2023 Solar Incentives Guide for Littleton, MA - Tax Credits & Rebates

What Solar Tax Credits, Incentives, and Rebates are Available in Littleton?

Source: https://www.dsireusa.org/

Solar incentives are designed to encourage homeowners to make the switch to renewable energy by offering financial incentives meant to lower the burden of solar panel installation and use. You might be eligible for various kinds of incentives, such as discounts, cash back or monthly utility bill credits, depending on your situation. Some incentives come from your specific utility company, county or municipality, some from the Massachusetts government and others from the federal government. Some solar incentives you might qualify for are:

• Tax Exemptions: Your solar panel system could qualify for exemptions on both sales and property tax. Sales tax exemptions are applied at the time of purchase. Property tax exemptions let you exclude the value added by your solar panels when you are calculating property taxes on your house.
• Tax Credits: Tax credits are dollar-for-dollar reductions in the amount of income tax that you owe the federal government. (A tax credit is different from a tax deduction.)
• Rebates: Solar rebates can be provided by your county or state, or by your local utility company. These rebates work as cash back that is applied after you pay for solar panels and before tax credits are calculated.
• Net Metering: Net metering is an incentive you can get after your solar panels are up and running. If you've signed a net metering agreement with your Littleton utility company, it will subtract the value of the excess energy produced by your solar system from your utility bill each month. In some areas, this is a dollar-for-dollar credit, while in other places you might receive a refund equivalent to a percentage of the value.
• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): SRECs can be sold to your utility company (or other buyers) for money that typically becomes part of your taxable income. Typically, a certain (small) threshold of energy production must be met before your solar system can earn SRECs or other performance-based incentives. Incentives like these are normally handled by your state government.

Federal Solar Incentives

Federal incentives are the kind of incentives that you are most likely to have some knowledge of. It's likely that you've heard of the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit, or ITC. This incentive is a tax credit that reduces your taxes by a predetermined percentage of the money you spend on your solar system.

The ITC can be applied to solar systems installed after January 1, 2006 and under this program you can deduct from your taxes a percentage of the total cost of solar panels, labor, equipment and accessories. This credit can apply towards a solar panel system installed on a primary or secondary residence in the United States that you own. The original amount you could claim was 30% of the total cost, although the amount you can claim may range between 26-30%. There is no maximum claim amount.

Reaching out to your local Littleton solar panel installation expert is the best way to understand how the ITC could apply to you.

The ITC was both renewed and expanded by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022. It's also now called the Clean Energy Credit. For solar system installations that begin after January 1, 2022 and are completed by the end of 2032, homeowners can receive a credit for 30% of the total cost. The percentage will then decrease annually until the Clean Energy Credit ends in 2035. The program expansion also makes credits for energy storage systems even easier to claim, beginning in 2023.

Click here to learn more about the new Inflation Reduction Act. The easiest way to fully understand how the new Clean Energy Credit will apply to you is to get in touch with your local Littleton solar panel company.

State & Local Solar Incentives

Rebates, tax credits and more can be provided at multiple levels. On top of federal solar incentives, there are often state and local ones, too. These incentives might be distributed by the Massachusetts government, or by your county or municipality. Some are ongoing, while others are available for a limited time.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Littleton

You can apply for and receive solar incentives from the Massachusetts government and the federal government, as well as from your local utility company. The increased availability of solar initiatives in the past 15 years has helped increase nationwide solar energy use enormously. We suggest talking to your local Littleton solar installation company to learn more about these incentives and to make sure that you're getting the most money possible for your solar system.