Why does TurboTax show me $0 credit and no carry forward to 2021 after entering $11,200 for the cost of solar panels? Shouldn’t the credit reduce the $3,400 taxes I owe?

[MayaD]

You might be eligible for this tax credit if you meet all of the following criteria:

• Your solar PV system was installed between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2021.

• The solar PV system is located at your primary or secondary residence in the United States, or for an off-site community solar project, if the electricity generated is credited against, and does not exceed, your home’s electricity consumption. 

• You own the solar PV system (i.e., you purchased it with cash or through financing but you are neither leasing nor are in an arrangement to purchase electricity generated by a system you do not own).

• The solar PV system is new or being used for the first time. The credit can only be claimed on the “original installation” of the solar equipment. energy.gov

Revisit the Home Energy Credit to make you have entered the correct information:

• Login to your account.
• Select Federal from the left menu.
• Go to Deductions and Credits.
• Scroll down to Your Home and click show more 
• Scroll down to Home Energy credit

[smeineke]

I meet all the listed criteria. The home is my primary residence of 35 years and I own the the solar installation which is new and installed September of 2020. According to Turbotax, I owe $92 in addition to the $3,140 estimated tax payments I made. I enter $11,200 in the space titled “Solar Electric Costs,” but end up getting “Your Home Energy Credit: 0.” I even tried checking different boxes next to the questions in the home energy credit section, just in case I was misunderstanding the appropriate answer to one of the questions. However, not matter which boxes I check, I still get the same result, zero credit. If my tax liability for 2020 is $3,232, why wouldn’t I get a tax credit and/or carry forward for my solar installation? I’m starting to think it is a problem with TurboTax and maybe I should wait a while to see if it is corrected.

[smeineke · Accepted solution]

I found a solution to my issue. Instead of using Turbotax on my iMac (with latest OS and Safari), I logged into Turbotax on my iPad. I entered the exact information I had entered without success on my iMac to get credits for my solar installation, and just like magic, I got the credit, about $2,900. So, either there is a problem with Turbotax using Safari on an iMac OR Intuit fixed a glitch in their software yesterday. I’m glad I didn’t assume Turbotax was right and I was wrong and filed yesterday or it would have cost me $2,900!