2012 federal energy credit

[defed]

is the 30% credit still going for 2012?

this says it goes thru 2016:

http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=US37F&re=1&ee=1&printable=1

but a friend of mine said that his 'tax guy' said it wouldn't be available after 2011.  i tend to believe dsire...but for all i know, the funding could have run out/been cut early.

[Volvo farmer]

It might not be available next year, but congress would have to pass a bill repealing the measure and I do not believe they have done that.  There's a lifetime cap on the amount you can write off now, a couple years ago, there was no lifetime cap, I believe it was annual cap back in 09.

[defed]

i figured that if it was repealed, dsire would have updated info.

my understanding is that before 09, there was an annual cap, but after that, it says 'no maximum'...which to me, means annually or lifetime.  might need another inverter, so was wanted to try and find out if the credit was still going before filing time comes and there is no form.

[Volvo farmer]

I'm almost certain that there is now a lifetime cap. I tried to write off some new equipment in '11, but when I did the worksheet, I had already exceeded the lifetime limit.  I hit the limit back in '06, but then there was a year or two in there where there was no limit, and I was able to write off my wind turbine.

[defed]

i'll have to get the form out and see.  i do remember there being something capped, but if i recall, it was on the home improvement section, ie windows, insulation, etc, but didn't think it applied to the solar part.

[WindTurbineGuy]

Last time that I looked, 2011 was the last year for this. Too bad, the GOV is so out of touch.

[SteveCH]

I don't know why people keep coming up with this, that the credits are over. They go til Dec. 31, 2016. Yes, there are some caps, depending on what credit one is trying for [water heating, PV, Energy Star, etc.]

"Credit Details: 30% of the cost, up to $500 per .5 kW of power capacity" for PV, for example, copied from this site: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index

You need to peruse the site to figure out whether the credits apply to what you want to buy, install, claim, or otherwise, but it is straight forward.

If you end up with more credit than you can claim in tax refunds for the year in which you claim them, the remaining credit can be rolled over and claimed on the subsequent year's filing.

[defed]

that's exactly it....most everything i read says it goes until 2016, but then i hear it is done after 2011...just trying to find out if the funding got cut and i haven't heard about it.  dsire seems to be up to date, and still says 2016.

[Volvo farmer]

Here's the IRS form

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5695.pdf

I just glanced over the form. I might not have this right, but it appears if you have never applied for the credit before, there is no limit. However, because I applied before, I ran up against the $500 lifetime limit in line 2.

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Here's the IRS form

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5695.pdf

I just glanced over the form. I might not have this right, but it appears if you have never applied for the credit before, there is no limit. However, because I applied before, I ran up against the $500 lifetime limit in line 2.

If you go down to lines 9 through 11 you'll find the $500 limit again even if you didn't previously claim credits.

[defed]

maybe i've got it wrong, but part 1 ($500 limit) looks to me to be for energy improvements to the home ie windows, insulation, furnace, etc and is unrelated to part 2, where energy production devices come in.

the part (in part 1) where they ask for previous year claims refers to line 11, which is on part 1 of the previous year, nowhere does it ask how much you have claimed from part 2.  from my understanding, the only limit for a single year claim on part 2 is that you can't get back more than you paid in tax.  if your total federal tax paid for the year was $5000 and your solar credit was $8000, you can only get $5000 of it back that year and the rest has to carry over.

[Valalvax]

It has to be for other sorts of improvements, 500 dollars is... nothing when it comes to RE,