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10/20/2023

FACT SHEET: How the Inflation Reduction Act’s Tax Incentives Are Ensuring All Americans Benefit from the Growth of …

FACT SHEET: How the Inflation Reduction Act’s Tax Incentives
Are Ensuring All Americans Benefit from the Growth of the Clean
Energy Economy
October 20, 2023

WASHINGTON—President Bidenʼs Inflation Reduction Act is the most significant legislation to
combat climate change in our nationʼs history, and one of the largest investments in the
American economy in a generation. Already, this investment and the U.S. Department of the
Treasuryʼs implementation of the law has unleashed an investment and manufacturing boom
in the United States unlike anything seen in decades—especially in disadvantaged
communities.
The Inflation Reduction Act is significant not only because it tackles the climate crisis head on,
but because it does so with economic opportunity at its core to build a clean energy economy
that includes everyone.
Since President Biden took o ice, companies have announced more than $115 billion in
manufacturing investments to build our clean energy economy. Treasury analysis released in
August demonstrates these announced investments in clean energy production, electric
vehicles, and batteries are concentrated in communities with lower income, lower college
graduation rates and lower employment rates. These investments are a feature of what
Secretary Yellen calls modern supply-side economics, which seeks to spur economic growth by
both boosting labor supply and raising productivity, while reducing inequality and
environmental damage. Investing in these communities helps provide local opportunity and
boost national productivity growth.

LOW -INCOME COMMUNIT IES B ONUS CREDIT PROGRAM
APPLICAT ION OPENING
Ahead of the Biden-Harris Administrationʼs third Freedmanʼs Bank Forum, the Administrationʼs
work to ensure all Americans benefit from the growth of the clean energy economy hit an
important milestone with this weekʼs opening of applications for the Inflation Reduction Actʼs
Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit, 48(e). On the first day of the 30-day application
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FACT SHEET: How the Inflation Reduction Act’s Tax Incentives Are Ensuring All Americans Benefit from the Growth of …

window, the Administration received 725 applications from communities across the country,
representing around 170 MW of capacity.
This groundbreaking allocated credit provides up to a 10 or 20-percentage point boost to the
Investment Tax Credit for qualified solar or wind facilities in low-income communities. The
goals of the program are to increase clean energy facilities in low-income communities,
encourage new market participants, and benefit individuals and communities that have
experienced adverse health or environmental e ects or lacked economic opportunities. This
program will advance President Bidenʼs Investing in America Agenda by lowering energy costs
and providing breathing room for hard-working families, investing in good-paying clean
energy jobs in low-income communities, and supporting small business growth.
The Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit program will allocate 1.8 gigawatts of capacity
available for the 2023 program across four categories of solar or wind facilities with maximum
output of less than five megawatts. The IRS intends to allocate up to: 700 megawatts to
facilities located in low-income communities; 200 megawatts to facilities located on Indian
land; 200 megawatts to facilities that are part of federally-subsidized residential buildings,
including housing supported by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and Section 8 of the
Housing Act; and 700 megawatts to facilities where at least 50% of the financial benefits of
the electricity produced go to households with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty line
or below 80 percent of area median gross income. Awards under this program will start to be
made by the end of the year.
President Bidenʼs economic strategy leverages the importance of people and places to help us
reach our economic potential and Treasury is working to ensure that all Americans and
communities across the country benefit from the growth of the clean energy economy:

F IRST, T HE INF LAT ION REDUCT ION ACT PROVIDES
TARGET ED INCENT IVES TO DRIVE INVEST MENT AND
CREAT E OPPORT UNIT Y IN COMMUNIT IES ACROSS T HE
COUNT RY.
As Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen has said, the Biden Administrationʼs economic plan
“embraces the notion that some of the best opportunities for growth occur when we invest in
people and places that have been forgotten and overlooked.”
The Inflation Reduction Actʼs clean energy tax incentives were designed to further this
approach and provide place-based bonuses for investing in low-income communities and
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FACT SHEET: How the Inflation Reduction Act’s Tax Incentives Are Ensuring All Americans Benefit from the Growth of …

communities that have historically depended on the fossil fuel industry for jobs or been
harmed by pollution.
The Inflation Reduction Act modifies and extends the clean energy Investment Tax Credit to
provide up to a 30% credit for qualifying investments in wind, solar, energy storage, and other
renewable energy projects that meet prevailing wage standards and employ a su icient
proportion of qualified apprentices from registered apprenticeship programs (discussed in
greater detail in the next section). In addition to the bonus for the Investment Tax Credit for
projects in low-income communities, the Inflation Reduction Act:
Provides a bonus credit of up to 10 percentage points for qualifying clean energy
investments in energy communities.
The Inflation Reduction Act modifies and extends the Renewable Energy Production Tax
Credit to provide a credit of up to 2.75 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2022 dollars (adjusted for
inflation annually) of electricity generated from qualified renewable energy sources where
taxpayers meet prevailing wage standards and employ a su icient proportion of qualified
apprentices from registered apprenticeship programs. In connection with the Production Tax
Credit, the Inflation Reduction Act:
Provides a bonus credit of 10 percent for qualifying clean energy production in energy
communities.
The Inflation Reduction Act provides at least $4 billion from the Advanced Energy Project
Credit – an allocated credit of up to 30% for advanced energy manufacturing investments –
to projects in areas that have seen the closure of a coal mine or retirement of a coal-fired
electric generating unit.

SECOND, T HE INF LAT ION REDUCT ION ACT ENCOURAGES
CLEAN ENERGY PROJECT DEVELOPERS TO MEET ST RONG
LAB OR STANDARDS, SO T HAT W ORKERS B ENEF IT F ROM
T HE CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY T HEY ARE HELPING TO
B UILD.
According to third-party estimates, the Inflation Reduction Actʼs climate and clean energy tax
incentives have the potential to drive investment that will support more than 1 million jobs in
energy and related manufacturing sectors over the coming decade. Reflecting the Biden
Administrationʼs commitment to supporting workers, the Inflation Reduction Act provides
taxpayers with a strong incentive to meet high labor standards as they build projects. By
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creating incentives for paying prevailing wages and utilizing qualified apprentices from
registered apprenticeship programs in clean energy projects, the Inflation Reduction Act is
helping expand well-paying union jobs and support proven pathways into the industry that
allow workers to earn while they learn.
To receive increased credit and deduction amounts under the Inflation Reduction Act,
taxpayers must:
Pay workers the local prevailing wage, defined in accordance with Department of Labor
standards, for work on facility construction, as well as for alterations and repairs in a fiveto-twelve-year period, depending on the credit, a er a facility is placed in service.
Hire a su icient proportion of workers from registered apprenticeship programs, including
hiring these qualified apprentices for at least 10% of the labor hours spent on facility
construction, alteration, or repair work (rising to 12.5% for facilities where construction
begins in 2023 and 15% in 2024 and later years)
The prevailing wage and apprenticeship provisions apply to:
the Alternative Fuel Refueling Property Credit (30C)
the Production Tax Credit (45, 45Y)
the Credit for Carbon Oxide Sequestration (45Q)
the Credit for Production of Clean Hydrogen (45V)
the Clean Fuel Production Credit (45Z)
the Investment Tax Credit (48, 48E)
the Advanced Energy Project Credit (48C)
the Energy E icient Commercial Buildings Deduction (179D)
In addition, the prevailing wage provision will apply to:
the New Energy E icient Home Credit (45L)
the Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit (45U)
The prevailing wage and apprenticeship provisions went into e ect on January 29, 2023.
For both the Investment Tax Credit and Production Tax Credit, the Inflation Reduction Act
also provides bonus credits for meeting requirements to use materials produced in the United
States, which will further support good-paying manufacturing jobs in the clean energy supply
chain.

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FACT SHEET: How the Inflation Reduction Act’s Tax Incentives Are Ensuring All Americans Benefit from the Growth of …

T HIRD, T HE INF LAT ION REDUCT ION ACT W ILL LOW ER T HE
COSTS OF ENERGY-SAVING PROPERT Y IMPROVEMENTS
AND ROOF TOP SOLAR INSTALLAT ION, SAVING W ORKING
FAMILIES AND SMALL B USINESSES MONEY ON T HEIR
MONT HLY UT ILIT Y B ILLS AND EMPOW ERING FAMILIES
AND B USINESSES TO SHIELD T HEMSELVES F ROM
VOLAT ILE F OSSIL ENERGY PRICES.
Household energy costs are a significant burden for many families and small businesses
across the country. And when events like Russiaʼs unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine
cause a fossil energy price spike, low- and moderate-income families are o en the hardest hit.
Small businesses likewise face pressure as volatile energy prices eat into their profits. As we
expand the clean energy economy, a typical family will save hundreds of dollars per year on
their energy bills, and small businesses will be able to take advantage of programs to cut their
energy costs by improving energy e iciency in their facilities. The Inflation Reduction Act will
also provide direct assistance to American families investing in their homes to lower their
energy bills and shield themselves from future volatility in fossil energy prices. Specifically, the
Inflation Reduction Act:
Extends and expands the Energy E icient Home Improvement Credit, providing a total
credit of up to $1,200 annually for installing insulation or e icient windows and doors,
with a special credit of as much as $2,000 for electric heat pumps that provide supere icient heating and cooling, including a $150 credit for a home energy audit conducted
by an inspector to help determine the best home improvement options.
Extends the Residential Clean Energy Credit, ensuring that households will be able to
continue receiving a tax credit to cover up to 30 percent of the costs of installing roo op
solar and, starting next year, battery storage, through at least 2034.
Expands the Energy E icient Commercial Buildings Deduction so that the level of a
building ownerʼs deduction increases as the cost savings generated by energy e iciency
investments increases, which will reward greater energy e iciency.
For more information on these tax credits as well as related rebates administered by the
Department of Energy, please visit CleanEnergy.gov.

F OURT H, T HE INF LAT ION REDUCT ION ACT ALLOW S
STAT E, LOCAL, AND T RIB AL GOVERNMENTS, AS W ELL AS
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NON-PROF IT ORGANIZAT IONS AND OT HER TAX-EXEMPT
ENT IT IES, SUCH AS RURAL ELECT RIC CO-OPERAT IVES, TO
RECEIVE CERTAIN TAX CREDITS AS PAY MENTS,
EXPANDING T HE RANGE OF ACTORS T HAT W ILL HAVE A
DIRECT INCENT IVE TO INVEST IN T HEIR COMMUNIT IES.
The Inflation Reduction Act recognizes that state, local and Tribal governments, as well as
non-profit organizations and other tax-exempt entities, have played and will continue to play
a central role in making investments to build a clean energy economy. To further promote
broad-based investment across the country, the Inflation Reduction Act allows these actors
to receive certain tax credits as direct payments from the Internal Revenue Service,
streamlining these entitiesʼ access to key incentives and supporting their investments in local
communities.
State, local, and Tribal governments, as well as non-profit organizations and other tax-exempt
entities, may elect to receive the following credits as direct payments:
Tax-Exempt Entities Only
the Production Tax Credit (45, 45Y)
the Investment Tax Credit (48, 48E)
the Credit for Qualified Commercial Clean Vehicles (45W)
the Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit (45U)
the Alternative Fuel Refueling Property Credit (30C)
the Advanced Energy Project Credit (48C)
the Clean Fuel Production Credit (45Z)
Businesses eligible for up to five years
the Credit for Carbon Oxide Sequestration (45Q)
the Credit for Production of Clean Hydrogen (45V)
the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit (45X)
Todayʼs fact sheet comes ahead of the Treasury Departmentʼs third annual Freedmanʼs Bank
Forum on October 25, where senior Biden-Harris Administration o icials will join key leaders
from the public, private, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors to discuss the Biden-Harris
Administrationʼs e orts to increase economic opportunity for communities of color. Media
wishing to attend can RSVP to press@treasury.gov.
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