Be Green and Save Money with a Tax Credit

This is the best time to turn green and help out your personal finances by doing it. The federal government is providing a tax credit under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. How much can you save? You can save up to $1500! This means you can make some improvements on your home, trade in your old gas-guzzling car, buy a new home, and receive a nice deduction.

If this has sparked your interest, here are some of the things you can do to your home that would qualify for the 30 percent tax credit or up to $1500 return.

• Buy a new water heater because older ones may not run as efficiently and use up more energy.
• Buy a new furnace for the same reason as why you would buy a new water heater.
• Old windows can cost you hundreds of dollars a year in heating and cooling costs. Replace your windows with energy efficient ones.
• Another way to cut down on heating and cooling costs and get you the nice tax credit is to install a steel roof.
• The same goes for old doors. Buy some new storm doors!

The other ways you can cash in is buying a new home as a first time homebuyer, trade in a car that gets less than 18 MPG for one that is 22 MPG, or a hybrid electric car.

For more information, visit the Energy Star website or the Internal Revenue Service.

(Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimg944/3705748934/)

August 3rd, 2009 by Marcelina Hardy | Posted in Saving Money | (0)