Guide · homeowners
Can I sell my home solar tax credit?
No. The credit homeowners claim for solar panels is not one of the credits the law allows to be sold, and it ended for spending after 2025. Here is what still applies, and why leased systems are different.
Verified · page reviewed 11 Oct 2026
The short answer
- It cannot be sold. Homeowners claim the residential clean energy credit under §25D. Section 6418, the law that allows credit sales, lists the credits that can be transferred, and §25D is not one of them[1].
- It has ended for new spending. The §25D credit does not apply to expenditures made after 31 December 2025[2].
Be wary of any offer to buy a homeowner’s solar credit: there is no legal way to transfer it.
If your system was installed in 2025 or earlier
For §25D, an expenditure counts as made when the original installation is completed, not when you pay; for a new home, when you start living in it[2]. So a system paid for in 2025 but finished in 2026 gets no credit.
If your installation was completed by the end of 2025, you claim the credit on your own federal return for that year. If the credit is more than the tax it can offset that year, the unused part is carried to the next year[2]. A tax preparer can confirm how much you can use.
If you lease your panels or buy the power
With a lease or a power purchase agreement, the company that owns the system claims the credit, not you. For an owner in that business it is an investment credit, under §48E for newer systems, and a business can sell that credit under §6418[1][3]. Your share of the benefit, if any, comes through your lease or power price.
Two limits apply to those owners:
- No credit for leased solar water heating or small wind. §48E denies the credit for solar water heating and small wind property of the kind a homeowner would use, when the owner leases it to someone else[3]. Leased solar electric panels are not caught by that rule.
- The wind and solar deadline. A solar facility whose construction began after 4 July 2026 earns no §48E credit unless it is placed in service by 31 December 2027[3].
If you own a business with solar
A business that owns its solar system, on a warehouse roof, a farm or a carport, earns a business credit and can sell it. Start with selling a small solar tax credit.