Back
in 2009-2010 the IRS offered a sizable tax credit for purchasing energy
efficient appliances including outdoor wood furnaces. This was known as
the Biomass Heater Tax Credit. Hawken Energy received countless calls
asking if we qualified for the tax credit which required a provable 75%
efficiency.
Getting
a qualified efficiency rating is no easy task. A laboratory has to do
the testing and this can run thousands of dollars with no guarantee of
qualifying. Our in-house tests showed that the HE units that we were
building at the time came close, but not close enough for us to feel
confident that we would qualify for the tax credit. For anyone who
called, this is what we told them.
At
that time there were very few outdoor wood furnaces that did qualify
and the difference in the cost was far greater than the tax credit would
cover. Read our post on this topic by clicking here. http://blog.hawkenenergy.com/2009/12/2009-2010-biomass-heater-tax-credit-and.html
Some
of our competitors were not so honest. One of the biggest headaches we
experienced during this time came from explaining to customers and
representatives that some companies are willing to risk heavy penalties,
or perhaps they didn't understand the risk, and state that their
outdoor furnaces were qualified when, in fact, they were not.
This information was found a couple of weeks ago while doing some research for another project. http://www.irs.gov/irb/2011-48_IRB/ar16.html
In short, this bulletin states that one of those companies claiming to
qualify for the tax credit is not actually qualified. "Specifically, the
[IRS] found that the Furnace failed to meet the efficiency ratings of
at least 75%..."
This
withdrawal comes a little late as the tax credit expired at the end of
2011 but it's still nice to see that our insistence that these
competitors did not qualify and were misleading customers has been
justified.
Just as a point of interest, this manufacturer may now be subject to penalties from the IRS.
Whether
or not the IRS or The President will renew the tax credit, or issue a
new one, has yet to be seen. If a new tax credit does become available
Hawken Energy will have a qualifying option in the GX10, and later this
year, the GX20.
For more information about Hawken Energy or any of our outdoor wood furnaces contact us at 888-564-2876, visit www.HawkenEnergy.com or email us at info@hawkenenergy.com
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