Home solar cost and contracts

If You Paid in December 2025 but the Solar Install Finished in January 2026, Do You Get the 30% Credit?

Published September 23, 2026 · By the SolarPanelX editors · Prices and specs as of that date, from the pages under Sources

The completion date, not the payment date

The FAQ addresses paying on or before December 31, 2025 directly. It rests on Section 25D(e)(8)(A), which ties the expenditure to when original installation of the item is completed. When the system goes in as part of building or rebuilding a home, the date is when the taxpayer's original use of the structure begins.

The IRS credit page, last reviewed July 4, 2026, says the credit is not available for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, and that it is claimed for the tax year the property is installed, not merely purchased. That page still carries an older line about claiming the credit every year "until the credit begins to phase out in 2033." On the end date itself, the page's December 31, 2025 cutoff and the FAQ agree.

Systems finished during 2025

Those still qualify, on the 2025 return. A $30,000 installation completed in November 2025 would produce a $9,000 credit. The credit is nonrefundable, so it cannot exceed the tax owed; with $6,000 of 2025 tax, the remaining $3,000 carries forward to later years.

Battery storage counts toward the cost if it holds at least 3 kWh. The credit goes to the person living in the home, owner or renter. A landlord who does not live there cannot claim it.