Tax Credits for Greening Up Your Home
Image via Wikipedia
It’s Earth Day, and as a result I’m thinking about things that can be done to save the Earth — and maybe even save a little money. Making green home improvements is a good way to get a tax credit and help make your home more environmentally friendly. Instead of only getting 10% back on your green home improvement projects (as was the case before), you can now get 30% back. Here are some of the things you can get a tax credit for (but remember: new home construction doesn’t count — there are different tax credits for new homes):
- Updating your water heater to a more efficient model.
- Improving or increasing your insulation.
- Adding skylights (to reduce lighting energy use).
- Adding storm and/or exterior doors or sealing them.
- Adding storm and/or exterior windors.
- Sealing air leaks (with stripping, caulk, etc.)
- Updating your A/C system.
- Updating your furnace.
- Adding a biomass stove.
You can also receive tax credits for adding wind or solar energy to your home. These credits do not have a cap on them, as the above credits do (at $1,500). You can get a second home mortgage — if you qualify and have the equity — to help pay for these improvements. Then you will likely enjoy a tax deduction on the mortgage interest rate.
These changes are for this year, and Consumerism Commentary has some helpful reminders for claiming your tax credits for green home improvements:
Don’t get caught without the right equipment or paperwork. Here’s what you need to do in order to benefit for the next two tax seasons.
- Equipment must be able to last for at least five years – a two-year warranty is sufficient to prove this.
- Not every equipment model qualifies – and if it was placed in service before Feb. 17 2009, the qualifications are different. Click an option in the list above for more.
- Save your receipts and warranty
- Improvements made in 2009 will be claimed on your 2009 taxes (filed by April 15, 2010) — use IRS Tax Form 5695 (2009 version) — it will be available late 2009 or early 2010.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=441da35a-7969-4873-ae19-6cebb2bbef5c)
