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The Inflation Reduction Act extended and enhanced two consumer tax breaks tied to home energy efficiency.
The residential clean energy credit and the energy efficient home improvement credit are more popular than federal officials projected.
The tax credits reduce costs for home efficiency upgrades while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping lower annual utility bills, officials said.

Jeremy Poland | E+ | Getty Images

American consumers claimed $8.4 billion in Inflation Reduction Act tax breaks tied to boosting the energy efficiency of their homes in 2023, according to Internal Revenue Service data, a sum that exceeded officials’ projections.
More than 3.4 million U.S. households claimed at least one of two tax breaks — the residential clean energy credit and the energy efficient home improvement credit — on their 2023 tax returns, the IRS reported Wednesday.

The tax breaks aim to reduce the cost of buying rooftop solar panels, electric heat pumps and other energy-efficient technologies, while also cutting the household greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to global warming and helping lower long-term utility bills for consumers.
The average household got a $5,084 residential clean energy credit and an $882 energy efficient home improvement credit, according to a U.S. Treasury Department analysis.
California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas were the top five states for claims, IRS data showed.
IRS data was for tax returns filed and processed through May 23, 2024.

Their value exceeded estimates

These tax breaks existed before the Inflation Reduction Act. However, the law, which President Joe Biden signed in 2022, extended them for a decade and raised their value for taxpayers.

The tax breaks have proven more popular than initially projected for 2023, the first full year for which the tax benefits were in effect, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said on a press call Tuesday.
Treasury officials pointed to a Joint Committee on Taxation estimate for fiscal year 2024 to illustrate their popularity.

The congressional tax scorekeeper had projected the two tax breaks would cost a combined $2.4 billion for 2024 — roughly 25% of the amount reported Wednesday by the IRS.
Additionally, the number of taxpayers who claimed the credits increased by about a third relative to 2021, before the Inflation Reduction Act, the Treasury Department said. The aggregate value of the credits also increased by almost two-thirds, it said.
Adeyemo expects uptake will continue to grow.
“In many ways the impacts of the [Inflation Reduction Act] are just getting started,” he said.

How the tax credits work

The residential clean energy credit allows consumers to recoup up to 30% of the costs of installing rooftop solar panels, battery storage and wind turbines, for example.
About 1.2 million households claimed this credit for 2023, for a total $6.3 billion, according to IRS data.
The bulk of those claims — about 752,000 — were for rooftop solar installations, according to the Treasury Department.
The average 5-kilowatt residential photovoltaic system costs roughly $10,000 to $15,000 before tax credits or incentives, according to the Center for Sustainable Energy.
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The energy efficient home improvement credit is also worth up to 30% of the cost of home-efficiency projects, up to $1,200 total per year.
Such projects include installing energy-efficient windows and skylights, efficient exterior doors, insulation and air-sealing materials or systems, electric heat pumps, and having a home energy audit to help determine the best projects to undertake.
It carries dollar caps for specific projects. For example, consumers can get up to $600 a year for windows and skylights and $500 for doors.
Electric heat pumps are an exception to the annual limit: Consumers can get up to $2,000 a year for such projects.  
Heat pumps cost $5,500 to install in 2023, on average, according to the American Society of Home Inspectors. The technology, which heats and cools a home, is “highly energy efficient” and can yield enough energy savings to pay for itself in as few as two years, the group said.
About 2.3 million taxpayers claimed this credit, for a total of $2.1 billion. The most popular projects were adding home insulation, and windows and skylights, each claimed by almost 700,000 taxpayers.

Together, the two tax breaks make efficient technologies — which can be “large, expensive purchases” — “more accessible” to consumers, said Kara Saul-Rinaldi, president and CEO of AnnDyl Policy Group, an energy and environmental policy strategy firm.
Efficiency projects can help consumers save money on energy bills over the long term, she added.
For example, the average American spends $2,000 annually on energy, and $200 to $400 may be “going to waste” from drafts, air leaks around openings and outdated heating and cooling systems, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The distribution of the tax credits

While the tax breaks have been more popular than expected, just 2.5% of taxpayers claimed a credit for 2023, according to IRS data.
Almost half of the 3.4 million households that claimed a tax break for 2023 had incomes of $100,000 or less, according to the Treasury Department.
However, about $5.5 billion — or 66% — of the total $8.4 billion in tax breaks accrued to those making more than $100,000 a year, IRS data showed.
That’s partly attributable to the way in which these tax breaks are structured, Saul-Rinaldi said.
For example, the energy efficient home improvement credit is nonrefundable. Households must have a tax liability to get the tax break, and the IRS won’t issue a refund for any tax-credit value that exceeds their tax liability.
Higher earners are more likely to have a tax liability and therefore benefit from the credit’s full value.
The residential clean energy credit is a bit different. Consumers who claim this tax break but have an insufficient tax liability to benefit can carry forward any unused credits to future years to offset future taxes.
Lower earners will be able to benefit more from separate energy-efficiency rebate programs currently being rolled out by states, Saul-Rinaldi said. More

As many retirees struggle to afford the basics, there’s been bipartisan support to exempt Social Security from income taxes.
In 2023, Vice President Kamala Harris’ new running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz increased the state tax exemption for Social Security benefits.
Meanwhile, Former President Donald Trump has called for eliminating federal income taxes on Social Security.

Vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz looks on during a campaign rally with U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., August 6, 2024. 
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

Trump’s plan ‘would be transformative’

Federal income taxes on Social Security are based on “combined income,” which includes your adjusted gross income, non-taxable interest and one-half of Social Security benefits.
If your combined income is between $25,000 and $34,000 — or $32,000 and $44,000 for married couples filing jointly — up to 50% of Social Security benefits are subject to tax.

For combined income above those thresholds, up to 85% of your Social Security benefits may be taxable.   
Roughly 40% of Americans who receive Social Security pay federal income tax on those benefits, according to the Social Security Administration. 

What Trump is proposing would be transformative.

Richard Auxier
Principal policy associate for the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

“What Trump is proposing would be transformative,” both in terms of cost and funding Social Security, said Richard Auxier, a principal policy associate for the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. 
If enacted, Trump’s proposal to exempt Social Security from federal income tax could boost the budget deficit by $1.6 trillion over 10 years, according to estimates from the Tax Foundation.
The policy could also accelerate insolvency for the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.
For Social Security (including the disability portion of the program), it may move insolvency up two years, from 2035 to 2033, and for Medicare, it may move it up six years, from 2036 to 2030.
Trump’s campaign didn’t respond to CNBC’s request for comment by press time.

Minnesota’s ‘targeted’ exemption

Enacted in 2023, Minnesota expanded the state tax exemption for Social Security, which eliminates the levy for most seniors.
For 2023, taxpayers with less than $78,000 adjusted gross income, or $100,000 for married couples filing jointly, can subtract Social Security benefits from earnings.
The policy, which exempts most seniors from income taxes on Social Security, helps Minnesota “mirror other tax codes,” explained Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation.
As of June 21, only nine states tax Social Security to varying degrees, according to AARP research.
Minnesota’s policy “was targeted and the revenue cost was significantly lower” than Trump’s proposed federal tax exemptions, Auxier from the Tax Policy Center explained.
“States can make this play and it has different revenue, cost and budget ramifications,” he added. More

Nearly half of student loan borrowers are anticipating debt forgiveness in the future.
While there are ample opportunities for relief, consumer advocates warn families not to make borrowing decisions based on the assumption that they won’t have to repay the debt.

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Nearly half — 48% — of student loan borrowers expect debt forgiveness in the future.
Many of those borrowers anticipate that the government will excuse them from their education loans, according to Sallie Mae’s annual How America Pays for College report.

(Between April 8 and May 14, global market research company Ipsos conducted the online interviews, which included 1,000 undergraduate students and 1,000 parents of undergraduate students.)
While there are ample opportunities for relief, consumer advocates warn families not to make borrowing decisions based on the assumption that they won’t have to repay the debt.
To that point, tens of millions of student loan borrowers did not receive debt cancellation when the Supreme Court rejected President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt per borrower last summer.
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The upcoming presidential election also puts existing student loan forgiveness programs at risk.

As president, Donald Trump called for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education’s existing loan relief programs, including the popular Public Service Loan Forgiveness initiative, which benefits public employees such as members of the U.S. armed forces, first responders, public defenders, prosecutors and teachers. Trump also wanted to slash the department’s budget, and his administration halted a regulation aimed at providing loan forgiveness to those defrauded by their schools.
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s new affordable repayment plan that leads to expedited forgiveness for many borrowers, known as SAVE, is currently on hold amid a slew of legal challenges.
The bottom line: relying on loan forgiveness may backfire, financial experts warn.
“Borrowing for college makes sense for some families, but it’s critical to have a plan and do so responsibly,” Rick Castellano, vice president of Sallie Mae, said in a statement.

Tips to avoid overborrowing

As the share of student loan borrowers with six-figure balances swells, financial experts recommend families borrow cautiously.
Overborrowing can lead to a host of financial and psychological consequences.
Nearly 80% of those borrowers who owe between $130,000 and $139,000 in student debt report feeling a “high” or “very high” amount of stress from their debt, compared with just around 25% among those with a balance of less than $10,000, according to data analyzed by higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
“If you borrow too much, you will have less money available for other priorities, such as buying a home,” Kantrowitz previously told CNBC.
“You may also have to take a job that pays better as opposed to the job that matches your career goals,” he added.

The general rule of thumb is not to borrow more than you expect to earn as a starting salary, said Betsy Mayotte, president of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit.
That figure will vary based on what a student selects as a major. You can look up annual average incomes for different occupations at the U.S. Department of Labor’s website.
Kantrowitz recommends that families consider colleges based on the “net price,” which is the amount they’ll have to pay with savings, income and loans to cover the bill, after aid that doesn’t need to be repaid, including grants and scholarships.
When calculating the four-year net cost of attendance at a school, Kantrowitz said it’s important to keep in mind that different years may cost different amounts because some colleges offer aid only for the first year or two.
Therefore, after estimating the total cost — and factoring in any money you plan to direct toward the college bill — you will know if what you’d need to borrow is reasonable.

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To cover the rising cost of college, most families have to rely on a combination of resources.
This year, student loans are making up a larger share, a new study finds.

With college more expensive than ever and a new financial aid application that’s been problematic from the start, families are, understandably, having a hard time figuring out how to pay the tab.
As a new academic year gets underway, more students and their parents are turning to a familiar resource: student loans.

How families pay for college

Without financial aid, the price tag at some four-year colleges and universities — after factoring in tuition, fees, room and board, books, transportation, and other expenses — is now nearing $100,000 a year.
Typically, parent income and savings cover nearly half of college costs, free money from scholarships and grants accounts for more than 25% of the costs, and student loans make up most of the rest.
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As of last year, the amount families actually spent on education costs was $28,409, on average, according to Sallie Mae’s annual How America Pays for College report.
This year, parents are spending less out of pocket and relying on borrowed funds more, the education lender found. The share of parents taking out federal parent PLUS loans to help cover the costs of their children’s college education has also grown, other reports show.

“We’ve really seen that in times of economic hardship, [families] are falling back on borrowing for college,” said Jennifer Berg, vice president of public affairs for market research firm Ipsos.
“That’s when the FAFSA really plays a role,” Berg added.

The FAFSA is ‘a stunning failure’

To get any college aid, students must file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
The FAFSA serves as the gateway to all federal aid money, including loans, work study and grants, which are the most desirable kind of assistance, and FAFSA completion can also boost a student’s likelihood of going to college and graduating, studies show.
This year, however, problems with the new FAFSA have discouraged many students and their families from submitting an application. Among families who filled out the new form, just 29% said it was easier to complete, according to Sallie Mae.
“The vast majority said the new simplified FAFSA was anything but,” said Rick Castellano, a spokesperson for Sallie Mae.

As of the last tally, 10.8 million FAFSA forms have been submitted — a significant decline from the approximately 17 million students who use the FAFSA in ordinary years.
And nearly half of families who filed the new FAFSA for the upcoming academic year said they experienced delays in receiving a financial aid offer from their school, according to Sallie Mae.
“The Department’s poor planning has led to a stunning failure: Some college students might not have financial aid dollars in their hands in time to start classes in the next few weeks,” said Beth Maglione, interim president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

College is worth it, even with loan forgiveness in limbo

When it comes to college, factors outside of parents’ control continue to weigh heavily, according to a separate report by Fidelity, including issues with the FAFSA, rising costs and the future of student loan forgiveness.
Since President Joe Biden’s first effort at broad-based loan cancellation was blocked, the Biden administration has since announced new plans to cancel student debt with more targeted guidance on who will most likely be eligible for the relief.

“Borrowing is up, at the same time, half of students expect their loans to be forgiven,” said Sallie Mae’s Castellano. “You have to wonder, is there a correlation there?”
But despite the uncertainty around covering the cost, the vast majority of parents said college is still worth it, according to Fidelity.
To that end, more families said that putting money away for higher education is a now top priority.
In fact, 74% of parents have started saving, Fidelity’s 2024 College Savings Indicator found, a spike from 58% in 2007, when the study was first conducted.

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SunPower has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to sell its assets.
The rooftop solar installer has faced allegations of misconduct in its reporting practices.
The residential solar sector has been walloped as high interest rates have depressed demand, leaving companies with too much inventory on hand.

Workers install solar panels during a SunPower installation on a home in Napa, California, on July 17, 2023.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The rooftop solar installer SunPower has filed for bankruptcy, after struggling for months in the face of high interest rates and allegations of misconduct in its reporting practices.
SunPower stock dropped nearly 44% Tuesday to close at 45 cents per share. Its shares have collapsed more than 90% this year.

SunPower listed assets and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion in its Chapter 11 protection filing late Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Its largest stakeholder is TotalEnergies, according to FactSet.
SunPower is selling its Blue Raven Solar and new homes businesses as well as its non-installing dealer network to Complete Solaria for $45 million subject to court approval, according to a statement late Monday. The company has asked the court to approve the sale by mid-September.
SunPower plans to sell its remaining assets through the bankruptcy process, the company said. Its stock collapsed below $1 in July after the company halted new leases, product shipments and installations.
The residential solar sector has been walloped as high interest rates have depressed demand, leaving companies with too much inventory on hand. But SunPower’s stock has also been under pressure due to allegations of misconduct in its reporting practices.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed SunPower in February for documents over revenue recognition practices in quarterly reports from 2023, according to a filing.

SunPower’s independent accountant Ernst & Young resigned in June because it did not want to be associated with the company’s financial statements, citing allegations that senior members of management were involved in misconduct related to financial statements.
In December, SunPower breached a credit agreement and warned that “substantial doubt” existed about its ability to keep operating.   More

Vice President Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, a choice that could reinforce the Democratic Party’s de facto presidential nominee’s policy focused on middle-class Americans, including the child tax credit.
Described by Walz as a “signature accomplishment,” Minnesota’s new refundable child tax credit was $1,750 per child for 2023 — the most generous in the country for low-income families.
Expanding the federal child tax credit has bipartisan support, but it could be challenging, depending on which party controls Congress.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the Governors Reception room in the State Capitol Wednesday, November 30, 2022 St. Paul, Minn.
Star Tribune Via Getty Images | Star Tribune | Getty Images

How Minnesota’s child tax credit stacks up

Described by Walz as a “signature accomplishment,” Minnesota’s refundable child tax credit was $1,750 per child for 2023, which was the biggest in the country for low earners. The credit begins phasing out at $29,500 for single filers or $35,000 for married couples filing together. The complete phaseout depends on the number of children, family income and filing status.
“Minnesota’s new child tax credit is unusual in its narrowness,” said Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation. “But it is the most generous in the nation for low-income households.”
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For 2023, more than 215,000 Minnesota tax returns claimed the credit for over 437,000 eligible children with a total average tax break of $1,244 per child, Walz reported last week.
“This year, we invested directly in the financial security and well-being of families across the state through our nation-leading child tax credit,” he said in a press release.

For tax year 2024, eligible Minnesota families can soon choose to receive 50% of the credit before the tax season via advance payments. A similar policy was enacted for the federal child tax credit in 2021, which reduced the child poverty rate to a historic low of 5.2% that year, according to a Columbia University analysis.

How Walz could shape federal policy

As a key priority for Walz, Minnesota’s child tax credit upgrades were the single biggest line item in his latest supplemental budget. The policy could resurface to support an expanded federal child tax credit on the presidential campaign trail. But enacting federal changes could be more challenging, depending on which party controls Congress, experts say.
“It’s really hard to draw straight lines from any state policymaker to federal policymaking,” said Richard Auxier, a principal policy associate for the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center who focuses on state and local tax policy.
In Minnesota, the child tax credit was enacted via a Democratic-controlled state legislature, along with a significant budget surplus, which is different from the federal climate, he said. 
Still, while Walz enacted state tax breaks like other governors, “he was able to turn the dial up a few extra notches,” Auxier said. “The child tax credit is probably the most obvious example.”
Walz’s office did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. 

Despite bipartisan support for an expanded federal child tax credit, Senate Republicans blocked the measure earlier this month to defer negotiations.
Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, in a statement described the vote as a “blatant attempt to score political points.” He said Senate Republicans have concerns about the policy, but are willing to negotiate a “child tax credit solution that a majority of Republicans can support.”
If enacted, the bill would have improved access to the child tax credit and retroactively boosted the refundable portion for 2023, which could have triggered refund checks from the IRS.
National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard said in a statement that President Joe Biden and Harris will “continue to fight for an expanded child tax credit.”

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The Biden administration is expected to move to forgive the student debt of tens of millions of borrowers as soon as October.
These are the four groups that may benefit from partial or full debt relief if the plan survives the next round of legal challenges.

President Joe Biden visiting a library in Culver City, California, on Feb. 21, 2024.
Irfan Khan | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

As the Biden administration prepares to forgive the student debt of tens of millions of borrowers — a move experts say could happen as soon as October — it has issued new guidance on who will most likely be eligible for the relief.
That is an important distinction from President Joe Biden’s first effort at sweeping student loan cancellation. With this attempt, the U.S. Department of Education revised its forgiveness plan to be more targeted, with the hope that this aid package survives the inevitable next round of legal challenges.

The Department of Education is still working out the details of the plan, and will notify eligible borrowers soon.
“Once these rules are finalized, 30 million Americans will get to benefit and experience the life-changing impact of student debt cancellation,” said Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director at the Student Borrower Protection Center.
These are the four groups that stand to benefit from partial or full debt relief if the plan survives the next round of lawsuits.

1. Borrowers who owe more than at start of repayment

Those who hold Direct or other Education Department-held loans and have a current balance greater than when they entered repayment may be able to get up to $20,000 forgiven, according to Department of Education guidance. The amount of relief they will receive will depend, in part, on how much their balance has grown.
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Experts say the Department of Education will likely compare borrowers’ present balance to the total principal and interest they owed when they began paying down their debt, whenever that was.
Single individuals enrolled in income-driven repayment plans who earn less than $120,000 could get the entire amount on their debt that has grown since they entered repayment, both principal and interest, erased. The income cap for married borrowers who file joint taxes is $240,000.

2. Those already eligible for relief

The Department of Education could also forgive the debt of the many borrowers who are eligible for relief but either have not enrolled in the right program or have not applied for the aid yet.
Many student loan borrowers are not aware of the relief options available to them, such as income-driven repayment plans and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, consumer advocates say.

3. People who have been paying for many years

If you have only undergraduate student loans and entered repayment on or before July 1, 2005, you will likely be eligible for the aid.
For those with just graduate loans, or a mix of undergraduate and graduate debt, repayment must have begun on or before July 1, 2000, according to the Department of Education guidance.

Those who have consolidated their loans along the way should not worry that their timeline reset. The Department of Education says it will look into when those underlying loans initially entered repayment.

4. Attendees of troubled schools

In the fall, the Department of Education will also likely try to cancel some or all of the debt of those borrowers who attended schools that lost their eligibility for federal funding, suddenly closed or provided “low financial value,” the agency said.

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While market declines during a sell-off can induce fears, experts say it’s important you don’t stray from your retirement goals.
“Today you’re getting to buy it at a discount,” said Winnie Sun, co-founder and managing director of Sun Group Wealth Partners in Irvine, California. “It’s better to buy things on sale than to buy at full price.”

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images

Picture this: You walk into a big grocery store and everything is deeply discounted, said Winnie Sun, co-founder and managing director of Sun Group Wealth Partners in Irvine, California.
“What would you buy that you know that your household would need for the future?” she said. “That could be like paper towels, it could be toilet paper, it could be things that you know that you’re going to need long term.”

It’s smart to adopt a similar mindset when the stock market pulls back as it did Monday, said Sun, who is also a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council. Think of positions that you would like to add to your portfolio.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 2.6% to start the week, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 3.43% and the S&P 500 slid 3%. The blue-chip Dow and S&P 500 registered their biggest daily losses since September 2022.
“When the stock market pulls back at these levels, these are great opportunities to invest in core names or a quality portfolio that you always wanted,” she said.
“Today you’re getting to buy it at a discount,” Sun said. “It’s better to buy things on sale than to buy at full price.”

‘The biggest mistake’ to avoid

While market declines can make investors nervous, experts say it’s important you don’t stray from your retirement goals. That means staying invested and keeping on schedule with regular contributions.
“Turning off your retirement contributions is really not the way to go, especially when the market gets volatile,” said Clifford Cornell, certified financial planner and associate financial advisor at Bone Fide Wealth in New York City. 
“Find comfort in the fact that markets do recover,” Cornell said. 
In fact, stocks picked up on Tuesday: The Dow was up 1.45% shortly before close, while the Nasdaq and S&P were up 1.84, and 1.83%, respectively.

“The biggest mistake,” is when individuals sell off their assets during market downturns, according to CFP Stacy Francis, president and CEO of Francis Financial in New York City.
Then they “miss out on the wonderful rally that we’re seeing today,” said Francis, a CNBC FA Council member.
That’s not an unusual pattern: In a JPMorgan Asset Management analysis spanning Jan. 1, 2003 to Dec. 31, 2022, seven of the market’s 10 best days happened within two weeks of its worst 10 days.
Francis also cautioned that the market will likely continue to see volatility leading up to the presidential election.
“You can’t control the market, but you can control how you react to that,” Francis said. “How you react is going to spell your long term success.”  More