SARS solar tax rebate 2026: what you can still claim
Individuals can no longer claim anything for rooftop solar. Businesses still can, under Section 12B. Here is exactly what is open and what has closed.
As of the 2026 tax year there is no solar tax incentive available to individual South African taxpayers. The residential rebate expired and was not replaced. Businesses can still claim, and generously: Section 12B of the Income Tax Act allows a full first-year deduction on qualifying renewable energy assets. The confusion is worth clearing up, because installers still quote incentives that no longer exist.
Individuals: the rebate has closed
The Section 6C rebate allowed individuals to claim 25% of the cost of new solar panels, capped at R15 000, against their personal income tax. It applied only to panels brought into use between 1 March 2023 and 29 February 2024. It was a deliberately time-limited measure, it was not extended, and National Treasury has not introduced a replacement residential incentive in the budgets since. If you install solar on your home today, there is nothing to claim.
Businesses: Section 12B is open, with no expiry
Section 12B allows a business to deduct the full cost of a qualifying renewable energy asset under 1 MW in the year it is brought into use. Assets above 1 MW are written off over three years on a 50/30/20 basis. Because it is a deduction against taxable income rather than a rebate, the cash value depends on the tax rate: at the 27% corporate rate, a R1 000 000 system reduces tax payable by R270 000 in year one. Section 12B carries no expiry date.
The enhanced 125% allowance has ended
Section 12BA temporarily raised the deduction to 125% of cost, with no 1 MW ceiling, for assets brought into use between 1 March 2023 and 28 February 2025. That window has closed. Assets brought into use after 28 February 2025 fall back to the ordinary Section 12B treatment described above.
What counts as brought into use
The deduction is claimed in the year the asset is brought into use, not the year it is paid for or delivered. For a solar installation that generally means commissioned and generating, which in most municipalities also implies the certificate of compliance is issued and the small-scale embedded generation registration is in place. A system paid for in one tax year and commissioned in the next is claimed in the later year.
Practical implications when comparing quotes
For a home, compare quotes on the installed price alone; no incentive applies. For a business, the deduction meaningfully changes the effective cost, so ask for the quote excluding VAT and model the deduction against your own tax position. Keep the invoice, the certificate of compliance and the commissioning date together, because those are what substantiate the claim.
Written and maintained by SunVerified from public sources, each linked below. We publish under the company name rather than invented bylines, and we correct guides when the underlying rules change. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
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