New Windows Tax Deduction for 2011, 2012

You may be eligible for a federal tax deduction if you’ve purchased energy efficient windows for your home. Energy efficient windows, doors and skylights can reduce energy bills and therefore qualify as a federal tax deduction.

Make Your Home Energy Efficient

If you can’t replace your old windows or doors you can try a less expensive approach by purchasing storm windows. Storm windows qualify for the federal tax deduction because they reduce the energy bill of your home.

New Window Tax Deduction

Okay, here are some of the rules for deducting the cost of your new energy efficient windows. I’ll start with what you can deduct. You can deduct 30% of the cost up to $1,500. The new windows must be installed in your principal residence not your second home or vacation cottage.

New windows, doors, or skylights must have a U-factor. The U-factor measures the heat factor through a window and tells you how well the product insulates. They must also have a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) less than or equal to 0.30. This tells you how well the window blocks heat from sunlight.

What You Cannot Deduct

If you are going to replace your old windows with the new energy efficient windows you cannot calculate the installation or labor costs as a tax deduction. You also have to be careful if you live in California because some counties are even more particular about which windows qualify for the tax deduction.

National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC)

This is the only federally recognized organization for determining the energy performance of windows, doors, and skylights. You can Google that and check out their web site. You may think that any product with the ENERGY STAR label automatically qualifies but, this is not true. Check the NFRC web site to confirm qualification before you purchase.

Qualifying Tax Deductions for Energy Efficient Windows

If you would like help with claiming a tax deduction for improving the energy efficiency of your home with new windows then, you should visit the web site of TurboTax Online. Not only will get the help you’re looking for concerning tax deductions for windows, you will also get a whole lot of other benefits.

The tax software will search for over 350 deductions you may be able to claim and not even know it. You have no idea how many deductions and credits are missed by taxpayers because they didn’t know they qualified for them. Don’t let this happen to you! Visit TurboTax Online Today!