Property Owners Hope for Extension of Expiring Energy-savings Incentive

October 19, 2020

Commercial real estate spaces that are utilizing solar energy, LED lighting and other energy-saving amenities should have jumped on the 179D tax incentive over the last 15 years.

While the 179D, like other tax incentives, is slated to sunset this December, owners of commercial properties are now hoping it gets extended.

Attorney Peter Curry, a partner at Farrell Fritz, said the 179D tax deduction has been helpful to developers for a while.

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“It has been around for a long period of time, beginning around 2005,” Curry said. “It has sunset before, and then came back, but it expires again at the end of this year.”

According to Curry, for energy efficient property, “you can get a tax return of $0.60 to $1.80 per square foot.”

“It’s another incentive to do something in addition to cutting the energy cost,” he said. “It makes so much sense to do it.”

But it’s not just for developers within the private sector, Curry added.

“It also allows people who work on public buildings to take advantage of it, and are encouraged to,” he said. “I think it’s great for that purpose… it just has to happen early in the planning process.”

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