Florida solar tax benefits in 2026: sales tax, property tax and what ended

The short answer: Florida homeowners who buy solar in 2026 get no federal tax credit, because it ended for installs completed after 2025. Two Florida tax rules still help: solar equipment is exempt from state sales tax, and the value solar adds to your home is left out of its property tax assessment. Florida has no state income tax, so there is no state credit either.

Last checked: October 26, 2026. We are not tax advisers, and this is general information, not tax advice.

Key takeaways

• Federal credit: none for a system you own that is installed in 2026 or later, including batteries.
• Sales tax: solar energy systems and their components are exempt under Florida Statute 212.08(7)(hh).
• Property tax: under Florida Statute 193.624, the value a solar device adds to a home may not be considered in its assessment. The current wording runs through December 31, 2037.
• Leases and PPAs: the leasing company may still claim a federal business credit within strict deadlines. You do not, and the contract decides whether you see any of it.
• Rebates: we found no utility solar rebate we could confirm is open. Ask your utility before you count on one.

What ended at the federal level

The federal Residential Clean Energy Credit (section 25D) used to return 30% of the cost of a home solar or battery system. Public Law 119-21 ended it for “any expenditures made after December 31, 2025.” The IRS says an expenditure counts as made when installation is completed, and that paying in 2025 does not help if the installation was completed in 2026.

So for a Florida system finished in 2026, the full installed price is your cost. If an installer’s proposal still subtracts a 30% credit, ask them to remove it and re-quote. For the full federal picture, including the lease and battery rules, see our guide to solar tax benefits in 2026.

Sales tax exemption

Florida Statute 212.08(7)(hh) exempts “solar energy systems or any component thereof” from the state’s sales tax. The statute says the Florida Solar Energy Center certifies the list of equipment that counts.

Florida’s definition of a solar energy system (section 212.02) covers equipment used for “collecting, transferring, converting, storing, or using incident solar energy.” Whether a particular battery or part is on the certified list is something to confirm with your installer.

What to check on your contract:

• That no sales tax is charged on the solar equipment.
• How labor and any non-solar items (for example, a roof repair or an electrical panel upgrade) are listed, since those may be treated differently. Ask your installer.

Property tax exemption

Florida’s constitution (Article VII, section 4(i)) lets the Legislature keep the installation of a solar or renewable energy source device out of property assessments. Florida Statute 193.624 does that. For property used for residential purposes, “the just value of the property attributable to a renewable energy source device may not be considered.”

Points worth knowing:

• What counts. The statute’s list includes solar collectors, photovoltaic modules and inverters, wiring and structural supports, and “power conditioning and storage devices that store or use solar energy” to generate electricity.
• Which homes. It applies to devices installed on or after January 1, 2013, on new and existing residential property.
• How long. The current wording expires on December 31, 2037. After that, the statute reverts to an earlier version that also says an increase in a residential property’s just value from installing a renewable energy source device may not be considered.

This is not a refund. It keeps your property tax bill from rising because of the solar, which matters most when you compare solar’s cost with what it saves.

Leases and PPAs in Florida

With a lease or power purchase agreement, a company owns the system on your roof. That company, not you, may claim the federal clean electricity credit under section 48E or 45Y. Under Public Law 119-21, solar that began construction after July 4, 2026 must be placed in service by December 31, 2027 for the owner to claim it, and IRS Notice 2025-42 explains how construction start is shown.

Nothing makes the company share that value with you. Ask in writing whether it is claiming a credit on your system and what happens to your price if the system is not in service by the end of 2027. Our solar lease vs buy guide shows how to compare total costs.

Batteries

A battery you buy in 2026 gets no federal credit. In Florida, the main reason to add one is backup power during outages, not bill savings, as we explain in is Florida solar worth it without the federal credit. The property tax statute’s list of renewable energy source devices does include storage devices that store or use solar energy.

Utility rebates

We did not find a residential solar rebate from FPL, Duke Energy Florida or TECO that we could confirm is currently open, so we list none here. Some third-party websites still list older programs. Check your utility’s own website, or search DSIRE for Florida programs and then confirm on the program’s own page.

What Florida utilities do offer is net metering, which credits the power you send to the grid. How that works, and what it means for payback, is covered in our Florida guide and Florida summer bills and solar.

What this means for payback

With no federal credit, payback depends on three things: what you pay, how much your bill falls, and what your utility credits for exported power. The sales and property tax rules keep the cost from rising further, but they do not cut the price the way the old credit did.

The Florida calculator assumes no federal credit and shows a low, likely and high range for your home. For California, read California solar tax benefits in 2026. For the broader question, see is solar worth it without the tax credit.