On July 17, 2019, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued final regulations (T.D. 9872) providing guidance on the rules under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 50(d)(5) that require an income inclusion by the lessee in the so-called “pass-through lease” structure used with investment tax credit property. The final regulations adopt, without change, the proposed
IRS Releases 2019 Section 45 Production Tax Credit Amounts
On June 6, 2019, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published a notice providing the inflation-adjustment factors and reference prices for the calculation of renewable electricity production tax credits (PTCs) under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 45 for 2019.
The notice provides that the PTC for electricity produced from wind, as well as closed-loop biomass and geothermal energy, increased from 2.4 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 2.5 cents per kWh for 2019. The notice also includes the PTC amounts for electricity produced from other qualified energy resources. Specifically, the PTC for electricity produced from open-loop biomass, landfill gas, trash, qualified hydropower, and marine and hydrokinetic resources remains at 1.2 cents per kWh for 2019. The PTC for refined coal also increased from $7.03 per ton to $7.173 for 2019.
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Hawaii: Solar System is Not Placed in Service Until All State Law Requirements Have Been Satisfied
In September, the State of Hawaii Department of Taxation issued a letter ruling (Hawaii Letter Ruling No. 2018-01) that clarified the “placed in service” requirement in the application of the Renewable Energy Technologies Income Tax Credit (“RETITC”) in Hawaii. A project was denied RETITC in the year when testing was conducted because the project had
Tax Equity Webinar Q&A
Below are answers to questions we received during our tax equity webinar of October 23. These questions were submitted online during the webinar. The presentation from the webinar is available here.
Question: Commercial and industrial (C&I) has higher returns but how many projects raise tax equity versus other segments of the solar market? What
Maryland Energy Administration Adopted New Regulations for Energy Storage System Income Tax Credit Program
In 2017, Maryland, with Governor Larry Hogan’s (R) support, became the first state in the country to launch a tax credit program for energy storage systems. In September, 2018, Maryland Energy Administration adopted new regulations that clarified certain qualifications of eligible systems and established procedures for individuals and businesses to apply for tax credits.
The
Power Finance & Risk – Tax Equity Roundtable 2018 Report
We were pleased to participate in Power Finance & Risk’s (PFR) Tax Equity Roundtable. We were joined in the roundtable discussion by Rich Dovere of C2 Energy Capital, Marshal Salant of Citi, Kathyrn Rasmussen of Capital Dynamics Clean Energy and Infrastructure, Pedro Almeida of EDP Renewables North America and as moderator PFR’s editor, Richard Metcalf.
Presentation from Tax Equity Webinar: Structuring, New Trends, Challenges & Advice
Mayer Brown’s David K. Burton and Jeffrey G. Davis both Tax Transactions & Consulting partners and part of the firm’s Renewable Energy group co-hosted a heavily attended webinar on how tax reform is impacting the tax equity market and certain renewable energy structures with Vadim Ovchinnikov, CFA, CPA and Gintaras Sadauskas of Alfa Energy Advisors.
Tax Equity Structuring Webinar – October 23
Please join Mayer Brown and Alfa Energy Advisors for a webinar. The webinar will address how tax reform is impacting the tax equity market and certain structures in particular. Additional topics include:
- The latest industry trends
- New bonus depreciation rules and their impact on tax equity transactions and modeling
- Compressed financing margins for wind and
Federal Circuit Rules on Basis for Energy Projects in Alta Wind
We have published our Legal Update on the Federal Circuit’s opinion in the Alta Wind case involving the calculation of eligible basis for 1603 Treasury cash grant purposes. The 1603 Treasury cash grant rules “mimic” the investment tax credit (ITC) rules, so the case has implications for ITC transactions being structured and end executed today.
Beginning of Construction Guidance for Solar and Other ITC Technologies
On June 22, 2018, the IRS released Notice 2018-59 (the “Guidance”). The Guidance provides rules to determine when construction begins with respect to investment tax credit (“ITC”) eligible property, such as solar projects. The Guidance was much awaited by the solar industry because the date upon which construction begins governs the determination of the percentage level of the ITC, which is ratcheted down for projects that begin construction after 2019.
In addition to applying to solar and (fiber-optic solar), the Guidance applies to the following energy generation technologies: geothermal, fuel cell, microturbine, combined heat and power and small wind.
Overview of Beginning of Construction
The ITC percentage for a solar project is determined based on the year in which construction of the project begins, provided the solar project is also placed in service before January 1, 2024, as follows: (i) before January 1, 2020, 30%, (ii) in 2020, 26%, (iii) in 2021, 22% and (iv) any time thereafter (regardless of the year in which the solar project is placed in service), 10%.
The Guidance is quite similar to existing guidance for utility scale wind projects. The utility scale wind guidance is discussed in our 2016 Update. As expected and consistent with the wind guidance, the Guidance provides two means for establishing the beginning of construction of a solar project (and other ITC technology projects): (i) engaging in significant physical work either directly or by contract the “Physical Work Method”) or (ii) paying or incurring (depending on the taxpayer’s method of accounting) five percent of the ultimate tax basis of the project (the “Five Percent Method”).[1] As is the case with wind, the Guidance provides that the IRS will apply strict scrutiny of the facts and circumstances to determine if the project was continuously constructed from the deemed beginning of construction date through the date the project is placed in service.[2]
Four Year Placed-in-Service Window
The wind guidance provides a four year window for the project to be completed and to avoid the scrutiny as to whether the construction was continuous. There had been speculation that the window for solar (or at least some classes of solar) would be shorter because the time to construct solar projects (especially rooftop solar) is generally shorter than the time to construct a wind project. In what is a relief to the solar industry, the Guidance provides solar, and the other ITC technologies, a four year window as well.
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