Re: your opinion @Mike9241 , I actually have Net Metering in addition to the FIT. On the electrical bill I'm getting the net solar generation (~-$0.12/kwh). Separately, I get a check for the FIT (~$0.25/kwh). If I'm reading you right, you're saying that if I could effectively get the utility to show the FIT as a credit on the bill rather than sending me a check (I think this is an option I could elect), then I would need not call this income, as it's effectively a rebate for my electrical bill. Am I following you correctly?
The tricky part, I suppose, is that this is a 4-plex I live in and rent out. A former accountant had me call the solar array 100% personal in order to qualify it for the federal tax credit. So since I personally own the array (rather than the rental property), all the FIT income is personal by that logic. I do not depreciate the solar array, since it is not part of the rental.
A question: in looking at how I'm recording/accounting for my utility bills, I'm tracking the rental utilities (the rental units pay me back for utilities) as divided between personal and rental. I track my personal usage minus the solar production net metering credit as personal, resulting in a net negative personal electrical bill totaled over the year. The rental units are sub-metered, and I divvy those up and add them up for the rental utility expense total. I guess this is quickly becoming a more complicated question, but do you see any problems with how I've been doing it (with the accountant's blessing in the past; we've since parted ways)? And extrapolating into the future, if I some day move out and rent out my unit in the building, it would effectively become 100% rental. Would the solar array remain personal?
Thank you!
