News

Tax credits

Tax credits, unlike tax deductions, are deducted directly from the taxes you owe, rather than from your income — so they amount to a lot more than tax deductions.

• December 2010: Federal Tax Credit for Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Infrastructure extended through December 31, 2011. As a consumer, you can get a tax credit of 30%, up to $1,000, for an EV charging station.
• December 2010: Solar tax credit extended for one year *

* Note: Solar system purchases by condominium HOAs not eligible for 1603 Treasury Grant:

• Internal Revenue Code Section 25D provides a tax credit against income tax liability of 30% of the cost of a residential solar electric or solar hot water system placed in service before January 1, 2017.
• Section 25D(d)(6) discusses the rules for the residential tax credit when a condominium management association purchases a solar electric system. Each individual who owns a condo that is in the association is treated as having made a proportionate share of that expenditure for purposes of the tax credit. In other words, the tax credit is passed through to the individual condo owners for each of them to put on their individual tax returns.
• Condominium management associations that file tax returns on Form 1120-H have elected to be covered by Section 528 of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 528 of the Internal Revenue Code is one of the tax provisions found under Subchapter F Exempt Organizations.
• Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009 provides for the payment of a grant in lieu of the 30% tax credit. This provision, however, specifically excludes solar electric systems covered by Section 25D of the Internal Revenue Code.

PACE programs

PACE programs allow homeowners to finance solar and other energy-efficiency improvements through loans that are paid back as part of owners’ property taxes, making them tax-deductible and therefore more affordable. But in a condo development there are multiple owners, and they can’t all be forced to opt in to the program. Condo HOA boards are likely to find the situation too complicated legally; however, it would not be impossible to do. In 2010, most of the programs were put on hold indefinitely, although some municipalities continued to implement them. As of July 2011, though, it looks like they may be coming back:

• July 2011: PACE programs may be back on track! Finally, better news about these cost-saving programs.
• July 2010: GreenFinanceSF program on hold. This page contains useful information about the program, which is unfortunately on hold.
• January 2010: PACE programs on hold in 2010