I purchased and had installed an outdoor wood burner. Is this considered for energy credits on my income tax return?

I purchased and had installed an outdoor wood burner. Is this considered for energy credits on my income tax return?

— Catherine Walker
Hart, Michigan

Catherine, there is a useful and informative website, DSIRE: Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, that lists by state the Federal and State incentives for renewable energy and energy-efficient products.

Here is the specific language in the Federal Personal Tax Credit section related to wood-burning appliances:

Heating, Cooling and Water-Heating Equipment
Taxpayers who purchase qualified residential energy-efficient property are eligible for a tax credit worth 30 percent of the system cost, including labor costs. The credit may also be applied to labor costs for assembly and original installation of eligible property. The following types of equipment are eligible:

Electric heat pump water heaters
Electric heat pumps
Central air conditioners
Natural gas, propane or oil water heaters
Natural gas, propane or oil furnace or hot water boilers
Advanced main air circulating fans
Biomass stoves that use “plant-derived fuel available on a renewable or recurring basis, including agricultural crops and trees, wood and wood waste and residues (including wood pellets), plants (including aquatic plants), grasses, residues, and fibers”

— Heidi Hunt, assistant editor

Comments

davisonh 5/9/2009 10:14:40 PM

Yes,some locales(especially in Vermont)are banning non-EPA compliant outdoor wood stoves/boilers but that varies greatly with where you live.The movement is to building EPA compliant biomass/wood outdoor wood furnaces anyways because not too much reengineering is required to do so(far less than for woodstoves ,but no I have not heard of any bans of EPA compliant wood boiler/stoves though I do know of some local bans of non compliant stoves,so yes check your local building dept.The reasoning to some banning them and some not is that if one bans wood boilers/furnaces then they might as well ban all outdoor open burning(campfires,bonfires,brush,etc)and that is aprapao to how each locality deals with the general idea of open burning.The irony is a UL Listed wood boiler emits no sparks when the door is closed and is categorized as a closed combustion auxiliary heating appliance.There are no federal bans on UL Listed closed outdoor auxilliary heating appliances,wood or otherwise.
Sandy West 5/9/2009 10:03:29 AM

You should probably check with the county, some are banning these out door wood burners for some reason.

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