The revised technical guidance document for the 179D Federal tax deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings has been published!

Energy Savings Modeling and Inspection Guidelines for Commercial Building Federal Tax Deductions for Buildings in 2016 and Later
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy16osti/66774.pdf

As many of you know the 179D Federal tax deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings was revised for 2016. The major change was to use 90.1-2007 for the reference building definition. The new guidelines have been updated with the references to 90.1-2007 and simplified to make the process easier to follow.

The list of qualified software is provided at http://energy.gov/eere/buildings/qualified-software-calculating-commercial-building-tax-deductions. Currently there are no software packages that have qualified for the new rules for 2016, so you will have to wait to file the tax paper work. Some of the software vendors are working on the qualifications and we hope to have them on the website in the coming months. In the meantime, you can use the existing software packages to estimate the qualification status (with a 90.1-2007 reference), but you will have to use a qualified software for the final determination.

Because of the change in the reference case, the 179D DOE Calculator is no longer valid for the 179D tax deduction for buildings constructed in 2016. However, it is still a useful tool for quick calculations.

Best
Michael

Michael Deru, PhD
Engineering Manager | Commercial Buildings Research Group
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
15013 Denver West Parkway | Golden, CO 80401
303-384-7503 | M: 303-725-3528
michael.deru at nrel.gov | www.nrel.gov