Private ruling: Photovoltaic solar system
Published: January 2012
Ruling period: 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011. | 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012. | 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013. | 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014. | 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015. | 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016. | 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017.
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2011.

Ruling: Q1: Would payments received from your electricity retailer for the generation of electricity from a photovoltaic solar system be assessable income under section 6-5 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997)? | A1:  | Q2: Are the costs associated with the solar system, such as maintenance and depreciation, deductible under section 8-1 or 8-5 of the ITAA 1997? | A2: 


Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 6-5 | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 subsection 6-5(1) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 subsection 6-5(2) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 subsection 6-5(4) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 6-10 | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 20-25 | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 subsection 20-25(1) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 paragraph 20-25(1)(b) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 subsection 20-20(2) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 20-40 | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 8-1

Reasons for decision: Summary: While these reasons are not part of the private ruling, we provide them to help you to understand how we reached our decision. Unless otherwise stated, all legislative references in the following relate to the ITAA 1997. Based on the configuration of the solar system you have installed, the arrangement with your energy supplier/retailer and your estimated feed-in tariff payments, the arrangement is not private or domestic in nature. As a consequence: · the payments you will receive for the generation of electricity from the solar system are ordinary assessable income under section 6-5 · the costs you will incur in relation to the generation of electricity from the solar system are deductible under section 8-1 to the extent that they are not capital or private or domestic in nature · you are able to claim deductions in respect of the decline in value of the capital cost of the system because the solar system is used to produce assessable income · the value of the right granted to you to create renewable energy certificates (RECs) is an assessable recoupment and must also be included in your assessable income. As you are the owner of the solar system asset, any income generated from it would be assessable. | Detailed Reasoning - Assessable income: Assessable income is made up of ordinary income and statutory income. Section 6-10 provides that assessable income includes statutory income which constitutes amounts made assessable by specific statutory provisions. There are no specific legislative provisions relating to money or credits received from electricity suppliers therefore such amounts are not statutory income. Subsection 6-5(1) defines ordinary income as income 'according to ordinary concepts'. Under subsection 6-5(2), the assessable income of an Australian resident includes the ordinary income derived directly or indirectly from all sources during the income year. The tax legislation does not provide specific guidance on the meaning of income according to ordinary concepts. However, a substantial body of case law exists which identifies likely characteristics. In determining whether an amount is ordinary income, the courts have established the following principles: · what receipts ought to be treated as income must be determined in accordance with the ordinary concepts and usages of mankind, except in so far as a statute dictates otherwise · whether the payment received is income depends upon a close examination of all relevant circumstances · whether the payment received is income is an objective test. · Relevant factors in determining whether an amount is ordinary income include: · whether the payment is the product of any employment, services rendered, or any business · the quality or character of the payment in the hands of the recipient · the form of the receipt, that is, whether it is received as a lump sum or periodically · the motive of the person making the payment, but noting that this latter factor is rarely decisive, as a mix of motives may exist. In GP International Pipecoaters Pty Ltd v. Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1990) 170 CLR 124; 90 ATC 4413 at 4420; (1990) 21 ATR 1 the Full High Court stated: To determine whether a receipt is of an income or of a capital nature, various factors may be relevant. Sometimes the character of receipts will be revealed most clearly by their periodicity, regularity or recurrence; sometimes, by the character of a right or thing disposed of in exchange for the receipt; sometimes, by the scope of the transaction, venture or business in or by reason of which money is received and by the recipient's purpose in engaging in the transaction, venture or business. Ultimately, whether or not a particular receipt is ordinary income depends on its character in the hands of the recipient. The whole of the circumstances must be considered. Amounts that are periodical, regular or recurrent, relied upon by the recipient for their regular expenditure and paid to them for that purpose are likely to be ordinary income. In addition, receipts from property or investments that are on commercial terms and/or that indicate an intention to make a profit from an activity are also likely to be ordinary income. A solar system is considered to be the property of its owner. Receipts received in connection with it, therefore, are potentially assessable income. Consequently, it needs to be determined, in light of the nature and the circumstances of the receipt, whether the payments or credits received in return for transfer of electricity to the grid are income. In determining whether or not the payments are assessable income, the factual circumstances, and in particular whether the receipts indicate an activity that is more than private or domestic in nature, need to be considered. The following are important: · the terms of the arrangement with the electricity retailer and in particular any requirement on the retailer to buy all electricity that is generated from the system (as occurs under a gross feed in tariff scheme) · the feed-in tariff payments and whether they are considered to represent a return on your investment in the solar system · whether there is a realistic opportunity for you to profit from the arrangement · the regularity of payments/credits received from the feed-in tariffs such that they can be relied upon. Amounts that you receive as a recoupment of a deductible expense (that is the financial benefit arising from the RECs, which offset the cost of the system) may potentially also be included in your assessable income. That issue will be discussed in greater detail below. | Detailed Reasoning - Deductions: The general provision that determines the deductibility of expenses is section 8-1. Under section 8-1 you can deduct from your assessable income any loss or outgoing to the extent that it is incurred in gaining or producing your assessable income. However you cannot deduct a loss or outgoing that is capital, private or domestic in nature. Other provisions in the ITAA 1997 contain specific deductions, which are made allowable by section 8-5. Examples of specific deductions include repairs under section 25-10 and deductions for the decline in value of depreciating assets under section 40-25. | Detailed Reasoning - Repairs and Maintenance: Under section 25-10 you can deduct expenditure you incur in respect of repairs and maintenance to the solar system. That is because the expense is incurred in deriving assessable income from the system. Under subsection 25-10(3) expenditure incurred for repairs is not deductible if it is of a capital nature. For further information regarding the deductibility of repairs see Taxation Ruling TR 97/23 Income tax: deductions for repairs . | Detailed Reasoning - Interest: Under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997, you can deduct interest expenses you incurred in financing the acquisition and installation of the solar system on your private residence where you incur the expense in deriving assessable income from the system. However, you cannot deduct interest expenses relating to your private residence (such as in relation to a home loan) on which the system would be fixed. Expenses associated with your home are usually of a private or domestic nature and do not qualify as deductions for taxation purposes. | Detailed Reasoning - Decline in value: For assets that are capital in nature, you cannot claim deductions under section 8-1. Instead, under the capital allowances system you may be able to claim deductions for the decline in value of the cost of a capital asset used in gaining your assessable income. You can deduct the decline in value of the capital cost of your solar system where it is used in gaining your assessable income. Under section 40-25, each income year you can deduct an amount equal to the decline in value of a depreciating asset that you hold. A depreciating asset is an asset that has a limited effective life and can reasonably be expected to decline in value over the time that it is used. Where it is used in producing assessable income a solar system would fall into that category. You must reduce any applicable deduction by the part of the asset's decline in value that is attributable to your use of the asset for a purpose other than a taxable purpose. The purpose of producing assessable income is a taxable purpose but private usage is not. A solar system comprises modules of photovoltaic cells, a roof mounting frame, various fixings, electrical wiring and conduits and inverters. The entire solar system is considered to be a single depreciating asset and would be depreciated accordingly. Taxation Ruling TR 2011/2 Income tax: effective life of depreciating assets provides a table listing the effective life of depreciating assets. In accordance with TR 2011/2 the effective life of solar power, generating system assets that are on residential property is twenty years. Generally speaking, the cost of a solar system is those amounts which you are taken to have paid to hold the solar system, such as the purchase price and its associated installation and connection costs. It is worked out as at the time that you begin to hold the solar system; in other words, when it is installed and ready for use. The cost also generally includes amounts you pay over time to maintain its condition. For more information on determining the decline in value of your solar system, you should refer to the Guide to depreciating assets 2010 . | Detailed Reasoning - Apportionment of deductions for private and domestic usage: A net feed in tariff scheme is configured into the electricity system of the home - the solar system first supplies electricity to the home to satisfy household electricity consumption before exporting excess electricity to the grid. Where income received under a net feed in tariff scheme is assessable, any expenses incurred in generating the assessable income will need to be apportioned to take into account expenses incurred for electricity generated for private and domestic purposes. For example, one method to apportion will be to reduce the deduction by the percentage of electricity consumed by the household divided by total electricity generated by the system. | Detailed Reasoning - Assessable recoupments: Under Subdivision 20-A, your assessable income may include an amount which you receive by way of insurance, indemnity or other recoupment if it is for a deductible expense and it is not otherwise assessable income. This provision needs to be considered where your solar system produces assessable income and you incur a loss or outgoing (ie expense) in respect of installing and owning that system. Under the REE Act, if you install an eligible solar system on your private residence, you have a statutory right to create RECs after the system is installed. You can assign that right to another person, for example the installer of the system, or you may create the RECs and sell them on the market. Assigning the right to create RECs to another entity (such as the installer) is considered to result in a financial benefit to you. Effectively, the financial benefit is the reduction in the amount which you would otherwise pay for the purchase and installation of the solar system. In effect that reduction is the price discount which the installer offers you in return for surrendering the RECs to them. The RECs are effectively a financial incentive given to you to purchase the system. The amounts received in respect of the RECs are considered to be an indemnity (and therefore a recoupment) as they satisfy a statutory obligation under the REE Act to partially compensate you for the cost to install and own the solar system. Where you can deduct an amount for the decline in value of the solar system under Division 40 (as outlined above) the recouped amount in respect of the RECs is an assessable recoupment. Where the cost of the solar system is deductible under Division 40 over several income years, the total assessable recoupment included in a particular year is the amount of the deduction for the loss or outgoing in that year. Any part of the assessable recoupment that is not included in assessable income in the year it is received is assessable in later income years until it has been fully accounted for. By way of clarification, consider the following example: On 1 July 2009, a taxpayer installed on the roof of his private residence a 10 kilowatt solar system costing $60,000. He received the right to create RECs to the value of $12,000. He assigned them to the installer, resulting in a reduction in the price paid for the solar system to $48,000. The taxpayer claims the decline in value of his solar system using the prime cost method and an effective life of twenty years. He can claim a deduction for decline in value of the system of $3,000 for the 2009-10 financial year and each of the following 19 financial years (being $60,000 /20). He received the right to RECs to the value of $12,000 and that is considered to be an assessable recoupment. As his deduction for decline in value of the system is $3,000 each year, he will include an assessable recoupment of $3,000 each year in his assessable income for the first four income years. The total value of the RECs will then be fully recouped. In subsequent years, the deduction can still be claimed but with no off-setting recoupment. Taxation Determination TD 2006/31 deals with recoupment's for rebates received for the purchase of a depreciating asset for use in a rental property. It provides further guidance on how the recoupment provisions operate in relation to depreciating assets. In addition, ATO ID 2010/218 discusses when the right to create RECs is an assessable recoupment, again in the context of rental properties. | Detailed Reasoning - Who the income is assessable to: In a self assessment environment, income derived from an asset should be returned by taxpayers according to who has the beneficial entitlement to the income, unless there is evidence to the contrary. The entire solar system is considered to be a single depreciating asset. As you have entered into the contract with your electricity retailer to use the system to generate receipts, any resultant income generated from the system would be assessable. | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your situation: Under the scheme you receive credits whenever your electricity generation exceeds your household consumption at intervals during the day as recorded by your meter. The credit will be applied to your electricity account. After a period, you may be able to make arrangements with the retailer to be paid out for any remaining credits on your account. The scheme is connected with the electricity needs of the householder as: · The solar system is configured into the electricity system of the home. · The solar system primarily supplies electricity to the home and satisfies the electricity consumption of the householder before exporting excess electricity to the grid. However based on your factual circumstances, it is considered that the credits you would receive on your electricity account (or payment for credits) are ordinary income because: The scheme is more than private or domestic in nature, this being demonstrated by · the size of the system you have chosen to install is quite sizeable and has a capacity in excess of the needs of a typical household · the amount of electricity generated by the system being significantly greater than the domestic consumption requirements of your household. In particular: You expect to generate excess electricity from the solar system. Only a portion will be used for personal consumption in your private residence, the excess will be transferred to the electricity grid. The credits you would receive for excess electricity do more than offset the cost of your electricity and represent a return on investment for the system. There is a realistic opportunity for you to profit from the arrangement. Consequently, any credits (and payment of credits) received for the electricity generated by the solar system and sold to the electricity grid would be considered to be assessable income. However, if there were a decrease in the size or scale of the activity in which you engaged in, or a decrease in the payments/credits received or the regularity of the payments, this might indicate the payments were not ordinary income and therefore not assessable. As the payments received for the electricity generated are assessable income, the expenditure incurred in producing the income from the sale of the electricity generated to the electricity grid would be deductible to the extent it were not private or domestic in nature. You may be entitled to deductions for the installation and operating expenses of the solar system, such as for: · repairs and maintenance of the solar system · decline in value of the solar system based on twenty year effective life or some other effective life you have determined for the solar system in accordance with TR 2010/2 and the Guide to depreciating assets 2010 ). You would be required to apportion your deductions to take into account expenses incurred in generating electricity consumed by your household, as this will have a private and domestic character. For more information on deductions and apportionment, you can refer to Tax Pack 2010 and the Guide to depreciating assets 2010 . This ruling does not consider the issues relating to any potential capital gains tax or goods and services tax consequences. | Detailed Reasoning - Does Part IVA apply to this ruling?: Part IVA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 is a general anti-avoidance rule that can apply in certain circumstances if you or another taxpayer obtains a tax benefit in connection with an arrangement and it can be concluded that the arrangement, or any part of it, was entered into or carried out by any person for the dominant purpose of enabling a tax benefit to be obtained. If Part IVA applies the tax benefit can be cancelled, for example, by disallowing a deduction that was otherwise allowable. We have not fully considered the application of Part IVA to the arrangement you asked us to rule on, or to an associated or wider arrangement of which that arrangement is part. If you want us to rule on whether Part IVA applies we will first need to obtain and consider all the facts about the arrangement which are relevant to determining whether Part IVA may apply. For more information on Part IVA, go to our website www.ato.gov.au and enter 'part iva general' in the search box on the top right of the page, then select: 'Part IVA: the general anti-avoidance rule for income tax'.

Please check this edited version to be sure that there are no details remaining that you think may allow you to be identified. If you have any concerns about this ruling you wish to discuss, you will find our contact details in the fact sheet. | Answer: Yes, to the extent they are not capital or private or domestic in nature. | You acquired and installed a photovoltaic system (solar system), on the roof of your jointly owned private residence. | You paid $X for the system and received a discount of $Y for your Renewable energy certificates REC's. | The State Government provides for a net feed-in tariff solar scheme (the scheme). Under the scheme, owners of eligible renewable energy systems are paid per kilowatt hour for energy exported to the grid that is in excess of the household consumption at the time of generation as recorded by the meter. | You anticipate that one quarter of the power generated will cover your domestic needs and you will sell the remaining three quarters. | Your electricity retailer will calculate any credits at each billing cycle and carry them forward offsetting against your electricity bills and any excess credits will result in a payment from your energy provider through the feed-in tariff. | You received $X for your quarterly bill that is shown as a credit on your account from your energy retailer. You estimate your electricity consumption used is between $X - Y per quarter. | The system and electricity account is in your name only and your solar system has been connected to the grid. | The solar system is an eligible small generation unit (SGU) for the purposes of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (REE Act). | The REE Act supports the Federal Government's Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme which was established to encourage additional electricity generation from renewable energy sources. | Upon ownership and installation of a SGU a statutory right arises under the REE Act entitling you to create Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). | As provided for under the RET scheme, the right to create RECs would be assigned to the installer in return for a discount on the purchase price of the solar system. | Reasons for decision: These reasons for decision accompany the Notice of private ruling.