[bldg-sim] IRS Unveils Procedure Enabling Commercial Property Owners to Qualify for Energy Efficiency Deduction

[Drury.Crawley at EE.DOE.GOV]

 IRS Unveils Procedure Enabling Commercial Property Owners to Qualify  
 for Energy Efficiency Deduction                                       
                                                                       
                                                                       
                                                                       
                                                                       
                                                                       
 IR-2006-88, June 2, 2006                                              
                                                                       
                                                                       
 WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued an advance     
 copy of a notice on how commercial building owners or leaseholders    
 can qualify for the tax deduction for making their building energy    
 efficient. The notice establishes a process to certify the required   
 energy savings in order to claim the deduction.                       
                                                                       
                                                                       
 The commercial building deduction, which was enacted in the Energy    
 Policy Act of 2005, allows taxpayers to deduct the cost of            
 energy-efficient property installed in commercial buildings.          
                                                                       
                                                                       
 The amount deductible may be as much as $1.80 per square foot of      
 building floor area for buildings that achieve a 50-percent energy    
 savings target. The notice provides that buildings below the          
 50-percent threshold may, nevertheless, qualify for a deduction of up 
 to 60 cents per square foot of building floor area if they meet a     
 16⅔-percent energy savings target.                                    
                                                                       
                                                                       
 Before claiming the deduction, the taxpayer must obtain a             
 certification that the required energy savings will be achieved.      
 Today’s notice prescribes the content of that certification and the   
 qualifications that must be met by the person providing the           
 certification.                                                        
                                                                       
                                                                       
 The notice also announces that the Department of Energy will create   
 and maintain a public list of software that must be used to calculate 
 energy savings for purposes of providing the certification. It also   
 provides a process that software developers must use if they desire   
 to have their software included on that list.                         
                                                                       
                                                                       


http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=158395,00.html