Solar and EV credits ended: what still counts on a 2025 return
The home energy and clean vehicle credits have closing dates behind us. What a 2025 return can still claim, which forms carry it, and what 2026 buyers face.
Quick answers
- Can I still claim the solar credit on my 2025 return?
- Yes, if the system was placed in service by the end of 2025. The credit is not available for property placed in service after that date, so what matters is when the installation was finished, not when you signed.
- I took delivery of an electric car in October 2025. Do I get the credit?
- Generally no, unless you had already acquired it. The IRS treats a binding written contract with a payment made by the cut-off date as acquisition, so an order placed and paid toward in time can still qualify despite later delivery.
- Which form claims these credits?
- Home energy credits go on Form 5695 with your return. Vehicle credits go on Form 8936, filed for the year you took delivery, including when the credit was transferred to the dealer at purchase.
The home energy credits and the clean vehicle credits both have closing dates that are now behind us. A 2025 return can still claim them if the timing was right, and the vehicle date and the home date are not the same date.
What changed for 2025
Three closing dates, and two different tests. The clean vehicle credits, new and used, are not available for a vehicle acquired after September 30, 2025. The two home credits run longer and turn on something else: the energy efficient home improvement credit closes with property placed in service through December 31, 2025, and the residential clean energy credit closes with property placed in service through December 31, 2025.
Keep those two words apart. Vehicles turn on when you acquired the car. Home improvements turn on when the property was placed in service.
Solar and other clean energy at home
Take 30% of what new qualifying clean energy property for your home cost you, and that is the credit. Solar panels are the common case, and solar water heating, wind, geothermal heat pumps and battery storage sit under the same credit.
Anything placed in service after December 31, 2025 gets none of it. There is no income limit and no cap on the credit itself, and it is claimed on Form 5695, Residential Energy Credits, filed with your return.
Windows, doors, insulation and heat pumps
The energy efficient home improvement credit is the smaller, capped one, and it reaches qualifying property placed in service through December 31, 2025. It runs on annual limits rather than a single lifetime cap, which is why splitting a project across two years used to be worth doing.
Most improvements share an annual cap of $1,200, with tighter limits for particular items inside that cap, set out on the IRS page. A separate annual cap of $2,000 applies to qualified heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, biomass stoves and biomass boilers. It goes on Part II of the same Form 5695.
New electric cars
The new clean vehicle credit is not available for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025. Where it applies, the maximum is $7,500, and that total is built from two halves: $3,750 for meeting the critical minerals requirement and the same again for meeting the battery components requirement. A vehicle meeting only one of them earns only that half.
The date is not the only gate. The credit also runs on the buyer's modified adjusted gross income and on the vehicle's manufacturer suggested retail price, so a 2025 claim turns on those as much as on when the car was acquired. Income above the limit for your filing status, or a sticker price above the cap for that body type, ends the claim on its own.
| Modified AGI limit for the new clean vehicle credit, married filing jointly | $300,000 | irs.gov, Credits for new clean vehicles purchased in 2023 or after |
|---|---|---|
| Modified AGI limit for the new clean vehicle credit, head of household | $225,000 | irs.gov, Credits for new clean vehicles purchased in 2023 or after |
| Modified AGI limit for the new clean vehicle credit, all other filers | $150,000 | irs.gov, Credits for new clean vehicles purchased in 2023 or after |
| Manufacturer suggested retail price cap for a new clean vehicle, cars | $55,000 | irs.gov, Credits for new clean vehicles purchased in 2023 or after |
| Manufacturer suggested retail price cap for a new clean vehicle, vans, SUVs and pickup trucks | $80,000 | irs.gov, Credits for new clean vehicles purchased in 2023 or after |
The income test is met if your modified adjusted gross income is under the limit in either the year of delivery or the year before, so one high year need not cost you the credit. Both sets of numbers sit on the IRS page for new clean vehicles.
The credit is claimed on Form 8936, Clean Vehicle Credits, with your return.
Used electric cars
The previously-owned clean vehicle credit closes on the same acquisition date, September 30, 2025. It equals thirty percent of the sale price, up to a maximum of $4,000.
The used credit carries its own income limits and its own price ceiling, set separately from the ones above and listed on the IRS page for that credit.
It is also on Form 8936, and it is filed for the year in which you take delivery of the vehicle, which is not always the year you paid.
"Acquired" versus "placed in service"
This is the distinction that settles most arguments. A home installation contract signed in one year and finished in the next lands on the year the system was finished and working, not the year of the signature or the deposit. A half-installed system at the end of December is not placed in service.
Vehicles work the other way round. The test is acquisition, not delivery, which is why the vehicle answer is more forgiving than the calendar suggests.
The contract exception for vehicles
The IRS says you can demonstrate acquisition by entering into a binding written contract and making a payment on the vehicle on or before September 30, 2025. A car ordered and paid toward in time can therefore still qualify even though it arrived later.
That route is described on the IRS page for new clean vehicles. If your car is a used one, read the page for that credit before relying on the same reasoning, because the two credits are set out separately.
What a 2025 return can still claim
Three things, and the paperwork for each. A home energy installation completed and working by the end of 2025. A vehicle acquired on or before the September cut-off, or covered by a binding written contract with a payment made by then, claimed on the return for the year the vehicle was delivered. And the seller's report or manufacturer certification that supports the claim, which is what a preparer will ask for first. What OBBBA changed for 2025 sets these closing dates alongside the rest of the year's changes.
If you took the credit at the dealer
Transferring the credit to the dealer at the point of sale reduced what you paid, but it did not remove the filing. You still file Form 8936 with the return for the year you took delivery of the vehicle.
What 2026 buyers should expect
Nothing from these credits. Solar installed in 2026 does not reach the residential clean energy credit, and a car bought in 2026 does not reach either vehicle credit. State programs, utility rebates and manufacturer incentives are separate from the federal return and continue on their own terms.