Compute your 30% Residential Clean Energy Credit for solar, batteries, geothermal, etc.
Total tax credit
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Used this year
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Carried forward
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Your breakdown
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A dollar-for-dollar credit, not a deduction
The Residential Clean Energy Credit, codified in Section 25D of the tax code, is one of the most generous incentives a homeowner can claim. The key word is credit. A deduction shaves a slice off your taxable income; a credit cuts your tax bill dollar for dollar. At a 30% rate, a qualifying solar installation that costs $30,000 generates a $9,000 reduction in what you owe the IRS, claimed on Form 5695 and carried over to your Form 1040. There is no income cap. A household earning $50,000 and a household earning $500,000 both qualify for the same 30%, which is unusual among federal tax breaks.
What counts toward the 30%
The credit reaches well beyond panels. Qualifying costs include the solar photovoltaic system itself, labor for on-site installation, wiring and inverters, solar water heating, geothermal heat pumps, small wind turbines, and battery storage with a capacity of 3 kilowatt-hours or more. Battery storage was a major addition, and it matters because pairing a battery with panels lets you bank daytime generation for evening use. This calculator applies the flat 30% to your total installed cost, so bundling a battery into the same project simply enlarges the credit base.
When the credit outruns your tax bill
Here is the scenario that trips people up. The credit is non-refundable, meaning it can erase your tax liability down to zero but the IRS will not cut you a check for the excess. Picture a $30,000 install and a federal tax liability of only $5,000 this year. Your credit is $9,000. You use $5,000 against this year's tax, and the remaining $4,000 does not vanish, it carries forward to next year. Walk through the steps:
You eventually capture the full $9,000, just across two tax years. The chart shows the split between what offsets this year's bill and what waits for next year.
Timing, scheduled step-downs, and one caution
As this tool is configured, the credit holds at 30% through 2032, then steps down to 26% in 2033 and 22% in 2034 before expiring. Federal clean-energy law has shifted in recent years, so before you bank on a specific percentage for a future install date, confirm the current rule with the IRS or a tax professional, because the timeline for residential solar incentives has been a moving target. Two practical pointers regardless of the rate: the credit attaches to the year the system is placed in service, not the year you signed the contract or made a deposit, and you must own the system. A leased system or a power-purchase agreement means the leasing company, not you, claims the credit.
Homeowner questions
Does a roof replacement count toward the credit?
Generally no. A standard reroof is a structural repair, not an energy property, so it does not qualify. The narrow exception has historically been certain solar roofing tiles and shingles that generate electricity, where the energy-generating portion can count. Ordinary shingles installed underneath panels do not.
Can I claim the credit on a second home or a rental?
A vacation home you live in part-time can qualify for Section 25D, but a property you rent out to others does not, because the residential credit requires that you use the home yourself. Solar on a pure rental falls under a different set of business energy rules entirely.
One planning point that pairs naturally with this credit: a separate program lets you reduce the cost basis of the system before applying the percentage if you received an upfront rebate from a utility or state program, because a rebate is treated as a price reduction rather than income. A state tax credit, by contrast, generally does not reduce your federal credit base, so the two can stack. Run your own state's rules carefully, because a handful of states offer their own solar incentives that meaningfully change the all-in payback period. The federal credit on its own typically shortens a residential solar payback from roughly twelve years to eight or nine, and that math is what makes the incentive worth understanding before you sign an installation contract. This tool is built for the homeowner sizing a project and wanting to know how much of the sticker price the federal government will effectively cover, and how to handle the year the credit lands.