@jrincon wrote:
Replying to you @Opus 17 and providing more details to @DoninGA
If I can add some more details. Everything is plugged in completely. It's even gathering solar power at this moment. The only thing we're waiting for is the electric company. They told us this part takes the longest as it's only a few people doing the entire city. It's waiting on them to see if it's up to specs and if it is, the switch will be flipped then and there on the spot.
Does this help any?
If it's providing power to your house, or even a battery storage system, that's "complete" to me, even if you aren't connected to the grid.
Otherwise, I would still be reluctant. There are a number of non-trivial things that have to happen to connect your solar panels to the grid so your meter runs backward, as they say. It has to be the right voltage, it has to be in phase, ground protection, overload protection, and so on. Assuming the installers did their job correctly, the person from the utility company may just have to plug a voltmeter into a test port. But if there's a problem, they might have to make adjustments, or even call the installers back to correct an issue. Maybe 99% of the time, they run their test equipment, everything's fine, and they flip a switch, and it takes 5 minutes. But I wouldn't call that "ready" because you might be in the 1% that has an issue that needs to be corrected.
I think the example of commercial or rental property is a good one. A building might be 100% complete, just waiting for the building inspector to issue a certificate of occupancy, and most of the time that's a legal formality. But a rental property is not "in service" until the C/O is issued, so even if it's a formality, it's an important one. You can't legally rent the property without a C/O, so it might be physically ready but it's not legally ready--it's not "in service" for tax purposes. If your solar panels are physically ready but not legally ready, can they be said to be in service, in a state of readiness?
I think if you are not legally allowed to turn them on, they can't be "in a state of readiness", even if the installation is physically complete.
Assuming that @DoninGA and I continue to disagree, then it's up to you how to file. Most taxpayers are never audited, and since the credit amount will be the same next year, there would seem to be little point in doing an audit for this particular issue, since any credit you had to repay for 2022 could just be claimed in 2023. However, I would consider claiming the credit in 2022 as a small (but non-zero) risk. You may want your own local professional tax advice.
