2023 Solar Incentives Guide for Victoria, MN - Tax Credits & Rebates

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

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

Solar incentives help mitigate the cost of installing a solar panel system on your home. This category of financial incentives is in place to encourage more people to make the switch to renewable energy. Incentives might include things like discounts, cash back or monthly utility bill credits. Some incentives are offered federally, while others are handled by the Minnesota government or your specific utility company, county or municipality. You might qualify for any of the following types of solar incentives:

• Tax Credits: Tax credits decrease, dollar-for-dollar, the amount of income tax you owe the government. Tax credits differ from tax deductions.
• Tax Exemptions: Your solar panels may qualify for exemptions on both sales and property tax. Sales tax exemptions are applied at the time of purchase. Property tax exemptions allow you to ignore the value that solar panels add when calculating property taxes on your home.
• Rebates: Solar rebates may be provided by your local utility company, or by your state or county. These rebates work as cash back that is applied after you pay for solar panels and before tax credits are calculated.
• Net Metering: Make sure you talk to your Victoria utility company about signing a net metering agreement. This will allow you to get a credit towards your monthly utility bill for the value of excess energy generated by your solar panels. You could receive either a dollar-for-dollar credit or a percentage of the value.

Federal Solar Incentives

Federal incentives are the type of incentives that you are most likely to have heard of. A federal incentive that most people are likely to be familiar with is the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). This incentive is a tax credit for a given percentage of the cost of your solar system.

The ITC covers solar systems installed after January 1, 2006 and allows you to deduct from your taxes a percentage of the total cost of solar panels, accessories, labor and equipment. This credit can apply towards solar panels installed on a primary or secondary residence in the United States that you own. The original claim amount was 30% of the total cost, although depending on when the project was completed, your credit may range from 26-30%. There is no maximum claim amount.

To better understand how the ITC could apply to your situation, reach out to your local Victoria solar panel installation expert and ask for more information.

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in August 2022, made some changes to the ITC (as well as retitling it the Clean Energy Credit). The new Clean Energy Credit is valid until 2035. You can now apply for a 30% credit for solar systems installed between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2032. The credit will then see a slight annual decrease until its expiration. The expansion also makes credits for energy storage systems even easier to claim, beginning in 2023.

More information about the new Inflation Reduction Act can be found here. To better understand how the new Clean Energy Credit will apply to you, speak with your local Victoria solar installation company.

State & Local Solar Incentives

Not all solar incentives are federal; tax credits, rebates and more may be offered at the local or state level. The incentives — which may be given by the state of Minnesota, or by your county or municipality — might be offered on an ongoing basis, or for only a limited time.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Victoria

You can receive solar incentives from the federal government and the Minnesota government, as well as from your local utility company. Growing availability of solar initiatives in the past 15 years has helped greatly increase nationwide adoption of solar energy. It is a good idea to talk to your local Victoria solar installation company to learn more about these incentives and to ensure that you're getting the largest number possible for your solar system.