What's the status on this? Anyone know?

The stimulus bill is still going through a lot of politicing.
At best, a vote in the Senate about it would come tomorrow
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/07/stimulus/index.html

my question is how does this tax credit $2,000 limit removal still look? is it still there? Hope so.

You know, I think in addition to having an energy star requirement on the equipment, they should have a requirement of qualification on the installer. That would avoid some of the fly by night ops that will swoop in on this.

Qualifications of the installer are bogus. If you read my thread about the rat's nest with our school district, you'd see example of problems we face from the SO-CALLED qualified geo designer.

I would always recommend homeowners to seek qualified, trained, experienced installers, but that doesn't stop the problems.

The ACCA is in the process of finalizing the Quality Installation Verification standard that may address this issue. 

I have read where the EPA is or has adopted this standard.  I'm not sure exactly what that means from an enforcement standpoint but, if it leads to the IRS requiring an independent installation verification in order for the installation to qualify for the tax credits, that would go a long way towards keeping wayward contractors in church and on the front pew.

I took a look over it. Looks like the cap was removed in the version the senate voted on, which passed yesterday. The only questions left are if it would stay when they reconcile the house version with the senate to make a final version. I'm guessing it will make it.

If all of this passes, does anyone know if it will immediately be OK in this years tax returns? Should we be waiting for reconciliation, and then turbo-tax/others to update forms?

So did it make it through?

It appears so Clark.  I read this morning where the Senate and House reconciled and agreed to $789B yesterday and it now goes to the House and Senate for a full vote before going to the President for his signature.

I haven't seen any details though.  The usual places I would look for the legislative text didn't have the Senate version posted.  However, having said that, I haven't seen any indication that the deal changed while they made their sausage.

If it changes for 2008, you'd need an update for whatever you use to do your taxes. Also, the IRS would have somethings to do on their end reprogramming the systems that check e-files and digitized paper returns.
There are huge number of things they check with their systems, some of them just silly. I use to work in the tax divisions and one of the areas I worked on was how all those crazy electronic forms get sent. I found it incredible how long it actually takes the IRS to update their systems in comparison to how long it took us to make the same changes to the transmission end of things.

I haven't seen any indication the cap removal would be retro-active back to Jan-08.  If the goal is to put money in pockets to revive the economy, that would be a smart move though because people could get the cash this year instead of having to wait until 2010.  But, we're still talking about Congress and they are moving at lightning speed to get this bill passed so something like this could get past everyone.  We'll just have to wait and see.

If you do file now and they do make the measure retro-active to Jan-08, I would think you could file an amended return for 2008.  That's a guess on my part though.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/02/update-conferenced-stimulus-bill-retains-renewable-energy-provisions

It's saying the consensus bill between the two parts of Congress includes the Senate's energy tax credit changes, as well as the house's grants program. Trying to decipher the language I saw, it would be retroactive, as it would simply slash off some of the wording of "limits of", but not having anything on it about dates. It's very hard to read because the bill calls to make changes to the tax code, and I can't find a version of the tax code that already has last year's geothermal credit in it.
If it is retroactive, then the way to use it would be to either file an amended return for the difference you could take this year, or let the credit carry over and anything above the $2000 that you had available would be used against your 2009 taxes.

http://www.house.gov/billtext/hr1_cr_jesb.pdf

On pages 128 and 129 of the above linked document on the House web page, I finally found what appears to be the language indicating the 30% tax credit without the cap survived the reconciliation between the House and the Senate.

According to this document, the effective date is for qualifying property placed in service after December 31, 2008.  The House passed the bill today and I believe the Senate is currently in conference taking up the bill for a vote.  Not sure about the later.

Fortunalty we just finished our standard 3 month start up
Time for the final payment of $2.00

Looks like the billed passed the Senate last night sometime.  The paper indicated the President expected to sign the bill next week.

So its not retroactive for '08 installs? >sob< >sob<

Does the $3,000 credit include self installed units?

It's a 30% tax credit as opposed to $3,000 and it's not clear to me if a self-installed geothermal unit qualifies for the tax credit or not. 

Section 25C(d)(2)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) says:

 

Property described under subparagraph (A) shall meet the performance and quality standards, and the certification requirements (if any), which—

 

(i)    have been prescribed by the Secretary by regulations (after consultation with the Secretary of Energy or the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, as appropriate), and

 

(ii)   are in effect at the time of the acquisition of the property, or at the time of the completion of the construction, reconstruction, or erection of the property, as the case may be.

The ACCA is finalizing a Quality Installation verification protocol which the EPA has adopted that basically requires an independent verification of all HVAC installations.   I read this to say that , if you self-install your geothermal unit, you may have to have the installation verified by an independent party confirming that it performs in accordance with whatever standard is applicable.  I'm guessing that the Secretary could "prescribe" that the equipment be installed by a professional.  If that is the case, then you won't be able to self-install and still get the tax credit.

In addition, Section 25C(d)(2)(C)(ii) of the IRC says:

In the case of geothermal heat pumps, the standards and requirements prescribed by the Secretary —

 

(I)   shall be based on testing under the conditions of ARI/ISO Standard 13256–1 for Water Source Heat Pumps or ARI 870 for Direct Expansion GeoExchange Heat Pumps (DX), as appropriate, and

                                    (II)  shall include evidence that water heating services have been provided through a desuperheater or integrated
                                    water heating system connected to the storage water heater tank.

I read this to mean that whatever geothermal equipment you select will need to be ARI certified and you will need to install a desuperheater in order for the geothermal unit to qualify for the tax credit.

Long story short, you might be able to install it yourself and get the tax credit.  You should probably consult with a tax accountant to help you flush out any trip wires before doing so.

Maybe Im seeing what I want to see

 

The credit applies to property placed in service prior to January 1, 2017.

House Bill

The House bill eliminates the credit caps for solar hot water, geothermal, and wind

property and eliminates the reduction in credits for property using -subsidized energy financing.

Effective date.-The provision applies to taxable years beginning after December 31,

2008.

If I cross my eyes and read it backwards it sounds like it would be retroavtive but you couldnt claim it till next year