Green investments, green credits, recycling, energy saving. Whether out of necessity or conviction, it is undeniable that the concept of environmental sustainability and the green touch to almost everything we do in our lives is increasingly present.
The tax system is not lagging behind this trend and in recent years both the State and the autonomous communities have begun to include tax incentives to promote environmentalism through tax deductions.
The problem, as in the rest of the deductions, is that if it is about acts that we carry out very far in time, you can forget to include them in the declaration and you lose the possibility of reducing the final annual invoice with the tax authorities.
These are the main incentives to take into account at the national and regional level.
At the national level, the legislation accepts deductions related to the rehabilitation of housing to gain energy efficiency, among which the installation of solar panels stands out.
This deduction includes works to improve the energy efficiency of homes. The economic crisis caused the Government to approve in October 2021 a series of deductions for those who carried out works in their usual homes with the aim of improving their energy efficiency within the plan.
They were extended in 2022 and will be in force until the end of 2024, for now. An example of improvements that could be funded would be a change of windows.
The owners can deduct up to 20% of the amounts invested in works for remodeling the habitual residence (whether for own use or to rent) with a maximum of 5,000 euros per year.
The taxpayer must confirm that the reform has managed to reduce the demand for heating and cooling in the home by at least 7%. To do this, you must provide an energy efficiency certificate of less than two years before starting the work and a subsequent one before January 1, 2024. The deduction cannot be applied if more than two years have passed between one certificate and the other.
In this case, the reform must provide a reduction in non-renewable energy consumption of more than 30% in the habitual residence or intended for rent for habitual residence. This transformation, like the previous one, must be officially certified.
The percentage of the deduction will be 40% of the money contributed for the reform up to a maximum of 7,500 euros per year. In this case, the change to a more efficient boiler or from a fossil energy to a cleaner one could fall under this deduction, but also a geothermal installation.
In this case, the concept of the deduction is the renovation of a building dedicated mainly to residential use. Includes neighboring buildings or chalets. The owner can deduct 60% of the amounts paid in this remodeling between October 6, 2021 and December 31, 2024, with a maximum of 5,000 euros per year without exceeding a total of 15,000 euros.
The cladding of facades and roofs is one of the most common reforms that can be deducted, although the installation of solar panels to reduce the community or private use of electricity could also be included.
In the case of buildings with more than one owner, such as neighborhood associations, each co-owner may deduct the amounts that they have paid for carrying out the works in the part that proportionally corresponds to their percentage of ownership in the habitual residence. . It is given regardless of whether the invoice corresponding to the works has been issued solely in the name of one of the co-owners of the dwelling.
"In no case can the same work carried out in a home give the right to more than one of these deductions," explain the tax experts from the Registry of Fiscal Advisory Economists (REAF). These deductions may include expenses not only for direct work, but also professional fees, technical projects, construction management, equipment and materials, as well as the cost of the necessary energy efficiency certificates.
The deduction for solar panels is included in those mentioned above, the owner of a home that has installed solar panels may deduct between 20% and 60% depending on the reduction in energy efficiency that has been achieved up to a maximum of 5,000 and 7,500 euros per installation.
Regarding solar panels and the income statement, it is convenient to know in the first place that, as a general rule, "aid to install solar panels constitutes a capital gain that is taxed and that must be allocated in the year in which it is collected, in the specific section for this concept”, according to the REAF tax experts.
Beyond the national norm, the autonomous communities also include more deductions related to ecology, the environment and sustainability each year.
Some autonomous communities increase the limits of the tax base for investments to improve the sustainability of housing.
Deductions for donations to ecological entities or for environmental purposes are the most widespread in the autonomous community.
The purchase of electric cars, the alternative that is called to replace combustion engines in the coming years, also has regional deductions. In all cases they must be for private and non-business use.
La Rioja is the only autonomous community that has a deduction in its IRPF quota to buy traditional bicycles (non-assisted pedalling). 15% of its cost is deductible with a maximum of 50 euros per vehicle and two are allowed for each family unit.
