Hello @EMR1 great question! I've seen some rather optimistic information about the impact of these credits in Solar proposals so I am not surprised you've heard you will get it all in one year. This is certain possible but it will depend on your tax situation for the year when you install the solar panels. Solar panels fall under the Residential Clean Energy Property Credit and that credit is equal to 30% of eligible expenditures (you can find a list of what that includes and a bunch more info in this IRS Fact Sheet: https://www.irs.gov/pub/taxpros/fs-2022-40.pdf). That credit however is a nonrefundable credit - which means it cannot reduce your tax liability below 0 so the amount is limited based on your tax in the year you take the credit. However, as you are aware, any amount of the credit that is not used is carried forward to be used in future years (but will be subject to the same limits are far as not reducing tax below 0). As far as maximizing in concerned, that would be rather individual to your tax situation and the amount of the expected credit. In the general case, there is not much to actively maximize as the credit will be limited to your tax liability for the year - something which is hard to directly control unlike changing withholding (which in that case doesn't affect the amount of the credit in anyway). Congratulations on the solar panels - it's a very cool way to upgrade a home and enjoy some tax benefits along with a reduced energy bill!
