General Instructions for Form 5695
What’s New for 2008
Nonbusiness energy property credit expired. You cannot take the nonbusiness energy property credit for property placed in service in 2008.
Credit expanded. You can now include costs for qualified small wind energy property and qualified geothermal heat pump property in figuring the residential energy efficient property credit.
What’s New for 2009
Nonbusiness energy property credit available. The nonbusiness energy property credit will be available for property placed in service in 2009. The credit is available for items such as high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, water heaters, windows, doors, and insulation. The amount of the credit will be limited by the amount of any nonbusiness energy property credit you took in 2006 or 2007.
Qualified solar electric property. There is no limit on the amount of qualified solar electric property costs when figuring the residential energy efficient property
credit.
Purpose of Form
Use Form 5695 to figure and take your residential energy efficient property credit, including any credit carryforward from 2007.
Who Can Take the Credit
You may be able to take the credit if you made energy saving improvements to your home located in the United States in 2008. For credit purposes, costs are
treated as being paid when the original installation of the item is completed, or in the case of costs connected with the construction or reconstruction of your home, when your original use of the constructed or reconstructed home begins. If less than 80% of the use of an item is for nonbusiness purposes, only that portion of the costs that are allocable to the nonbusiness use can be used to determine the credit.
Home. A home is where you lived in 2008 and can include a house, houseboat, mobile home, cooperative apartment, condominium, and a manufactured home
that conforms to Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards.
You must reduce the basis of your home by the amount of any credits allowed.
Main home. Your main home is generally the home where you live most of the time. A temporary absence due to special circumstances, such as illness, education, business, military service, or vacation, will not change your main home.
Special rules. If you are a member of a condominium management association for a condominium you own or a tenant-stockholder in a cooperative housing
corporation, you are treated as having paid your proportionate share of any costs of such association or corporation.
Subsidized energy financing. Any amounts provided for by subsidized energy financing cannot be used to figure the credit. This is financing provided under a federal, state, or local program, the principal purpose of which is to provide subsidized financing for projects designed to conserve or produce energy.
Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit
You may be able to take a credit of 30% of your costs of qualified solar electric property, solar water heating property, fuel cell property, small wind energy property, and geothermal heat pump property. This includes labor costs properly allocable to the onsite preparation, assembly, or original installation of the property and for piping or wiring to interconnect such property to the home. This credit is limited to:
- $2,000 for qualified solar electric property costs,
- $2,000 for qualified solar water heating property costs,
- $500 for each one-half kilowatt of capacity of qualified fuel cell property for which qualified fuel cell property costs are paid.
- $500 for each one-half kilowatt of capacity of qualified small wind energy property for which qualified small wind energy property costs are paid (not to exceed $4,000), and
- $2,000 for qualified geothermal heat pump property costs.
Qualified solar electric property costs. Qualified solar electric property costs are costs for property that uses solar energy to generate electricity for use in your home located in the United States. This includes costs relating to a solar panel or other property installed as a roof or a portion of a roof. The home does not have to be your main home.
Qualified solar water heating property costs. Qualified solar water heating property costs are costs for property to heat water for use in your home located in the United States if at least half of the energy used by the solar water heating property for such purpose is derived from the sun. This includes costs relating to a solar panel or other property installed as a roof or a portion of a roof. To qualify for the credit, the property must be certified for performance by the nonprofit Solar Rating Certification Corporation or a comparable entity endorsed by the government of the state in which the property is installed. The home does not have to be your main home.
Qualified fuel cell property costs. Qualified fuel cell property costs are costs for qualified fuel cell property installed on or in connection with your main home
located in the United States. Qualified fuel cell property is an integrated system comprised of a fuel cell stack assembly and associated balance of plant omponents
that converts a fuel into electricity using electrochemical means. To qualify for the credit, the fuel cell property must have a nameplate capacity of at least one-half kilowatt of electricity using an electrochemical process and an electricity-only generation efficiency greater than 30%.
CAUTION: Costs allocable to a swimming pool, hot tub, or any other energy storage medium which has a function other than the function of such storage do not qualify for the residential energy efficiency credit.
Qualified small wind energy property costs. Qualified small wind energy property costs are costs for property that uses a wind turbine to generate electricity for use in connection with your home located in the United States. The home does not have to be your main home.
Qualified geothermal heat pump property costs. Qualified geothermal heat pump property costs are costs for qualified geothermal heat pump property installed on or in connection with your home located in the United States. Qualified geothermal heat pump property is any equipment that uses the ground or ground water as a thermal energy source to heat your home or as a thermal energy sink to cool your home. To qualifiy for the credit, the geothermal heat pump property must meet the requirements of the Energy Star program that are in effect at the time of purchase. The home does not have to be your main home.
Married taxpayers with more than one home. If you or your spouse lived in more than one home, the credit limits would apply to each of you separately. For qualified fuel cell property, the homes must be your main homes. If you are filing separate returns, both of you must complete a separate Form 5695. If you are filing a joint return, figure your nonbusiness energy property credit as follows.
- Complete a separate Form 5695 for each home through line 21.
- On one of the forms, complete line 22. Then, figure the amount to be entered on line 23 of both forms and enter the combined amount on line 23 of this form.
- On the dotted line to the left of the entry space for line 23, enter “More than one home”. Then, complete the rest of this form.
- Attach both forms to your return.
Joint occupancy. If you occupied your home jointly, each occupant must complete his or her own Form 5695. To figure the credit, the maximum qualifying costs that can be taken into account by all occupants for figuring the credit is $6,667 for qualified solar electric, solar water heating, or geothermal heat pump property; and $1,667 for each one-half kilowatt of capacity of qualified fuel cell or small wind energy property (not to exceed $13,333 for qualified small wind energy property). The amount allocable to you is the lesser of:
- The amount you paid, or
- The maximum qualifying cost of the property multiplied by a fraction. The numerator is the amount you paid and the denominator is the total amount paid by you and all other occupants.
These rules do not apply to married individuals filing a joint return.
Example. Taxpayer A owns a house with Taxpayer B where they both reside. In 2008, they installed qualified solar water heating property at a cost of $8,000. Taxpayer A paid $6,000 towards the cost of the property and Taxpayer B paid the remaining $2,000. The amount of cost allocable to Taxpayer A is $5,000 ($6,667 X $6,000/$8,000). The amount of cost allocable to Taxpayer B is $1,667 ($6,667 X $2,000/$8,000).
Specific Instructions
TIP:Also include on lines 1, 5, 9, 13, or 18, any labor costs properly allocable to the onsite preparation, assembly, or original installation of the property and for piping or wiring to interconnect such property to the home.
Line 1 - Enter the amounts you paid for qualified solar electric property. See Qualified solar electric property costs on page 3.
Line 5 - Enter the amounts you paid for qualified solar water heating property. See Qualified solar water heating property costs on page 3.
Line 9 - Enter the amounts you paid for qualified fuel cell property. See Qualified fuel cell property costs on page 3.
Line 13 - Enter the amounts you paid for qualified small wind energy property. See Qualified small wind energy property costs on this page.
Line 18 - Enter the amounts you paid for qualified geothermal heat pump property. See Qualified geothermal heat pump property costs on this page.
Line 25 - If you are claiming the child tax credit for 2008, include on this line the amount from line 12 of the Line 11 Worksheet in Pub. 972.
TIP : If you are not claiming the child tax credit for 2008, you do not need Pub. 972.
Line 28 - If you cannot use all of the credit because of the tax liability limit (line 26 is less than line 23), you can carry the unused portion of the credit to 2009.
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