Treasury, IRS issue guidance on the tax treatment of amounts paid as rebates for energy efficient property and improvements

The Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service today issued Announcement 2024-19PDF that addresses the federal income tax treatment of amounts paid for the purchase of energy efficient property and improvements.

Generally, taxpayers who receive rebates for the purchase of energy efficient homes will not include the value of those rebates as income on their tax returns, however they will need to reduce the basis of the property when they sell it by the amount of the rebate.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) statutory language describes performance-based incentives and electrification product subsidies as “rebates.”

Announcement 2024-19 provides that amounts received from the Department of Energy (DOE) home energy rebate programs funded through the IRA will be treated as a reduction in the purchase price or cost of property for eligible upgrades and projects. Accordingly, the consumer that receives an IRA rebate will not be required to report the value of the rebate as income.

Additional information about energy-related tax benefits under the Inflation Reduction Act, such as energy efficient homes, can be found on IRS.gov.

Source: IR-2024-97, April, 2024