Has anyone successfully claimed the tax credit for an RV solar installation? And how did you do it? Does anyone have any tips or tricks for doing this? Parts and labor? Thanks.dreamer.

Most of the 'tax credit' systems are installed permanently in a house, and are 'grid intertied'. Because I plan on driving my RV, and not leaving it connected to the house all the time, I don't think it would qualify for grid intertied system. Solar systems are not nearly as expensive as they used to be, and intalling it yourself is not much harder than installing a headlight on a car. What I did was install the brackets on the roof, then bolt the panels to that bracket, and run wiring down the vent for the refrigerator. That goes to the controller, and on to the battery.The brackets can be made from 6" long 2" angle aluminum, and drill 3 holes 3/16" for #10 screws into the roof, and 5/16" hole for a 1/4-20 bolt into the solar panel frame.#10 grey romex from Home Depot will provide UV resistant wiring. The controller for a 12 volt 'nominal' panel is only about $25- $35 for a 20 amp model at aliexpress.com 12 volt nominal will have a 19 to 22 volt 'open circuit' rating, and will charge a 12 volt battery effectively.SunElec.com sells solar panels with aluminum frames in the $1 - $2 per rated watt price range. I would recommend something in the 100 - 150 watt size, as more than 150 watts is to large to fit on most RV roofs. Your total system cost will be between $200 and $800. Why worry about a tax deduction? Taking a long trip will cost more in gasoline! And if you start dry camping more often, you can save $10 a night in camping fees, paying for the system in about 30 nights of dry camping. . . I paid $3000 for my system (back in 1994 a 90 watt solar system at $750 was a great deal and no tax incentives at that time). By 2004 I had dry camped more than 300 nights, and completely paid for the system. Between 2006 and 2007, I full timed and paid for it again, and between 07 and 13, I lived in the RV in a campground, where I never needed to turn on the battery charger, and paid for it again. The 120 watt panels that I bought in 1999 where on sale for $429. Now you can buy that size panel for around $120. Prices have really come down! Good luck with your project. Fred.

We did when we had the solar panels + inverter + new batteries installed a few years ago. Being fulltimers, the RV is our primary residence. At that time, the credit would also apply to "secondary residences" such as vacation homes or RVs. In our case, it was the cost of the inverter and four deep-cycle gel cells that drove the cost up to the point where the credit was worth filing for.We use TurboTax, and there's a specific set of questions/forms that are used to enter the info. We'd planned the inverter and new batteries, but adding the solar made all that into a "system", and made it all eligible for the credit. The credit ended up being just about equal to the extra cost of adding solar to the other stuff. We had it all professionally installed, and so the amounts we used covered parts and labor. If I recall, the limit on the credit back then was $2000. I think it might be higher now. Don't remember what the credit percentage of total cost was - something around 20%.That was for the Federal taxes - if you file state taxes (we don't), there might be additional opportunities.al

We did when we had ours installed in 2010. Have not read the rules today, but back then it applied to "primary & secondary" residence and was a 35% credit, if I remember correctly.

Golden_HVAC wrote:Most of the 'tax credit' systems are installed permanently in a house, and are 'grid intertied'. Because I plan on driving my RV, and not leaving it connected to the house all the time, I don't think it would qualify for grid intertied system. Nope. See IRS Form 5695, and I believe the tax credit has decreased since I took it a few years ago.

You may want to look at the Instructions for Form 5695 and get the background at this document.

Has anyone claimed the tax credit for RV solar installation?

11 Replies

dreamer
Explorer
Sep 20, 2015
Thanks, Dave, I'll forward this to my income tax person.

dreamer.
dave54
Nomad
Sep 20, 2015
BigSkillet wrote:
According to the form, looks like you can only claim it if it's your primary home. Doesn't mention secondary.

"The home does not have to be your main home." from form 5695, second column, under Qualified Solar Electricity Credit.
BigSkillet
Explorer
May 07, 2015
According to the form, looks like you can only claim it if it's your primary home. Doesn't mention secondary.
bobsallyh
Explorer II
May 03, 2015
Sure did when I installed solar a number of years ago on the fiver. Since we are fulltimers and the fiver is our primary residence.
milo
Explorer II
May 03, 2015
Just claim it on your tax return as the IRS is irrelevant now.
2oldman
Explorer II
Apr 25, 2015
Yep, Turbo tax online. No paper forms.
accsys
Explorer
Apr 25, 2015
You may want to look at the Instructions for Form 5695 and get the background at this document.
TechWriter
Explorer
Apr 25, 2015
Golden_HVAC wrote:
Most of the 'tax credit' systems are installed permanently in a house, and are 'grid intertied'. Because I plan on driving my RV, and not leaving it connected to the house all the time, I don't think it would qualify for grid intertied system.

Nope. See IRS Form 5695, and I believe the tax credit has decreased since I took it a few years ago.
The_Texan
Explorer
Apr 25, 2015
We did when we had ours installed in 2010. Have not read the rules today, but back then it applied to "primary & secondary" residence and was a 35% credit, if I remember correctly.
aslakson
Explorer
Apr 25, 2015
We did when we had the solar panels + inverter + new batteries installed a few years ago. Being fulltimers, the RV is our primary residence. At that time, the credit would also apply to "secondary residences" such as vacation homes or RVs. In our case, it was the cost of the inverter and four deep-cycle gel cells that drove the cost up to the point where the credit was worth filing for.

We use TurboTax, and there's a specific set of questions/forms that are used to enter the info. We'd planned the inverter and new batteries, but adding the solar made all that into a "system", and made it all eligible for the credit. The credit ended up being just about equal to the extra cost of adding solar to the other stuff. We had it all professionally installed, and so the amounts we used covered parts and labor. If I recall, the limit on the credit back then was $2000. I think it might be higher now. Don't remember what the credit percentage of total cost was - something around 20%.

That was for the Federal taxes - if you file state taxes (we don't), there might be additional opportunities.

al