(Nan’s Note: This is an email I received yesterday from a woman I met through the USGBC’s GreenBuilt Tour last spring, Gail Rubin. The timing is perfect, since tax season is just around the corner! )
As we prepare to enter the last month of 2009, you may find this information on how people can get the Solar Energy Tax Credit applied to this year’s state and federal taxes to be helpful. Please don’t hesitate to contact Ryan Helton at ECMD (his contact info is below) or me if I can be of assistance. Thanks for your consideration!
Gail Rubin
G/R/P/R on behalf of
Energy Conservation and Management Division
New Mexico Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department
505-265-7215
Gail_Rubin@comcast.net
As this year draws to a close, those who want to take advantage of federal and state tax credits for the installation of a solar energy system on their 2009 tax returns need to act soon.
Homeowners and businesses can get a 40% tax credit on the cost of installing a solar photovoltaic (PV) or solar thermal system. The federal government provides a tax credit for 30% of the cost, and the state of New Mexico adds another 10% tax credit on state taxes. To be eligible for the state tax credit, solar systems must be certified through an application process administered by the Energy Conservation and Management Division (ECMD).
Individuals need to install their solar energy systems using a professional installer by the end of this year to apply the tax credit to their 2009 tax returns. Both the federal and state tax credit will continue to be available through 2016.
The state has eliminated the annual deadline for applying for the 10% New Mexico tax credit. Those who install a solar system by the end of December 2009 and apply for system certification to ECMD soon after will have adequate time to get their tax filing paperwork done before Tax Day on April 15, 2010.
In addition, those who installed a solar system between 2006 and 2008 but did not submit the paperwork for the 30% state tax credit offered before the federal tax credit cap was removed can still obtain it and apply it to their current state taxes. If you are in this group, you can re-file state tax returns for the year the system was installed and obtain the 30% state tax credit.
For 2009, to date there have been 75 tax credit applications for PV systems and 51 applications for solar thermal systems. The state has allocated a total of $5 million a year in solar tax credit support, up to $3 million annually for photovoltaic tax credits and $2 million for solar thermal tax credits.
Hundreds of New Mexicans are taking advantage of the Solar Market Development Tax Credit. The 700th application since the program started came in this November. Over 1.2 megawatts of solar power production have come online since the program’s inception in 2006!
Homeowners need to work with their installers to help move the process along and make sure they get the necessary forms and attachments approved in time for the tax return deadline. By starting the paperwork on installations completed in December right away, homeowners should have all the approvals from ECMD by mid-March at the latest.
All forms are available at the ECMD web site, www.CleanEnergyNM.org. Click on the “Clean Energy Incentives” tab on the left side of the home page, then click on the Solar Market Development Tax Credit link. This page includes a checklist of information necessary to complete the application for this tax credit.
ECMD stands ready to help applicants complete the required forms to obtain the solar market development tax credit. For assistance, call Ryan Helton, Solar Program Manager, at 505-476-3318 or email Ryan.Helton@state.nm.us.
This email was reprinted in full with permission. Obviously, it is geared towards New Mexico. For infomration about tax incentives in your state, check out the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency.
Graphic courtesy Mona Makela
