Elective Pay & IRA Tax Incentives Resources Page

Updated December 17, 2024

NEW RESOURCES & EVENTS:

• JUMP TO: L4GG Guidance Brief: IRA Status Post-Election

• JUMP TO: L4GG Guidance Brief: RFP Language for PWA and DC and RFP Webinar

• U.S. Dept. of Treasury press release and final rules on Section 48 (Investment Tax Credit) - December 4, 2024

• IRS announces extension to Elective Pay deadlines for applicable entities: News release and RevProc 2024-39 - October 11, 2024

• E-FILING: L4GG is proud to partner with Giraffe Financial to provide a full suite of Elective Pay pre-filing registration and e-filing services. Get started with Giraffe Financial here.

• Federal Register: Proposed rules for Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit (Section 30C)

• JUMP TO: Maximizing Elective Pay Payments to Cities Under the Inflation Reduction Act, L4GG’s accredited CLE for city and municipal attorneys

• The new Clean Energy Tax Navigator is an easy to use framework and interactive form that walks through the process of determining eligibility for Direct Pay, offering technical assistance, and in certain cases, direct pro bono services. It is designed to be a free, public one-stop shop providing tailored Elective Pay information to users at all stages from project ideation through tax form filing.

• The Project Finance Hub, by Atlas Public Policy and launched in concert with the Navigator, offers a database of funding opportunities for clean energy projects.

• Recorded trainings and slides on how to use the Navigator and Project Finance Hub are available on our Trainings page.

The IRS Pre-Filing Registration Portal is OPEN!

Register to receive a unique ID for all of your eligible tax year 2023 or 2024 projects!

PRE-FILING REGISTRATION RESOURCES

• IRS Video Walk-Through of Pre-Filing Registration Portal (re-released July 2024)

• Pre-Filing Registration Tool User Guide (with screenshots), IRS Publication 5884

• IRS Energy Credits Online Permission Management User Guide (with screenshots), IRS Publication 5902

• IRS Secure Messaging User Guide, IRS Publication 6025

  • Secure Messaging is recommended for questions on existing Pre-Filing Registrations as of Oct. 2024

  • Email for requesting technical assistance without a Pre-Filing Registration login: irs.elective.payment.or.transfer.of.credit@irs.gov

• IRS recommends using Secure Messaging within the Pre-Filing Registration Portal (once you are logged in)

• IRS Office Hours on Elective Pay & Pre-Filing Registration are concluded for 2024, resuming in 2025.

• L4GG/WRI/GFOA/USDN Webinar: Demystifying the Elective Pay Process (video) - April 18, 2024

  • Slide deck (with hyperlinks to resources)

LEGAL QUESTIONS & ANSWERS FROM L4GG EXPERTS

Elective Pay FAQs

If you have questions about elective pay for applicable entities, please click here to view our FAQ page, which is updated frequently and has answers from our legal experts to some of the most common questions we receive.

If your question is not answered on the FAQ page, click here to submit your question directly to L4GG’s legal experts.

L4GG WORKSHEETS, FACT SHEETS, ANNOTATED FORMS, & WEBINARS

• Worksheets & Maps for Identifying Eligible Projects:

• Electric Vehicle Purchases

• Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (non-urban and low income only)

• EV Infrastructure - 30C Tax Credit Eligibility Locator Map from DOE

• ITC/PTC Projects

• Annotated Tax Forms:

  • Form 3468 - Section 48/Investment Tax Credit (ITC) - from Lighthouse Partners

  • Form 8936 & Schedule A - Section 45W/EV purchases - from Electrification Coalition

  • Form 8911 & Worksheet 1 - Section 30C/EV infrastructure - from Electrification Coalition

  • Form 3800 - General Business Income - from Lighthouse Partners

  • Form 990-T - Exempt Org. Business Tax Return - from Lighthouse Partners

  • See our Annotated Tax Forms page for corresponding IRS forms

  • IRS also provides a video walkthrough and PDF summary of completing tax forms

• Fact Sheets & Guidance Briefs:

  • IRA Status Post-Election

  • RFP Language for Prevailing Wage and Domestic Content

  • E-Filing vs. Paper Filing - UPDATED

  • Direct Pay Documentation Checklist

  • Restricted vs. Unrestricted Funds and the “No Excess Benefit” Rule 

  • When is a Lease Actually Financing? (financed EV ownership & credit eligibility) 

  • Municipal Bond Haircuts

  • Low-Income Communities Bonus (LICB) 2024

  • Energy.gov LICB Program Home, LICB Dashboard, and 2024 DOE webinar

  • 2024 Program Year applications open as of May 28, 2024 (9am ET)

  • Prevailing Wage & Apprenticeship (PWA) Requirements

  • PTC and ITC

  • Overview of Bonus Incentives for ITC/PTC

  • PTC/ITC-Eligible Technologies and ITC-Eligible Projects

  • Identifying a Tax Year for Government Entities

    • “Am I a First-Time Filer?” (re: May 15, 2024 extension filing)

• Webinars:

  • L4GG/WRI/GFOA Integrating Elective Pay Tax Credits into Government Procurement and RFPs - December 10, 2024

    • Slide deck (hosted by WRI)

  • L4GG’s accredited Continuing Legal Education (CLE): Maximizing Elective Pay Payments to Cities Under the Inflation Reduction Act

    • Free with the purchase code 2024L4GG

  • CPCC w/ L4GG: Cash for Communities (video) - May 9, 2024

  • L4GG/WRI/GFOA/USDN/SSDN: Slide decks for SSDN - May 1, 2024

  • Session 1: Direct Pay Overview 

  • Session 2: Demystifying the Elective Pay Filing Process

  • L4GG/WRI/GFOA/USDN Demystifying the Elective Pay Process (video) - April 18, 2024

    • Slide deck (with hyperlinks to resources)

  • L4GG/CAP/NLC/BGA How Cities Can Take Advantage of Direct Pay (video) - Jan. 2024

    • Slide deck (with hyperlinks to resources)

  • L4GG’s Direct Pay Overview Webinar - August 2023

  • L4GG/Sabin Center Presentation to Local Governments

  • Stanford Law School Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy

    • Elective Pay for Tribal Governments Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3 (links to YouTube)

HELPFUL PARTNER RESOURCES

• Government Finance Officers Association - IRA Implementation Resources

• Electrification Coalition - Elective Pay Resources

• Congressional Progressive Caucus Center - Direct Pay Resources

• Center for Public Enterprise - Tax Credit “Chaining” Brief

• Clean Energy States Alliance - Build America Buy America and Domestic Content: A Primer for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Solar for All Program

• State Support Center - Direct Pay & Project Finance Memo for States, April 3, 2024

• WRI - Roadmap for Local Governments

• WRI - Bonus Mapper 

• Wilson Sonsini - IRA Legal Resources

• Wilson Sonsini - Analysis of New 48/ITC Proposed Regulations

• Clean Energy Group - Direct Pay Guide for Non-Profits, ITC for Non-Profits, Applying for IRA Bonuses, & Bonus Fact Sheets

• Sabin Center - Proposed Regulations for Direct Pay Under the Inflation Reduction Act - Guidelines for Cities

• NYU School of Law - Making Cents of the IRA

• Center for American Progress - Overview on Direct Pay 

• Clean Energy States Alliance - Low-Income Communities Bonus

• BlueGreen Alliance - Domestic Content Guidance for Developers

APPLICABLE REGULATIONS AND GUIDANCE FROM TREASURY & IRS

• FINAL REGULATIONS ON DIRECT PAY - Published March 11, 2024

  • L4GG’s Summary of IRS Final Rules on Elective Pay - March 6, 2024

  • IRS Press Release on Final Regulations - March 5, 2024

• IRS FAQ on Elective Pay - Updated March 5, 2024

• IRS Overview of Elective Pay and Transferability

• Relevant Regulations and Guidance from IRS and Treasury

• IRS TEGE Guide on Completing Form 990-T for Elective Payment Election Only (video)

ARTICLES FROM L4GG LEGAL EXPERTS

• Analysis of Final Rule on Transferability - Tax Law Center at NYU

• Analysis of §48/ITC Proposed Regulations - Wilson Sonsini

• Low-Income Communities Bonus - Linklaters

  • DOE LICB Allocations Dashboard

• Domestic Content - Linklaters

• Energy Communities Bonus - Linklaters

  • DOE Energy Communities Bonus Mapping Tool

Paying for your Project - Financing ResourceS

• L4GG - Federal Funding Resources Page

• Atlas Public Policy - Project Finance Hub

• Milken Institute - Community Infrastructure Center

• Center for Public Enterprise - Interactive Financial Modeling Tool

• Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: Greenbanks, CDFIs, other Grant recipients under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund  (Solar for All Competition is currently open); 43 states have filed NOIs 

• U.S. Dept. of Energy - State Energy Financing Institutions (SEFI) Funding for State Programs

• EPA - Climate Pollution Reduction Grant

• Wilson Sonsini - Clean Energy Federal Funding Database

• Wilson Sonsini - Climate Funding White Paper

Found an error, broken link, or other tech issue? Let us know at CleanEnergy@L4GG.org — and thanks!