The Federal Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit allows taxpayers to claim a credit of 30% of qualified expenditures for a system that serves a dwelling unit located in the United States that is owned and used as a residence by the taxpayer.
Expenditures with respect to the equipment are treated as made when the installation is completed. If the installation is at a new home, the “placed in service” date is the date of occupancy by the homeowner.
Expenditures include labor costs for on-site preparation, assembly or original system installation, and for piping or wiring to interconnect a system to the home. If the federal tax credit exceeds tax liability, the excess amount may be carried forward to the succeeding taxable year.
$300 rebate from Focus on Energy for residential solar projects in qualifying utility territories.
In Wisconsin, any value added by a synthetic gas energy system, solar-energy system, or a wind-energy system is exempt from general property taxes. The property tax exemption applies regardless of whether the equipment is deemed real property or personal property.
A solar-energy system is defined as “equipment which directly converts and then transfers or stores solar energy into usable forms of thermal or electrical energy, but does not include equipment or components that would be present as part of a conventional energy system or a system that operates without mechanical means.” Passive solar design elements do not qualify under these rules.
