Solar Tax Credit For Vans

What’s up everyone? Wes here with Tiny Watts. Today I want to tell you about the Federal 26% tax credit that can drastically reduce the net investment of your system so you can get a premium powered system and take your adventures off grid. Okay so quick disclaimer, I am not a CPA. I am an electrical engineer. So I always tell clients to talk to their CPA, have them look into this, but it is quite often that clients have to educate their CPA a little bit and tell them what to look for. So the tax form 5695, which is the residential energy tax credit and your van, truck, tiny home, you name it, counts as a second residence in the eyes of the IRS, which allows you to receive this tax credit off the entire cost of your system which is awesome because it drastically can reduce your net investment. So you can get a premium pre-wired system in your rig before the end of the year. 

So the way it works is at the end of the year you owe taxes, you have to pay taxes, and when you go to file you get tax form 5695. On that tax form you fill out the entire cost of the new system. So just for easy math, let’s say it was a $20,000 system. You're going to get 26% credit of that entire cost. So that's about five grand right. So that now reduces your net investment on your solar $5,000. And say you owed $10,000 in taxes, well that $5,000 credit applies to the 10,000 and now you only ow five. So you get to go off-grid with your premium powered system and you also get to save money. 

You might be saying, well I don't owe that much in taxes and that's fine, because the 26% credit on the entire cost of your system can roll over for 4 years. So say you only eat up, you know,  2,500 bucks of that this year, next year you can apply it to your income taxes and so on for the next four years.

Okay so one super important thing I need to point out - the tax credit is 26% for 2020. 2021 the tax credit is reduced to 22 percent and for 2022 and the tax credit is gone, unfortunately.

So now is definitely the time to go solar and get off grid. 

I just wanted to make this video to clarify a couple quick questions about federal tax credit because a lot of people don't believe it's real and I'm here to tell you that it is. And now's the time to take advantage of it. So take a look at our products page. You can check out our pre-wired kits, put together your system, whether it's the weekend or the full send, pick out your solar array and basically, add all that up, apply a 26% tax credit to it and that'll be your net investment.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. We’ll help you pick out the right kit and show you how the 26% tax credit can save you some money.


Solar Tax Credit Explained

We are not tax professionals and we recommend talking to your CPA about the 26% solar tax credit, Tax Form 5695. What we can tell you is that our clients have had no problem claiming this tax credit since the very beginning. We intend this information to be resourceful for you in helping you make the transition to solar and save money in the process!

The solar tax credit is a deduction off what you owe, so you'll need to owe federal income tax in the US for this to apply. However, it applies to the entire cost of your system and 26% can lead to some serious savings. Take a look at the example calculation below:

TOTAL SYSTEM COST: $20,000
26% SOLAR TAX CREDIT: $5,200
NET-INVESTMENT: $20,000 - $5,200 = $14,800

The $5,200 is deducted from the taxes that you were going to pay at the end of the year depending on your federal income, say you owed $10,000. The $5,200 would be reduced from the $10,000 so you would only owe $4,800 and the deduction would lower your net investment for your solar.

Taxes follow a paper trail and because you are purchasing your entire system from Tiny Watts Solar you will have an itemized sales receipt for your tax records. Here is a link to a CPA tax professional, Heather Ryan who is very familiar with the tax credit and the lifestyle of solar freedom!

Click the link below for the updated article discussing the recent extension to the solar tax credit. If you have further tax specific questions, I would reach out to Heather directly on her site.