Don’t confuse a tax credit with a tax deduction. If you are not sure about the difference, it’s a good time to clear up some tax terms. For the sake of length, this post will only cover tax credits. I cover tax deductions in Tax Deductions: Above-the-Line, Standard, Itemized, and Miscellaneous.
A tax credit directly reduces your tax, dollar for dollar. If you are supposed to pay $5,000 in tax, a $500 tax credit reduces your tax to $4,500. On the other hand, a tax deduction reduces your taxable income, which indirectly reduces your tax. If you are supposed to pay $5,000 in tax, a $500 tax deduction reduces your taxable income by $500. If you are in the 15% marginal tax bracket, it reduces your tax by only $500 * 15% = $75. Therefore a $100 tax credit is worth a lot more than a $100 tax deduction.
Within tax credits, some are refundable tax credits and some are non-refundable tax credits. Here the word refundable often causes confusion because most people refer to the difference between their tax withholding and their total tax as the tax refund.
Tax Refund (R) = Tax Withholding (W) – Total Tax (T)
When they hear that a tax credit is non-refundable, they think they are not going to get the tax credit if they receive a refund versus owe taxes when they file their tax return by April 15, because the credit is, uh, non-refundable. Actually that’s not the case.
Non-refundable does NOT mean it’s not going to be included in the tax refund. It has to do with how it works against your total tax (T) in the above equation. That’s the total tax you are supposed to pay for the year after all the adjustments, exemptions, deductions, and credits are taken into consideration. Most people already satisfied that through tax withholding on their paychecks or by making estimated tax payments.
A refundable tax credit can reduce your total tax to a negative number, which means the government pays you. For example suppose your total tax before the tax credit is $1,500, a $2,000 refundable tax credit means you not only get back everything you paid through tax withholding, but you also get an extra $500 back from other taxpayers. Your total federal income tax for the year is negative.
A non-refundable tax credit can reduce your tax to zero but your tax can’t go below zero. For example suppose your total tax before the tax credit is $1,500, a $2,000 non-refundable tax credit means you will get back everything you paid through tax withholding and that’s it. Your actual benefit from this non-refundable tax credit is $1,500, not $2,000.
If you pay enough taxes, it doesn’t matter whether a tax credit is refundable or non-refundable. Otherwise, a $100 refundable tax credit is better than a $100 non-refundable tax credit.
The following table lists some of the tax credits in alphabetical order. All the links point to the official IRS web site for that topic. Every tax credit has a unique set of qualification rules. Out of 15 tax credits listed here, five are refundable; the other ten are non-refundable.
| Tax Credit | Refundable? |
|---|---|
| Additional Child Tax Credit | Yes |
| Adoption | No |
| American Opportunity Credit | 40% refundable |
| Child and Dependent Care | No |
| Child Tax Credit | No |
| Earned Income Credit | Yes |
| Elderly and Disabled Credit | No |
| Excess Social Security Tax Withheld | Yes |
| Foreign Tax Credit | No |
| Lifetime Learning Credit | No |
| Plug-In Electric Drive Vehicle Credit | No |
| Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit | No |
| Retirement Savings Contributions Credit (aka Saver’s Credit) | No |
I doubt anybody can recite all the rules without a reference book. CPAs included. How many credits do you qualify?
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Jason Hatlestad says
I just bought my first house (March 10, 2010) and qualify for the $8,000 first time home buyers tax credit. I plan on claiming this tax credit for the tax year of 2010. I currently have about $8000 in tax liabilities (money I owe to federal government from job’s paycheck). I understand that the first time home buyer is a tax credit and I get the $8000 regardless of my tax liability. Here is my issue:
I need to purchase a new water heater…if I decide to go with one that meets the requirements for the 30% tax refund of energy efficiency, will I be able to claim it? From what I read, that tax refund states if your tax liability is $0, then you don’t get the money. So what I’m wondering, is will the first time homebuyer $8000 credit reduce my liability to $0 meaning I won’t be allowed to collect on the 30% tax refund for an energy appliance that meets the ratings??
Jason Hatlestad says
I might have figured out my answer by reading comments in Refundable Tax Credit and Non-Refundable Tax Credit. To clarify my question….
1. I have a $8000 Refundable Tax Credit for First Time Homebuyer I’m claiming in 2010.
2. I will owe about $8000 in Tax Liability for 2010.
3. I want to purchase a new water heater that meets the Energy Efficiency Tax Credit which is Non-Refundable. Let’s just say it is worth $750.
If Refundable is subtracted first, my Tax Liability = $0 which means I don’t get the $750. If Non-Refundable is subtracted first, my Tax refund will equal $8,750. Can you verify this for me??
Harry Sit says
Jason – See comments #8 and #38. Non-refundable credits are applied before refundable credits.
Julie says
Thanks for your comments about refundable vs non refundable credits. We have to replace a broken furnace and all the contractors are telling me that we would get the full 30% tax credit refunded to us regardless of our tax liability; even if we owe $0 in taxes. One even told me he had a paper from the IRS stating that fact, although he didn’t have it with him .
After 3 days on figuring this out myself, I figured out that if my tax liability is only $400 and the heating credit is equal to 30% of $4000 ($1200), then I would only get $400 of the heating credit applied against my tax liability and no refund! Someone needs to clarify this to these heating contractor who are misleading people into believing they’d get the whole credit refunded!
Julie says
Scenario: I qualify for the child tax credit for $2000 and I have a residential energy property credit of $1200 and my tax liability is $600.
Questions: Would both the child tax credit and energy credit be applied against my tax liability? Would the child tax credit be shifted to the refundable additional child tax credit? Would the child tax credit be divided between the child tax credit and additional child tax credit?
I know in your chart that it says the child tax credit is nonrefundable, but how does this scenario affect the additional child tax credit (refundable)?
If i’ve figured this out correctly, the child tax credit and the additional child tax credit combine equal the credit amount one qualifies for, so if you can’t use the child tax credit against your tax liability it shifts to the additional child tax credit and you get it as a refund right?
Harry Sit says
Julie – The amount of child tax credit that can shift to refundable is capped by your income. You will have to follow the IRS worksheets in Publication 972 and see how much will shift. If you are in the right sweet spot, it’s possible 100% of the child tax credit becomes refundable for you.
Tom Tomich says
What happens if you have excess non-refundable credits? Can they be carried forward to the next tax year or are they just lost? Specifically I am talking about a credit for putting solar panels on my home.
Harry Sit says
Tom – Some nonrefundable credit can’t be carried forward and some can. Specifically the credit for solar panels can be carried forward to at least 2016.
FREE says
Scenario: I have $26,000.00 (30% of cost) federal credit for solar panel installation and a $1,500.00 federal credit for high efficiency heating/cooling unit. My tax liabality we”ll say is $10,000. I overpay may taxes to the tune of $18,000.00.
I’m not sure if these credits are added together then applied or is there an specific order in which they must be used. I read the solar credit can be carried over to the following tax year(s),however, the HVAC cannot. Would I get back the overpayment of $8,000 + $10,000 ($1,500.00 HVAC + $8,500.00 solar) leaving me with a balance credit of $17,500 (solar) which I would carry forward to the next tax year.
I assumed the solar credits were non-refundable for this scenario, however , if I’m incorrect, please advise.
Harry Sit says
@FREE – You did it correctly.
Ann says
Hello – first off, great article! I’m a former CPA and still had a hard time finding articles that clearly explained how non-refundable credits work. Please confirm my understanding of my current situation:
I qualify for the California New Home State Credit of $10K (to be applied in 3 equal, annual, installments), so $3,333 each year. This credit is non-refundable.
Though I claim a “9” in withholdings, I still typically receive a state tax refund due to mortgage interest and property tax deductions. I expect to receive a refund again for the 2010 tax year.
Because I have had more than $3,333 state taxes withheld from my paycheck, am I still eligible to receive the $3,333 first installment of the tax credit in addition to whatever I’m already owed as a result of overpayment?
Thanks!
Ben says
This article very clearly explains the refundable tax credit. Just to clarify, every time the taxes owed is below zero due to a refundable tax credit and a person receives money from the government beyond their income withheld, this is money that essentially comes out of the income of other taxpayers who paid taxes since “the government” has no money except tax money. Correct? Thoughts?
Kevin says
Regarding Ben’s previous comment, W2 wage earners with zero income tax liability are still paying payroll taxes as is their employer (about 15% marginal rate combined). I believe a majority of filers now pay more in payroll tax than income tax, and percentage of total govt revenue from each source is pretty similar (40-ish % of total federal revenues from each source). So one shouldn’t equate taxes with income taxes and forget that the payroll tax exists.
When one has refundable and non-refundable credits the order in which they are applied often matters. Among the IRS pubs, I was never able to figure the order out… only way to determine this was to do my Turbotax return early and see what the resulting return came out to.
Harry Sit says
@Kevin – You are correct people still pay payroll tax if they work. However they also expect to receive Social Security and Medicare when they retire. Payroll taxes can be seen as prepaying for future benefits even though technically they go to current recipients.
Kevin says
That’s one way to think about it, but it strikes me as social security lockbox thinking. First, it’s not clear what benefits will actually accrue to a given individual decades down the line (rules will change, person might not survive to retirement).
Also by the same logic, should I discount in a similar way significant portions of my income taxes because those funds flow into agricultural subsidies to ADM or defense budget contracts with Boeing (both of which have immediate benefits to my index fund holdings and my local economy this year and not decades down the line)? For these reasons, I consider payroll taxes to be just taxes.
Kim says
Great article..it explained a few things I have been wondering…but I am still blurry on my situation.
My husband owes from a previous year, however we qualify for a few tax credits this year. Will those credits pay what he owes from then or will they pay off what we owe from or total refund?
^^If that doesnt make sense I’m sorry! I have worked myself into a frenzie!
Dave says
Just one small quibble. In your otherwise excellent article, you say that if your…”total tax before the tax credit is $1,500, a $2,000 refundable tax credit means you not only get back everything you paid through tax withholding, but you also get an extra $500 back from the government. ”
That extra $500 isn’t something you are getting “back” from the government, since you never gave it to them in the first place. Many, if not most EITC filers are unaware that the check they receive each year is in fact a cash payment from taxpayers to them. It’s income redistribution, disguised as a tax refund.
Harry Sit says
@Dave – Thank you for the correction. I struck out the last “back” in the sentence you quoted.
Kevin says
Dave comment 67.
EITC filers give money to the government via the payroll tax (15% effective rate; half from your employer), and most are only “getting back” that amount or less. There is a subset of EITC filers (generally if you have 3 or more kids) that get more than their payroll taxes, so that could certainly be considered as cash welfare. From a public policy standpoint though, EITC (which expanded in Reagan 1986 tax reforms) is far superior to welfare/food stamps/etc. in that it gives clear incentives for people to earn income.
marlin says
#46 regarding jim’s comment:
i think that does not include the part 1 (nonbusiness energy property credit) of form 5695, for windows etc….as far as carryover goes….just part 2 for solar etc. credits are carryover to next years
marlin
SDPinky17 says
I’m still confused. I qualified for a $6,552 Sustainable Building Tax Credit in New Mexico. It’s a non-refundable credit, so does this mean I won’t actually see this money in the form of a refund? Altogether, I’ll get about $4800 back from my federal and state returns. When I entered the tax credit on my e-file form it didn’t budge either return. Should I raise the number of exemptions I claim since I’ve got this credit under my belt?
SDPinky17 says
(addition to previous comment) Or is this credit only applicable to state taxes since it’s a state credit?
Harry Sit says
@SDPinky17 – If it’s a state credit, it’s only applicable to state taxes.
Jazzbo says
About tax credits.I have inherited 35,000.00 in tax credits. Are these refundable or non?
Harry Sit says
@marlin – You are correct about carrying forward tax credit for residential energy efficiency improvements. Only credits for solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, solar water heater, small wind energy systems, and fuel cells can be carried forward. Tax credits for other products can’t be carried forward. See
http://energystar.supportportal.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=14819
Carol says
Question on the Adoption Tax carryover…child’s adoption finalized in 2009. For 2009, our adoption credit was $5,311. Our return indicated that we would be able to carryover $6,839 on 2010 taxes. So, now I am working on my 2010 taxes and I’m using HRBlock.com to do them. When I get to the part about the adoption carryover, I enter my $6,839. It is not changing my refund amount at all…I’m not understanding this, because I was told that we would get the total $12,150 (total adoption credit for 2009) back over a period of 5 years. Can you help me to understand if this is correct? Thanks!!
Harry Sit says
@Carol – Sorry I have no idea what HRBlock.com is doing. Print out the tax forms and see where it entered the carryover. Remove that carryover and print out the forms again. Compare and see what changed.
Valerie says
Question on the Residential Energy Improvement Credit – I was single in 2009 and lived by myself and took advantage of the $1500 credit on my home. I then got married in Mar 2010 and I moved into my husband’s house. We made improvements to this house in 2010 that would qualify for the credit. My husband did not take advantage of the credit yet. Should we file MFS so he can take advantage of the credit for $1500? Or do you think we can file MFJ and take the credit again? OR is the credit not available to him anymore because I took it in 2009 when I was single? Thanks!!!
matthew botsford says
I owe 2,853.00. I have the maximum of 1500. from a 15,000.00 window job(30%) from the residential tax credit but it says I get $0.0 for it. Why?
Ana says
I noticed that for year 2010 those that took advantage of the First-Time Homebuyers credit are required to pay it back.
Which of the credits listed above have to be paid back at a later time?
Harry Sit says
@Ana – The first-time home buyer tax credit is an odd ball. There were three versions with different qualifying purchase periods. Only the first offer requires a payback. It’s not a true tax credit, but merely an interest-free loan. The second and third versions were true tax credits. All other tax credits are also true tax credits and don’t require a payback.
Michele says
Was also wondering about refundable and non-refundable order. Thank you for the article. 🙂
Neil says
My CPA tells me that my $7500 non-refundable tax credit can only be applied on taxes that I haven’t paid. He advises me to not pay taxes for the rest of the year so that the credit can be applied on taxes not paid yet. Is this true? It doesn’t seem to make sense to me. I have paid more than $7500 in taxes from my paycheck withholdings so why wouldn’t I get that back. Please help! This is an emergency!
Gary Raddatz says
Hi, I need help with this one! I bought a new geothermal furnace last November. Now I’m trying to figure out my taxes. It looks like I would enter the 30% number on line 52 of my 1040, which would lower my tax owed from line 46 and be my number on line 55. So, I don’t see how it matters in the end if I owe taxes or I’m getting a refund? It looks like it will add to make an additional refund. But I know it is considered a non-refundable credit. As long as I paid in more than the credit is worth, it seems I will get it.
Thanks, Gary
Harry says
From the article in bold: “Non-refundable does NOT mean it’s not going to be included in the tax refund.”
Mary J. says
Our situation may have already been discussed in the previous blogs, but here it is: Husband & I are getting $15000 (30% of cost) fed tax credit from solar energy installation. We both claim Single/zero allowance on our W4 which helps us a lot when April comes. Together we make almost $300k. Can we reduce our tax withholding this year by $1500/month ($15000 divided by 10 months)? I used 10 months coz it’s now almost March. By doing this we hope to use up the credit. Any advise will be greatly appreciated.
Harry says
Yes you can do that if you want the money sooner, or you can just wait for a larger refund next year.
Mary J. says
Harry, thanks for the quick response. However I don’t think we’ll see a refund if we wait. We don’t expect any tax liability come next April to take advantage of the 30% tax credit. It will stay as credit and rolled over thru 2016.
Harry says
Your total tax isn’t just the amount you owe in addition to your withholding. It’s the amount of tax you must pay, regardless how you pay, whether by withholding or by writing a check. Come next April when your withholding exceeded your total tax for the year after the credit, you will get the extra withholding back. A non-refundable credit only means it can’t take your total tax below zero. With a $300k income I’m sure you pay more than $15k in total tax. When your total tax is high enough it doesn’t matter whether the credit is refundable or nonrefundable. That’s the whole point of this article.
Mary J. says
Harry, thank u so much for your explanation! Sorry but I was just going by what my solar sales person told me yesterday. After reading & understanding this article (which I should have done in the first place, my bad) I can now tell this person that we can actually claim the full value of the credit coz our total tax liability exceeds the credit’s value, right? Thus, withhold less tax now or see it as refund next year. Thanks again!
Harry says
That’s right, as I wrote in the reply to your first comment last night.
White says
This was the most helpful! Basically…if your total taxes owed for the year EXCEED the tax rebate amount…then you could get a refund after all of your other payroll deductions and credits are applied. Because the non-refundable rebate is applied first to reduce your tax liability. BUT…if your total taxes owed for the year are LESS than the rebate amount…then it just reduces your tax liability to zero. For example: You owe a total of $36,000 in taxes. You apply a $16,000 rebate to the total taxes owed which reduces your amount owed to now $20,000. Subtract your payroll taxes paid, other credits, mortgage interest, etc. on top of this and you will likely see a refund. I think I got it!!!
Brian McMahon says
Are tax credits, that are available to qualified applicants through the health insurance marketplace, refundable or non-refundable? What is the minimum income a family of two must have to qualify for tax credits? I ask this because last year I was denied tax credits because my wife and I earned too much to qualify for State Medicade but not enough money to qualify for tax credits.
Harry Sit says
The premium tax credit under Obamacare is refundable. You have a second chance to get it when you file your taxes for 2014. Raise your income above the threshold to make you qualify. Converting some traditional IRA money to Roth is the easiest way.
Ronald Testa says
It is my understanding that if I own money on 2014 income tax return only because of the premium tax credit repayment that the IRS–if I do not pay it back–cannot levy, garnish or, charge me interest or penalties on the amount that is due. They can only reduce any current and future refunds that I may receive. The situation I have here is a client who did not have enough income to file a tax return for a number of years and is only filing this year due to the fact they received a Form 1095-A. They have no funds to repay this excess credit back and the repayment is due to a misunderstanding on what income is included in determining the amount of their monthly premium credit. In error they used the AGI on their 2013 Federal return–one was prepare, but not filed, just to determine what their income would be–which of course did not include any untaxed amount of their Social Security.
If the above statement is true please advise and please provide me with official IRS/healthcare code citations that I can refer to in case of an IRS audit.
Thanks
Tim says
Hi,
My wife and I bought a new house in 2014 which came with a new solar system. we file our taxes jointly and our total income was 247,000. the form 5695 which showed we should receive a credit of $4,535. I got a notice from the IRS that states it did not allow all of the credit ( they only accepted $1,000 and denied $3,535) because on line 53 of my 1040 is limited to the total amount of my tax liability.
I am very dull on tax stuff but this did not seem right, am I wrong and should only get $1,000
Harry Sit says
Line 47 is your total tax liability. Lines 48-54 are your non-refundable credits. You add them up on line 55. Then line 56 says “Subtract line 55 from line 47. If line 55 is more than line 47, enter -0-” If your non-refundable credits exceeded your total tax liability then you are not going to get the full credit.
Tim says
Sorry it took so long but I got out my copy of my 2014 taxes.
Line 47……..42,109 (tax liability)
Line 55……….4,535 (total of non refundable tax credits i.e. Solar)
Line 56……..37,574 (new tax liability)
So my 4,535 tax credit is far from exceeding my tax liability.
Am I missing something here???
Harry Sit says
Call them or write back and point that out to them?
Kristine says
Hi, great article and great explanations. I fully understand the refundable and non-refundable credits with regard to total tax and tax withholding. I also understand that non-refundable credits are applied before refundable. However, this is what I am still unsure about: we installed a solar panel system this year, which will be a $12,000 non-refundable tax credit on next years taxes, we have two dependent children, and, my husband’s income went down drastically, so we will probably qualify for some Earned Income Tax Credit. The child tax credit is non-refundable, so we would be better with the additional child tax credit. Is the EITC refundable if we have completely reduced our tax liability to zero, and would we be able to use both the additional child tax credit and the EITC. If so, then my understanding is that the scenario go like this:
A. Total Tax: 5,000
B. Tax Withholdings: 3,000
C. Solar Panel Credit: 12,000 (use 5,000, 7,000 rollover)
D. Additional Child Tax Credit: 2,000
E. Earned Income Tax Credit: 2,000
B-(A-C)+D+E= 7,000 refund
Is this correct?
Harry Sit says
I’m not an expert on EITC or additional child tax credit. Your math looks good to me.
Henry says
Excellent article, thanks. This answered a lot of questions I had and cleared up some misunderstandings.
Jody says
Thank you for a clear, clean explanation of the how the tax credit applies to the cost of renewable energy installations. I am an installer of renewable energies and homeowners always have questions about the process. I will amend my estimates and cost-breakdowns to include the phrase “non-refundable” when detailing the available federal tax incentive.
Gary says
So I’m somewhat confused on the solar tax credit. My wife and I have a combined income of around $90k. We both claim single and zero dependents. We normally receive a tax refund of around $4000. Our solar tax credit is just over $3000. I understand that it’s a non-refundable credit. What I’m thinking is that we should change our withholdings to benefit from the credit next year, since whatever we don’t use this year will roll over. We won’t use any of the credit this year, due to receiving a refund. But I can try to owe $3000 next year to use that credit. Am I thinking correctly? Or is there something I’m missing?
Gary says
I just read your response on another question above. The tax credit not used this year will roll over and be used next year and then I will receive back $3000 more of my withholdings than I would have…..correct?
Elyse says
I don’t understand why my refund is not as high as what I would have considered a much higher calculated refund. With my limited knowledge, would it be because I qualify into the low end of a tax bracket that I have in previous years qualified into the higher end of a lesser bracket. If I could please get a brief answer on how the tax bracket decides on the aggregate refund, would this be a reason why I am getting a lesser refund than previous years? With that being said, would making around 33% more cause me to receive less?
Daniel says
I feel duped by the IRS….
I searched and searched and searched for information related to the Electric Vehicle Tax Credit. After studying diligently, it became self-evident (given the IRS information available and feedback from such forums as this) that I could utilize pretty much all of a $7,500 non-refundable credit for purchasing a Chevy Volt. So I made the purchase on November 30, 2015.
Now that it’s filing time, my trusty Tax-Act program tells me I can only use $754 of the credit!!
Here’s why…. I am self-employed, and a large chunk of what I understood to be my $8,000+ in tax liability is actually Social Security Tax liability instead of Federal Tax liability.
So even though the nonrefundable EV Tax Credit is resolved first in our return (which should have ensured that I received ALL of my $3,000 refundable Additional Child Tax Credit, it turns out that the EV Tax Credit is actually resolved even further up the chain so that it ONLY applies to our Federal Tax Liability and not to any of the “Other Taxes” Category into which our Self-Employment Tax falls.
So my Federal Tax Liability of $1,954 (line47) was reduced $1,200 by my Credit for Child & Dependent Care (line49). Then it was further reduced $754 by my EV Credit (line54 according to TaxAct), which left me at $0 with $6,746 in wasted EV Credit!
THEN, my Self-Employment Tax of $5,425 was added (line57) followed by my Household Employment Tax of $426 (line60a) which left me with a total of $5,851 (line63).
Next, my wife’s tax withholdings reduced this total by $1,651 (line64). And then our Additional Child Tax Credit further reduced the total by $3,000 (line67). So we are left owing $1,200 (line78).
This is a sad sad reality for us to discover at this point.
How could we have known that the IRS would put this credit at line 54 when our only experience of similar tax credits had always come at line 67 and following?
I would have never known what the line sequence would be on the tax form prior to filing. And it seems to me that most tax laymen wouldn’t know this information either. That’s why I feel duped. IT IS NOT MERELY A QUESTION OF REFUNDABLE VS. NONREFUNDABLE AND TOTAL TAX LIABILITY.
If we had only waited til January 1 to purchase the new car….
Is there any way avoid claiming the EV Credit altogether for 2015 and to still claim it in full for 2016?
Jay says
Hi Harry,
I make about a 100k a year but have lots of deductions so I don’t end up paying anything at the end of the year. I live in Cali so for an electric car I would get a credit of 7500 fed and another 1500 state. Non refundable 9000 in credits. If I already get my taxes down to zero from deducutions will I get any of that 9000 in credits?
Harry Sit says
The federal one is the “Plug-In Electric Drive Vehicle Credit” in the table. The answer is “No.” If you want to get it you need to try to increase your tax liability by creating more income, such as by converting some money in a pre-tax Traditional IRA to Roth IRA. The California state rebate isn’t tied to your tax liability. It only sets the eligibility on your income.
Lorraine Scharff says
solar tax credit. Can the owner take the credit over the course of multiple years even if he doesn’t live in the home anymore where it is installed?
Harry Sit says
I suppose so. Read Form 5695 instructions.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i5695.pdf
Jim F says
Hi. I have total tax liability of 5500. I got solar panels and 30% is about 9200. I have 3 kids so I know I can claim 1,000 for each child for the child tax credit. Would the solar panel credit bring my liability down to 0 then claim the child tax credit to money back or do I lose the child credits?
Neil L says
Fantastic, thank you. After reading up on the issue, I was suspicious that this was how non-refundable tax credits worked, but I could not find a single source before now to clarify.