I Fought the Law...

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HCMarkus
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I Fought the Law...

Post by HCMarkus »

SO... I got a letter from the IRS today. It adjusted my tax return in a manner that result in a refund reduced by about $2,600. In its letter, the IRS mentioned the Alternative Energy tax credit.

I installed a solar system in 2015. Researched and, with a little help from a neighbor, installed the system myself. Cost me about 1/2 of what the contractors wanted. Filed the form that provides a 30% tax credit, but whoever examined my return decided there was a $1,000 cap on the credit.

This cap does not exist.

So I called and, after waiting 35 minutes, got thru to a helpful chap who, after some calculations and three more (5-7 minute) holds, advised me he was revising my return to my original figures and I can expect another check in 30 days for $2,600.

I fought the law and I won! :woohoo:

PS: my electric bill for year one: $400. System will pay for itself in about 3 more years, then its (mostly) free electricity until Net Metering agreement expires 16 years later.
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mikehalloran
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by mikehalloran »

I love it when that happens.

Something similar happened to me in 1987. Details aren't important but I wound up asking that an investigator be assigned to my case. After assuring the operator that I wasn't crazy, I was connected to someone who took charge and, in two weeks, he was able to release a $5k refund check that had been held up nearly a year.
Last edited by mikehalloran on Wed Jun 08, 2016 12:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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cuttime
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by cuttime »

Love stories like this. What kind of cells and batteries do you use?
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HCMarkus
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by HCMarkus »

No Batteries.. grid interactive using 26 x 255 watt Renesola cells and Enphase micro inverters. It was a very gratifying project, especially now that I will realize the full tax credit!

The key was finding a local guy who drafted the plans submitted for my permit. The plans gave me all the info I needed to wire the rig up. Micro inverters are pretty much plug & play, as they each put out 240v and snap connect to each panel and the Enphase trunk cable. Hardest parts were mounting the roof standoffs and figuring out how to wire my center-feed main panel. In the end, all I had to do was move a few breakers around to avoid a theoretical bus overload possibility.

I selected panels based on cost per watt; my research suggests that solar panels are pretty much a commodity item. Yes, I bought Chinese panels, but could't pass up 70.5 cents per watt for 255 watt panels, a killer price in March 2015. Renvu.com was my source for panels and inverters. I sourced the Iron Ridge mounting system locally, finding the best price (and no shipping expense) about 10 miles from home.
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wylie1
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by wylie1 »

I've thinking about this kind of thing my garage roof would be perfect for it.
What kind of work do you have to do to your hydro meter to get the power back to the grid?
I heard music produced with green energy sounds better.
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HCMarkus
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by HCMarkus »

wylie1 wrote:I've thinking about this kind of thing my garage roof would be perfect for it.
What kind of work do you have to do to your hydro meter to get the power back to the grid?
I heard music produced with green energy sounds better.
+1 on the sound for sure!

I assume you mean electrical meter... No work at all. Solar power is delivered to breaker box, back fed through 2 x 20 amp breakers. I already had a smart meter. It registers in reverse when production exceeds load.
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by wylie1 »

HCMarkus wrote: +1 on the sound for sure!

I assume you mean electrical meter... .
Yes we still call it Hydro here long ago all our power came from Hydro electric dams.
I have a smart meter as well I'll have to do some research to wrap my head around how power can go back the other way.
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mhschmieder
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by mhschmieder »

It's funny when the government pleads to give us back money, so to speak. :-)

I somehow goofed up on my state taxes, due to all the complicated redundancies with poor explanations, and got back a few hundred more than I had filed for this year. :-)

Good info on the solar system credits and how that played out; that should help a lot of people.
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by Shooshie »

I've used a very expensive accountant for the past two years' taxes. I now know why people do that. My taxes have been so low, I'm almost afraid to look at them. However, I did look, and I have no idea — zero — what 95% of those forms even mean.

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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by monkey man »

This stuff's all well beyond me as a fall well below any tax bracket to speak of.

I heard something interesting the other day 'though:
If you install solar here where I live, if you say "yes" on a form when your utility provider asks whether or not you have it, you get charged 35c per whatever instead of the usual, I think, 28c for your electricity. Obviously their way of squeezing you for more when you're set to use less.

Incredible IMHO. We've some of the highest prices in the world when we have 300+ years' worth of coal left... and that's just the stuff we know about. In fact, in South Australia, where they've been forging ahead with renewables, especially wind power, electricity is practically the most expensive in the world, with further increases on the way later this year... and more to follow.

This stuff affects me greatly. As it is, I can't afford to run any heating in winter and live in darkness all year 'round, and these days if I turn my gear on for a few days just to test things or whatever it affects my bill to the point that I barely manage to pay it. God knows what I'll do once I eventually start recording and powering up every day. I'm hoping that the untold benefits of actually making music will somehow ameliorate the stress and attendant complexities of dealing with the inordinately-high associated electrical costs.

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HCMarkus
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by HCMarkus »

Hey, Hey MM, you're gonna' make some great music... maybe license a few tunes and get a heater!
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by crescentoon55 »

At least you didn't owe them 35,000 like i did....
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Shooshie
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by Shooshie »

crescentoon55 wrote:At least you didn't owe them 35,000 like i did....
EEEK! I hope it was at least because of a windfall, and not penalties.
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monkey man
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Re: I Fought the Law...

Post by monkey man »

Shooshie wrote:
crescentoon55 wrote:At least you didn't owe them 35,000 like i did....
EEEK! I hope it was at least because of a windfall, and not penalties.
Oh man. Oh man. Oh man!
HCMarkus wrote:Hey, Hey MM, you're gonna' make some great music... maybe license a few tunes and get a heater!
Alriiiight! I like the sound of that Sir Markus.

Hitoons, here I come... eventually... just wait right there, Hitoons... hang on...

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