Thursday, December 17, 2015

USA: Tax Extenders Bill for Geothermal Could be Passed Today

Congress Set to Vote On Spending Bill Including 5 Year Extension of ITC and PTC (Lexology)

U.S. congressional leaders reached a much anticipated bi-partisan agreement in an omnibus appropriations bill that includes an extension (with phasedowns) of the section 48 investment tax credit (ITC) for solar energy property and section 45 renewable electricity production tax credit (PTC) for wind. (The 2000+ page bill is available here.)

A separate tax extenders bill (available here) negotiated in parallel with the omnibus appropriations bill includes a straight 2-year extension with no phase downs for other renewable energy facilities eligible for the section 45 credit including geothermal, biomass, landfill gas and certain qualified hydropower and marine hydrokinetic energy projects. The tax extenders bill also extends bonus depreciation for 5 years at 50% for the first 3 years and phased down to 40% in 2018 and 30% in 2019.

The House and Senate will vote on the tax extenders bill today followed by the omnibus bill on Friday before Congress adjourns for the holidays.