Nonbusiness Energy Property Tax Credit.

Waiting until the last moment, in December 2014 Congress extended the nonbusiness energy property tax credit to cover qualifying purchases made in 2014. The law had expired at the end of 2013. The Congressional action only covered the one year period though, so unfortunately taxpayers will probably have to go through 2015 also not knowing , if the credit applies to any of their expenditures for that year.

The credit is equal to 10% of the cost of qualified energy efficient improvements in a taxpayer’s home . The total credit is limited to $500.00 however with an additional limit of no more than a $200.00 credit for windows and skylights. Furthermore, the $500 is a lifetime limit. If you used this amount up in 2007 or 2008 you cannot take a credit for any energy efficient improvements in one’s home. This lifetime limit strikes me as rather ridiculous. Very few people are going to remember how much any qualifying repairs made several years earlier cost. As a bankruptcy lawyer I can also tell you that even fewer individuals would be able to find the receipts for such ancient outlays. Yet Congress wants us to take these forgotten expenditures into account in computing our 2014 taxes.