifying technologies for the first 10 years of a system’s operation. It reduces the federal income tax liability and is adjusted annually for inflation.

So, hmm…

Seems like maybe we do need a new accountant after all…

What say you?

If you’re looking into solar for your home and don’t want to have to scour the internet for answers to your questions -or- not sure what questions to ask in the first place, you might want to check out my upcoming Tucson Solar Insider Desk Guide for Buying Solar- click here to get notified when it is released copy.

Be Good!

Curtis