Can I still claim the 30% solar tax credit?

Not for a system placed in service after 31 December 2025. The residential credit under §25D is not available for property placed in service after that date. If your system was placed in service on or before it and you own the system, the credit may still apply and you would be the person claiming it.

What does "placed in service" mean?

Generally, when the system is installed and ready for use, not when you signed the contract, not when you paid, and not when the panels were delivered. For most homeowners the permission-to-operate letter or final inspection sign-off is the clearest available evidence of that date.

I signed in 2025 but it was installed in 2026. Which year counts?

2026, because placed in service is the test rather than the contract date. This catches a lot of people whose proposals were prepared before the cutoff and showed a net price after a 30% credit. If that describes you, check what your proposal assumed and compare gross prices instead.

Do I get the tax credit with a solar lease?

No. Under a lease or power purchase agreement a third party owns the equipment, and tax credits follow ownership. The owner may claim a different credit, often under §48E, but that is their credit and not yours. Whether any of that value reaches you through a lower payment is a commercial question you would have to negotiate.

Why does this tool not show my state’s incentives?

Because we do not maintain a fifty-state table and a stale one would cost you money. State and utility programs change frequently and vary within a state by utility. DSIRE is federally funded, maintained for exactly this purpose, and is the right place to search, by state first and then by your specific utility.

Is the federal credit refundable?

The residential credit was nonrefundable, meaning it offsets tax you owe rather than generating a payment. If your liability is small, the benefit can be much smaller than the headline percentage. This is one of several reasons to talk to a tax professional about your own return rather than relying on a general answer.

My proposal shows a price after a 30% credit. What should I do?

Compare gross prices instead, across every quote you have. A net price that depends on a credit you cannot claim is not a price. Ask the installer directly what placed-in-service date they assumed and on what basis, and get the answer in writing.

Are there other federal incentives?

For a homeowner who owns the system, §25D was the main one and it is closed for systems placed in service after 31 December 2025. §48E exists on the business side and is what a third-party owner of a leased system may claim. We cover both in detail rather than summarizing them here.

What about property tax on my system?

That is a separate mechanism from income tax credits and it is frequently overlooked. Many states exclude some or all of a solar system’s value from assessment, but the terms vary sharply, California’s exclusion expires on 1 January 2027 and North Carolina excludes 80% rather than 100%. Our verified state page has the detail.

Should I have rushed to install before the deadline?

That decision has passed for most people, and rushing a twenty-five-year installation to catch a tax date carries its own risks, a hurried roof assessment, a compressed design, an installer chosen on availability. The credit is worth real money and so is a system installed properly. We are not going to pretend the trade did not exist.

HyreSolar tools

Who claims the solar tax credit?

Your ownership type and the date the system is placed in service decide it. State and utility programs are listed at DSIRE.

Checked September 3, 2026. Data as of August 11, 2026. HyreSolar sells and installs nothing.

This solar incentive finder gives an estimate from your own numbers in under a minute, with every assumption listed under the result.

For a system bought with cash or a loan and placed in service in 2026, no federal homeowner credit exists: §25D ended for property placed in service after 31 December 2025. Under a lease or PPA the homeowner does not claim §25D.

The company that owns the system may claim a business credit, such as §48E, and that credit is not yours.

A purchased system placed in service by 31 December 2025 may still qualify. Check with a tax professional.

The question this tool answers is who can claim a federal solar credit, and it has changed. The Residential Clean Energy Credit under §25D paid 30% of the cost of a homeowner-owned system for years.

The IRS states it is not available for property placed in service after 31 December 2025, so for a cash or loan purchase installed now the federal homeowner credit is zero. Proposals and calculators written before the change may still show it.

Leases and power purchase agreements work differently. The leasing company owns the system and may claim a business credit, such as §48E, on its own taxes.

That credit is not yours, though it can lower the price the company offers you.

If a salesperson says you will get a tax credit on a leased system, ask which credit, who claims it, and get the answer in writing.

State, utility and local incentives are separate and still exist in many places: rebates, performance payments, property tax exemptions and sales tax exemptions.

They change often, so we do not publish a table that would go stale. DSIRE, run by NC State, is the national database of them; your utility’s website lists its own programs.

Once you know what applies, the payback calculator shows what it does to the numbers, and the form under the result sends your situation to an installer who works in your area.

Who claims it

Ownership and placed-in-service date decide the answer.

Example values The filled-in numbers are an example, not your home. Type over them with your own.

— Federal homeowner credit

— Who claims it

— State and utility programs

How this result was worked out

Working it out from the numbers above.

Not tax advice. Placed in service is the test, not the contract date.

HyreSolar does not prepare returns and does not sell systems.

The two questions that decide everything

First, who owns the system. Tax credits follow ownership. If you bought it with cash or a loan, you own it.

If you signed a lease or a power purchase agreement, a third party owns it and the equipment is on your roof under a contract.

That single fact determines whether any homeowner credit was ever available to you.

Second, when it was placed in service. Not when you signed, not when the panels arrived, and not when you paid.

Placed in service is the operative concept and for a residential system it generally means when it is installed and ready for use.

§25D is not available for property placed in service after 31 December 2025.

State and utility programs are a separate question and we do not ship a table for them. They change frequently, they vary by utility as well as by state, and a stale table is worse than no table.

The federal DSIRE database is the right place to look, and it is maintained by people whose job that is.

You own it, 2025 or earlier: The credit may still apply. Confirm the placed-in-service date and speak to a tax professional about your own liability.
You own it, 2026 onward: §25D is $0. Any proposal showing a 30% credit is showing you a number you cannot claim.
Lease or PPA, any year: Not your credit. A third-party owner may claim under a different provision, and whether that is reflected in your payment is a commercial question, not a tax one.

Where to find each number

Where each input comes from, so nothing is a guess.

1. Choose how the system is owned

Cash and loan both mean you own it. Lease and power purchase agreement both mean a third party does.

Where to find it: Your contract. If you are making monthly payments to a company that also owns the equipment, it is third-party ownership regardless of what the sales material called it.

2. Choose the placed-in-service year

The year the system was installed and ready for use, which is not necessarily the year you signed or paid.

Where to find it: Your permission-to-operate letter or final inspection sign-off is the best evidence most homeowners have. Our page on PTO covers what that document actually is and when it arrives.

3. Read the federal answer

It tells you whether a homeowner credit exists for that combination and who would claim it.

Where to find it: This is a general answer about how the provision works, not advice about your return. Your own tax position, including whether you have liability to offset, is a question for a professional.

4. Look up state and utility programs separately

We deliberately do not ship a fifty-state table, because a stale one would cost you money.

Where to find it: DSIRE, the federally funded database of state incentives, maintained by North Carolina State University. Search by your state and then by your specific utility, because utility programs are often the larger of the two.

5. Check property tax treatment as well

Separate from income tax credits and frequently overlooked. Many states exclude some or all of a system’s value from assessment.

Where to find it: Our property tax exemptions page covers what we verified, including that California’s exclusion expires on 1 January 2027 and that North Carolina excludes 80%, not 100%.

How the calculator works it out

1
Establish ownership
Cash and loan are ownership. Lease and PPA are third-party ownership.
2
Establish the placed-in-service year
When the system was installed and ready for use.
3
Apply the §25D cutoff
Not available for property placed in service after 31 December 2025.
4
Send state and utility questions to DSIRE
Because a fifty-state table we do not maintain would go stale and mislead you.

The formula, in full. If ownership is lease or PPA, the homeowner typically does not claim §25D; a third-party owner may claim a different credit, often §48E.

Otherwise, if placed in service on or before 31 December 2025, the owner is the person who would claim §25D. If placed in service after that date, §25D is $0.

A worked example, start to finish

A homeowner who signed a contract in November 2025, had the system installed in January 2026, and received permission to operate in February 2026, financed with a solar loan.

Step	Value
Ownership	Loan, homeowner owns
Contract signed	November 2025
Installed	January 2026
Permission to operate	February 2026
Placed in service	2026
Result	§25D is $0

The contract date does not save it. Placed in service is the operative test, and this system was placed in service in 2026. A proposal prepared in November 2025 showing a 30% credit would have been describing a benefit this homeowner cannot claim. If your timeline looks like this, check what your proposal assumed.

How the answer moves

How the answer changes. Every result is produced by the tool on this page.

Ownership	Placed in service	Federal answer	Who claims it
Cash	2026	§25D is $0	Nobody claims a homeowner credit
Loan	2026	§25D is $0	Nobody claims a homeowner credit
Cash	2025	May still qualify	The owner, if placed in service by 31 December 2025
Lease	2026	Homeowner typically does not claim §25D	A third-party owner, often under §48E
PPA	2026	Homeowner typically does not claim §25D	A third-party owner, often under §48E

The lease and PPA rows have been true for far longer than the 2026 cutoff. Third-party ownership has always meant the credit went to the owner, which is why a lease pitch that leans on "the tax credit" deserves a direct question about whose credit is being described.

What moves this number most

Ranked, largest first. A proposal can change any of these without saying anything untrue, so check these inputs first.

1. The placed-in-service date

The operative test, and not the same as the contract date, the payment date or the installation start. For most homeowners the permission-to-operate letter is the clearest evidence of when the system was ready for use.

2. Whether you own the system

Credits follow ownership. Under a lease or PPA the homeowner is not the owner, so a homeowner credit was never available regardless of dates.

3. Your own tax liability

A credit offsets tax you owe. This tool cannot see your return and does not know whether you have liability to offset, which is one of several reasons this is not tax advice.

4. State programs, which we do not tabulate

They change frequently and vary by utility as well as by state. DSIRE is maintained for exactly this purpose and a stale table on our site would be worse than sending you there.

5. Property tax treatment, which is a different mechanism

Not an income tax credit at all. Many states exclude some or all of a system’s assessed value, and the terms differ sharply. Ours is a verified state-by-state page rather than a guess.

6. What your proposal assumed

Many proposals prepared before the cutoff showed a net price after a 30% credit. If yours did and your system was placed in service in 2026, the net price on that document was never achievable.

Common mistakes with this calculation

Using the contract date instead of the placed-in-service date
The test is when the system was installed and ready for use. A November 2025 contract with a January 2026 installation is a 2026 system for this purpose.
Believing a lease gives you the tax credit
Under third-party ownership the credit goes to the owner, not to you. Whether the owner passes any of that value through in your payment is a commercial matter you would have to negotiate, not a tax outcome you can claim.
Accepting a proposal’s net price without checking the credit assumption
A proposal showing a price after 30% is showing a number that depends entirely on a credit that may not be available. Always compare gross prices.
Assuming a credit is a refund
A nonrefundable credit offsets tax you owe. If your liability is small, the benefit may be smaller than the headline percentage suggests. This is exactly the kind of question a tax professional exists for.
Forgetting state and utility programs entirely
The federal answer being zero does not mean there is nothing. Utility programs in particular can be substantial and are frequently the larger of the two. Search DSIRE by state and then by utility.
Confusing income tax credits with property tax treatment
They are different mechanisms with different rules. A state may offer nothing on income tax and still exclude the system’s value from your assessment, which is worth real money over time.

Embed this calculator

Free to use on any site, including news and installer pages. Paste this where you want the calculator to appear. Keep the credit line: it is the only condition.

<iframe src="https://hyresolar.com/tools/incentive-finder/#calc" title="Solar incentive finder by HyreSolar" width="100%" height="900" loading="lazy" style="border:0"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://hyresolar.com/tools/incentive-finder/">Solar incentive finder</a> by HyreSolar</p>

What this calculator leaves out

The result is a planning estimate. A real proposal accounts for these; this page does not.

Not tax advice.
It describes how the provisions work, not what you should put on your return.
Does not know your tax liability, and a nonrefundable credit is worth nothing without liability to offset.
Does not ship a fifty-state incentive table, deliberately.
Use DSIRE, which is maintained.
Covers the federal homeowner credit and points at the third-party provision.
It does not model business or commercial claims.
Does not cover property tax, sales tax or utility rebate treatment, which are separate mechanisms.

The research behind these numbers

What the §25D expiry changedThe full account of the residential credit ending, which dates matter and what "placed in service" means.Read the research §48E explainedThe provision a third-party owner may claim on a leased or PPA system, and why it is not your credit.Read the research Solar property tax exemptionsA different mechanism entirely. California’s exclusion expires 1 January 2027 and North Carolina excludes 80%, not 100%.Read the research Permission to operateThe document that best evidences when your system was placed in service, and how long it actually takes.Read the research What zero-down actually costsWhy proposals lean on the credit, and the CFPB finding on hidden fees.Read the research Solar sales regulation by stateWhich states require tax credit claims in a sales presentation to be disclosed or substantiated.Read the research

Questions this calculator answers

Can I still claim the 30% solar tax credit?: Not for a system placed in service after 31 December 2025. The residential credit under §25D is not available for property placed in service after that date.; If your system was placed in service on or before it and you own the system, the credit may still apply and you would be the person claiming it.
What does "placed in service" mean?: Generally, when the system is installed and ready for use, not when you signed the contract, not when you paid, and not when the panels were delivered. For most homeowners the permission-to-operate letter or final inspection sign-off is the clearest available evidence of that date.
I signed in 2025 but it was installed in 2026. Which year counts?: 2026, because placed in service is the test rather than the contract date. This catches a lot of people whose proposals were prepared before the cutoff and showed a net price after a 30% credit. If that describes you, check what your proposal assumed and compare gross prices instead.
Do I get the tax credit with a solar lease?: No. Under a lease or power purchase agreement a third party owns the equipment, and tax credits follow ownership.; The owner may claim a different credit, often under §48E, but that is their credit and not yours.; Whether any of that value reaches you through a lower payment is a commercial question you would have to negotiate.
Why does this tool not show my state’s incentives?: Because we do not maintain a fifty-state table and a stale one would cost you money. State and utility programs change frequently and vary within a state by utility. DSIRE is federally funded, maintained for exactly this purpose, and is the right place to search, by state first and then by your specific utility.
Is the federal credit refundable?: The residential credit was nonrefundable, meaning it offsets tax you owe rather than generating a payment. If your liability is small, the benefit can be much smaller than the headline percentage. This is one of several reasons to talk to a tax professional about your own return rather than relying on a general answer.
My proposal shows a price after a 30% credit. What should I do?: Compare gross prices instead, across every quote you have. A net price that depends on a credit you cannot claim is not a price. Ask the installer directly what placed-in-service date they assumed and on what basis, and get the answer in writing.
Are there other federal incentives?: For a homeowner who owns the system, §25D was the main one and it is closed for systems placed in service after 31 December 2025. §48E exists on the business side and is what a third-party owner of a leased system may claim. We cover both in detail rather than summarizing them here.
What about property tax on my system?: That is a separate mechanism from income tax credits and it is frequently overlooked. Many states exclude some or all of a solar system’s value from assessment, but the terms vary sharply, California’s exclusion expires on 1 January 2027 and North Carolina excludes 80% rather than 100%. Our verified state page has the detail.
Should I have rushed to install before the deadline?: That decision has passed for most people, and rushing a twenty-five-year installation to catch a tax date carries its own risks, a hurried roof assessment, a compressed design, an installer chosen on availability.; The credit is worth real money and so is a system installed properly. We are not going to pretend the trade did not exist.

Sources and methodology

Figures dated August 11, 2026. Last reviewed September 3, 2026 by the HyreSolar research desk, which writes and checks every tool on this site.

Residential Clean Energy Credit (§25D) (IRS, retrieved August 11, 2026). The primary source for the homeowner credit and the placed-in-service cutoff.
DSIRE, Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (NC Clean Energy Technology Center, retrieved August 11, 2026). Where to search state and utility programs. Maintained; our site does not duplicate it.
Clean Electricity Investment Credit (§48E) (IRS, retrieved August 11, 2026). The provision a third-party owner of a leased or PPA system may claim.

Related solar tools

Lease vs buy calculator Twenty-five years of lease payments against the cash or financed price.
Solar payback calculator Simple cash payback from system size, price per watt, rate and self-consumption.
Contract red-flag checker Counts the expensive clauses to ask about before you sign.

All 28 solar tools

Your real numbers come from a proposal drawn for your roof, your usage and your utility. Tell us about your home: a person reads it, and nothing goes to a solar company until you agree.

Get Solar Quotes How we check companies