Residential Clean Energy Credit 2026
Current year
The Residential Clean Energy Credit is not available for 2026: it ended after 2025-12-31.
Not available for 2026. This provision ended after 2025-12-31, so there is no 2026 figure to publish.
You can’t claim residential clean energy credits for expenditures made after December 31, 2025.
Ended after 2025-12-31Source: 2025 Instructions for Form 5695 (IRS)Verified 2026-08-29
Compared with 2025
| Item | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credit rate | 30% | Discontinued | - |
| Fuel cell credit limit, per half kilowatt | $500 | Discontinued | - |
Who it applies to
Nobody, for expenditures made in 2026. Someone who paid for qualified solar electric, solar water heating, small wind energy, geothermal heat pump, battery storage or fuel cell property after December 31, 2025 cannot claim a residential clean energy credit for it. Two groups still have something to do. Anyone whose 2025 credit was larger than their 2025 tax liability carries the unused portion into 2026 on Form 5695, which the instructions provide for expressly. And anyone whose expenditure was made on or before December 31, 2025 claims it on the 2025 return under the 2025 rules, whatever year the paperwork is filed in.
What changed this year, and why
The credit ended. The 2025 Instructions for Form 5695 state that you can't claim residential clean energy credits for expenditures made after December 31, 2025, so there is no 2026 amount to publish and no rate for 2026 to apply. The 30% rate shown on this site for 2025 was the last one: it applied to property placed in service through 2025, and nothing replaces it for 2026. Form 5695 itself is still in use for 2026 in one respect, because it is where an unused residential clean energy credit from 2025 is carried into 2026.
Common questions
- Is there a residential clean energy credit for 2026?
- No. The 2025 Instructions for Form 5695 state that you can't claim residential clean energy credits for expenditures made after December 31, 2025. There is no credit rate, and no maximum, for 2026: the provision does not apply to the year at all.
- When did the residential clean energy credit end?
- It ended after December 31, 2025. Expenditures made on or before that day are claimable under the 2025 rules; expenditures made after it are not claimable at all.
- I am installing solar in 2026. Do I get anything?
- Not under this credit. The test the instructions state is when the expenditure was made, and an expenditure made after December 31, 2025 cannot be claimed. If your expenditure was made on or before that date, it belongs on your 2025 return even if the work finished later; read the instructions' rules on when costs are treated as paid before assuming either way.
- Can I still use an unused credit from 2025?
- Yes. Form 5695 is used to carry the unused portion of the residential clean energy credit to 2026, and the instructions say to file the form even when you cannot use any of the credit in the year you earned it, because that is how the carryforward is established.
- Why does this page show no figure?
- Because no document states one. This site publishes a number only when a government document states it in words that can be quoted and checked, and for 2026 what the document states is that the credit ended. A figure of zero would be an amount nobody published.
What happens when the credit is bigger than your tax
If the residential clean energy credit you calculate is larger than your tax liability for the year, you do not lose the excess. The credit is nonrefundable, meaning it cannot reduce your tax below zero, but any portion you cannot use because of that tax liability limit may be carried forward to the next tax year. For a credit claimed on your 2025 return, the unused amount is carried to 2026. You must still file Form 5695 for 2025 even if you cannot use any of the credit at all in that year. The carryforward lets you apply the leftover credit against your 2026 tax liability, subject again to that year's tax liability limit. If there is still unused credit after 2026, note that the residential clean energy credit terminates for expenditures made after December 31, 2025, so no new credit can arise for later years, but a proper carryforward from 2025 may still be available to use in 2026.
If you can't use all of the credit because of the tax liability limit (that is, line 14 is less than line 13), you can carry the unused portion of the credit to 2026.
2025 Instructions for Form 5695 (IRS)
Business use of the property can cut the credit
When qualifying property is used partly for business, the IRS applies an 80% test to determine how much of the cost counts toward the residential energy credits. Only the share of costs allocable to nonbusiness use may be included. Put another way, if 80% or more of the item's use is for business, no part of the cost qualifies for these residential credits at all. If nonbusiness use is less than 80%, you prorate: only the nonbusiness percentage of the costs feeds into the credit calculation. This rule applies to both credits reported on Form 5695. The same 80% threshold also governs the separate timing rule that determines when costs are treated as paid in the context of home construction or reconstruction.
If less than 80% of the use of an item is for nonbusiness purposes, only that portion of the costs that is allocable to the nonbusiness use can be used to determine either credit.
2025 Instructions for Form 5695 (IRS)
A cost counts when installation is finished, not when you paid
The credits follow a specific timing rule: costs are treated as paid not when you write the check or make a payment, but when the installation work is finished. For ordinary installations, that is the date the original installation is completed. For costs tied to the reconstruction of a home, the cost counts when your original use of the reconstructed home begins. The same "original use" rule applies for purposes of the residential clean energy credit to costs connected with the construction of an entirely new home. The practical effect is that a homeowner who paid a contractor in 2025 for equipment that is not installed until 2026 will see the cost counted in 2026, not 2025. This timing rule matters because the residential clean energy credit expired for expenditures made after a specific date.
For purposes of both credits, costs are treated as being paid when the original installation of the item is completed, or, in the case of costs connected with the reconstruction of your home, when your original use of the reconstructed home begins.
2025 Instructions for Form 5695 (IRS)
Utility rebates come off the cost first
If you received a subsidy from a public utility for the purchase or installation of an energy conservation product and that subsidy was not included in your gross income, you must reduce your cost for the product by the amount of that subsidy before you figure your credit. In other words, the tax-free rebate comes off the eligible cost first, and the credit is calculated on what you actually bore economically. The same reduction rule applies when a third party, such as your contractor, receives the subsidy on your behalf rather than you receiving it directly. The intent is to prevent a double benefit: you cannot claim a credit on the full invoice price while also excluding a tax-free utility payment that covered part of that price. The reduced cost, not the gross cost, is what feeds into the credit calculation.
If you received a subsidy from a public utility for the purchase or installation of an energy conservation product and that subsidy wasn't included in your gross income, you must reduce your cost for the product by the amount of that subsidy before you figure your credit.
2025 Instructions for Form 5695 (IRS)
Fuel cells must be at your main home; solar need not be
Qualified fuel cell property costs are defined as costs for qualified fuel cell property installed on or in connection with your main home located in the United States. This is a stricter requirement than what applies to solar panels and most other qualifying clean energy property, which need only be installed in connection with your home located in the United States. The key distinction is the word "main": for fuel cells, the property must be placed at your primary residence, not a vacation home or a second property you also use as a residence. A fuel cell system installed only at a second home you do not treat as your main home does not qualify. Solar electric panels, solar water heaters, qualified battery storage, geothermal heat pumps, and small wind turbines may be installed at any home you use as a residence, so they have more flexibility.
Qualified fuel cell property costs are costs for qualified fuel cell property installed on or in connection with your main home located in the United States.
2025 Instructions for Form 5695 (IRS)
The last expenditures that can qualify
The residential clean energy credit has a fixed sunset: no credit can be claimed for expenditures made after December 31, 2025. That means costs must be treated as paid on or before that date under the rules that determine when a cost counts. Because costs for construction or reconstruction are treated as paid when original use begins, a homeowner must ensure that the original use of a newly built or reconstructed home begins by that cutoff. The energy efficient home improvement credit carries the same end date, for expenditures or property placed in service after December 31, 2025. After that date, neither credit is available, and any qualifying property installed later receives no federal residential energy credit.
You can’t claim residential clean energy credits for expenditures made after December 31, 2025.
2025 Instructions for Form 5695 (IRS)
How this was verified
The statement below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in it. The digest is of that stored text.
2025 Instructions for Form 5695 (IRS)
- Ended after 2025-12-31
You can’t claim residential clean energy credits for expenditures made after December 31, 2025.
By year
Every published year
12 years on record, 2026 back to 2015. Each year links to its own page, its own document and its own verification date.