When you say you can't get a credit for your solar panels, what exactly do you mean?
You are not seeing a difference in your return this year or you are being told you are not eligible for the credit?
Solar panels fall under the Residential Energy Credit which is a non-refundable credit. This means, if you do not have enough of a tax liability to claim the credit this year, you would not get the credit on your return. However, since this credit can be carried forward, you would still be able to use it in future years until either you are able to use the credit or it expires which is currently set to happen in 2024.
Look at line 16 on your 1040, then also look at line 24. If the amount on line 16 is less than the full credit, then this is the maximum amount of the credit you use this year will be that number. If you have other credits, that may also reduce the tax liability, this may also reduce the amount of the credit you receive.
Then look at line 24. If this line is $0, then you received one of more credits that brought your taxes down to $0. If this is the case, and you had multiple nonrefundable credits, you may not get the full credit for one or more of the credits.
You can also look at line 16 on your form 5695. This will show you any amount that you were unable to use this year, that will be carried forward to future years.
Did you enter everything correctly?
To enter these credits into TurboTax take the following steps:
- Federal
- Deductions and Credits
- I'll Choose what I work on
- Home Energy Credits which is under the "Your Home" category
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