Financing
Enter your loan amount, APR, and term. See the true total cost of financing solar in 2026, when no federal tax credit applies to a new purchase for most homeowners.
How it works
Step 1
Use the loan amount after any down payment and your quoted APR. The loan payment calculator gives you just the monthly figure if that's all you need.
Step 2
This is your actual total cost for a 2026 purchase, since no federal tax credit currently applies to a new owned or financed system.
Step 3
If your system was installed by December 31, 2025, and you have unused credit, the carried-forward credit tool covers that specific, narrower scenario in more depth.
The federal residential solar tax credit, Section 25D, expired for any system placed in service after December 31, 2025. For anyone buying or financing a system today, this total is what you're actually obligated to pay, with no federal credit reducing it. On a $28,000 loan at 6.99% APR over 20 years, that's about $52,060 total, including roughly $24,060 in interest. The IRS Form 5695 instructions confirm the current eligibility rules directly.
Before this expiration, a homeowner who owned their system, financed or cash, could generally claim 30% of the cost back, which meaningfully lowered the real total. That path no longer exists for a new install, so this gross figure is now simply the accurate cost for most homeowners financing solar in 2026, not a conservative or worst-case scenario. The federal ITC step-down timeline covers how this credit's rate changed over the years leading up to its expiration.
If your system was installed by December 31, 2025, and you have unused credit carrying forward from that year's return, the carried-forward credit tool shows how that specific, narrower situation affects your total. Carryforward rules for an already-claimed credit weren't affected by the expiration, only new claims for systems installed afterward.
A lease or PPA works differently, since the financing company, not you, owns the equipment and may still benefit from a separate commercial credit through 2027. The third party owned vs owned comparison covers how that affects the total cost tradeoff between the two paths. The DOE's homeowner's guide to solar financing covers leasing structures in more general terms.
Tax law changes and individual circumstances vary, so confirm your system's installation date and any remaining carryforward balance with a tax professional before assuming either scenario applies to you. This tool provides the financing math either way, but doesn't substitute for that personalized advice. The loan APR impact calculator can help you see how much the rate you're quoted matters now that the credit isn't part of the equation. The total cost of ownership calculator can help you see this figure alongside the rest of your ownership costs.
Questions
On a $28,000 loan at 6.99% APR over 20 years, the total paid comes to about $52,060, including roughly $24,060 in interest. This is the accurate total for most homeowners financing a system in 2026, since the federal residential tax credit no longer applies to new installs.
The federal residential solar tax credit, Section 25D, expired for any system placed in service after December 31, 2025, under a change to federal law. It previously let a homeowner who owned their system claim 30% of the cost back, but that path no longer exists for a new purchase or loan.
Only if your system was already installed by December 31, 2025, and you have an unused credit balance carrying forward from that year's tax return. A separate commercial credit also still applies to lease and PPA providers through 2027, which some pass through as part of their quoted pricing.
When it was still available, the credit reduced the gross total paid by roughly 15% to 20%, since it was calculated as 30% of the system price, a smaller share of the total once loan interest was added on top. On a $28,000 system financed at 6.99% over 20 years, an $8,400 credit was about 16% of the $52,060 gross total.
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