Kelly and I were concerned that the current shenanigans in the North Carolina General Assembly might put the kibosh on our claiming tax credits for our impending solar PV installation. Southern Energy suggested we reach out to Randy Lucas of Lucas Tax and Energy for his take.
Randy responded with this:
I can say as a licensed CPA with 20 years of tax experience, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the NC Sustainable Energy Association, despite the current activities in the NCGA, it is highly unlikely that any potential changes to the NC renewable energy investment tax credit would have any impact on any activity/transactions made by NC -based taxpayers in calendar year 2013. It would be unprecedented for the tax laws to change within the active tax year and would cause an administrative catastrophe for the NC Dept of Revenue to carryout the tax law change mid-year. That said, if you are making a purchase of renewable energy property in 2013, and have plans/intent to complete the install in 2013, you should be safe to claim both the Federal (30%) and North Carolina (35%) investment tax credits on your 2013 income tax return.
Further, should the drastic become reality, and the tax incentive is somehow repealed in, for example 2014, from all indications, you are still eligible to claim any carryforwards of the 2013 investment tax credits, should the need arise after calculating your available and there is some type of excess credit available. Stated differently, if you maximize your 2013 tax credit (limited to 50% of your NC income tax liability), the law allows you to carry forward the tax credit to five future tax years.
While Randy isn’t our tax advisor and his response does not constitute professional advice, I am impressed with his knowledge of the solar tax incentives. I encourage any of you with renewable energy tax questions to give Randy a call.