I am a tenant with a regular income I am the principal resident in a home I do not own. Just a regular guy with limited knowledge about taxes.
With permission from my landlord pending I want to purchase a solar system and install it on his roof. I intend to fully pay for it upfront, no credit needed and take the deduction on income taxes. I will agree to be fully responsible for any damage to the roof during my ownership and sign ownership over to him upon moving because I know I will be here long enough to make my Investment back and then some. Uninstalling is not an option for me the labor cost alone and the necessary repairs to the roof would be so high that such an endeavor would be nonsense. I see this as a win win for tenant and landlord. I’m not a tax guy but to me it’s clear. To qualify for tax credit the home has to be your principal residence. My residence is my home even though I don’t own it. Why should I be allowed to take tax credits if I’m not the user of the electricity I produce my investment to reduce my utility bill. That’s what the incentives are for. You also have to have a regular income to which energy tax credit can be applied to. Makes sense to me, even if you own the home you cannot apply it to your real estate taxes but it doesn’t say anywhere that homeownership is a requirement.
You have to reduce your basis is something that I truly don’t understand the meaning of. I’m going on lim. If you own your home and take a tax credit on solar panels that you purchased because it is also your principal residence the value of your property should go up by approximately the amount of your investment. Since solar panels are not considered a permanent fixture to your house you may be able to reduce the base value so your real estate tax doesn’t go up. I might have embarrassed myself by being completely ignorant and wrong, but be that as it may I don’t think this “basis thing “ applies to me as a tenant it would be a concern to my landlord who is laughing all the way to the bank. Am I a fool or am I on to something
any comments?
