Solar tax credit

[lilalman2012]

So, I had solar panels installed in 2020 when I filed last year it said I would have a carry forward for my 2021 taxes. Now it is saying it's going to carry forward for 2022, How do I get the money for this tax year. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or what.

[SteamTrain]

Well, a couple of things might be in play here:

1) There were some changes to the Form 5695 for 2021, and since the software version of that form is not "scheduled" to be ready until after the first week in February, the current calculation might change.

2)  the credit is non-refundable.  Meaning that if you don't have an actual tax liability for 2021 taxes, then it carries over to be "possibly" used next year.   Certainly, it can't be accurate if you don't have all your income entered yet...W-2 forms and most 1099-R forms aren't issued yet, and many brokerages won't issue their consolidated 1099-B forms with gains, distributions, dividends, interest, etc until mid Feb, so you may have a lot of income to enter yet before you really know if it's going to be used or not.

[ThomasM125]

The most common reason for the credit to be carried over is that you don't have enough income tax to absorb it. You may have other credits, such as child tax or earned income credits that are reducing your income tax to zero or an amount less than your energy credit. If that is the case, you have to carryover the credit until next year. You can look on your tax summary to see what your Total Tax is.

To view a summary of your tax return follow these steps:

While working on your tax return in TurboTax:

1. Click on the Tax Tools menu option on your left menu bar
2. Click on Tools 
3. Choose the View Tax Summary option