ITC eligibility - install date vs. purchase date

this seems like it would be a FAQ but i didn't find anything searching the forum. apologies in advance for bad-google fu.

anybody know what date the IRS uses for ITC eligibility? i put a deposit down on 2x powerwalls in november 2019. the powerwalls were not installed until november 2020. it looks increasingly like final inspection won't happen until early 2021 at this point, thus i won't be paying the balance until 2021.

obviously i want to take the 26% ITC for 2020 instead of the 22% for 2021. anyone have experience with whether or not the IRS would push back against a 2020 ITC claim in this situation? tesla tells me the IRS considers the relevant date as when the equipment was "put into service" which is clearly 2020. but of course they would say that in an effort to head off my trying to get them to refund me 4%.

thanks

 

i doubt i'll get audited as my taxes are very very straightforward and anyway enforcement has been completely decimated.

when i bought a leaf in 2011, i claimed the EV credit and they sent me a letter, wanting to see the purchase agreement as loads of people were trying to claim the credit against F-150s and stuff. no audit, just proof.

i def don't want to pay this year as that means i'll have paid before it's been inspected and if i have problems with that tesla will probably just disappear.

based on those threads, it sounds like there are 2 schools of thought so given that its only 4% and the worst thing that can happen is they reject it, i'll probably just claim it for 2020.

 

this is what the one-pager from DOE that tesla sent me implies - the language "placed in service" is used, but of course DOE is not Treasury.

 

interesting - i wondered about that. as mentioned above i ordered in late 2019 and had heard of some people in a similar situation (bumped to 2020) where tesla covered the 4% drop from 30-26%. however it sounds like from tesla's standpoint the installation is also the trigger as this was not offered to me; it almost seems a certainty now that inspection won't occur until 2021.

related, i got an email yesterday telling me it was time to pay. i forwarded that to my adviser and just said that i couldn't do that as it hasn't passed inspection. he said that he'd tell the finance side that the project was not actually complete. hopefully this is just a bug in their system.

 

they ain’t gonna audit over a tax credit... if i was self employed i might be worried about it but that’s not the case. seriously my taxes are 1040EZ level besides this credit.