Guide
Florida solar incentives in 2026: two real exemptions, no state credit
Updated
Florida's solar incentives are unusual: no cash, no state credit, but two statutory exemptions that quietly take real money off the lifetime cost. Here is exactly what the statutes say.
Sales tax: exempt, in five words of statute
Section 212.08(7)(hh), Florida Statutes, is short: "Solar energy systems. Also exempt are solar energy systems or any component thereof. The Florida Solar Energy Center shall from time to time certify to the department a list of equipment and requisite hardware considered to be a solar energy system or a component thereof" (flsenate.gov).
Florida's general state sales tax rate is 6%, and many counties add a discretionary sales surtax on top (Florida Department of Revenue). On the $25,200 example in our calculator, the state portion alone is about $1,512 you never pay. Check your quote: the equipment should not carry sales tax, and if it does, ask why.
Property tax: the system does not raise your assessment
Section 193.624, Florida Statutes, defines a "renewable energy source device" to include "solar energy collectors, photovoltaic modules, and inverters", storage systems, control devices, pumps and fans, and "power conditioning and storage devices". It then states that in determining assessed value of real property used "for residential purposes, the just value of the property attributable to a renewable energy source device may not be considered" (flsenate.gov). For nonresidential property the exclusion is 80 percent rather than all of it.
In plain terms: whatever a Florida rooftop system adds to what your home is worth, the residential assessment is not supposed to reflect it. Your property appraiser administers this, so ask them how they apply it if it matters to your numbers.
The federal credit, which is the part that changed
The IRS page for the residential clean energy credit under Internal Revenue Code Section 25D states that the credit "equals 30% of the costs of new, qualified clean energy property for your home installed anytime from 2022 through December 31, 2025", and then that "the credit is not available for any property placed in service after December 31, 2025" (irs.gov). The same page adds that you "must claim the credit for the tax year when the property is installed, not merely purchased".
On a $25,200 Florida system, 30% was $7,560. That is far larger than both Florida exemptions combined, so it is the number to verify first. Read the IRS page yourself, ask any installer showing a federal credit line to justify it in writing, and put your own dates to a tax professional.
One older sentence further down the same IRS page still refers to a phase-out beginning in 2033, which reflects earlier law. Where a page reads inconsistently, take the restrictive reading and get professional advice. Nothing here is tax advice.
What Florida does not have
- No state income tax credit. Florida levies no personal income tax, so there is nothing for a solar credit to reduce.
- No statewide cash rebate. Individual municipal utilities and cooperatives sometimes run their own programs, which change often. Ask your utility directly rather than trusting a national incentives database.
- No exemption from permits or inspections. Solar is regulated construction work in Florida, and the permitting stage is where timelines usually slip.