Treasury Releases Final Rules for Energy Tax Credit Prevailing Wage, Apprenticeship Bonuses
The Inflation Reduction Act modified and extended many energy tax incentives used in residential construction, including requiring taxpayers to meet prevailing wage and/or apprenticeship requirements in order to claim the full value of the tax credit. The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have now released final regulations on these labor requirements.
To claim the full credit amount for certain incentives, taxpayers are required to pay workers the “prevailing wage,” and in other cases, also hire a certain number of registered apprentices.
The prevailing wage requirements apply to multifamily projects claiming the Section 45L New Energy Efficient Home Tax Credit.
The prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements apply to the Section 45 Production Tax Credit, the Section 48 Investment Tax Credit, and the Section 179D Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings Deduction, among others.
In 2022, based on initial guidance from the IRS, the Department of Labor issued two Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) documents to help taxpayers comply with these requirements: one on prevailing wage and the other on apprenticeships. These webpages now note the FAQs will be updated soon to reflect changes in the final regulations.
Latest from NAHBNow
Advocacy
Aug 01, 2025
Meet at Home with Your Members of CongressNAHB members across the nation can build on the success of the June Legislative Conference by meeting with their lawmakers in their home districts in August to discuss key issues that affect the home building industry.
Sponsored Content
Jul 31, 2025
How Home Builders Beat the Labor Crunch with This Fast Financing PlanStruggling to secure labor can force builders to make tough decisions: Do you delay a project? Sacrifice profits? Or turn down new opportunities? But smart builders don’t just react — they adapt their financing strategy to meet labor challenges head-on.
Latest Economic News
Economics
Jul 31, 2025
Personal Income Rises 0.3% in JunePersonal income increased by 0.3% in June, following a 0.4% dip in May, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The gains in personal income were largely driven by higher wages and social benefits.
Economics
Jul 31, 2025
Housing Share of GDP: Second Quarter 2025Housing’s share of the economy registered 16.3% in the second quarter of 2025, according to the advance estimate of GDP produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This reading is unchanged from a revised level of 16.3% in the first quarter and is the same as the share one year ago.
Economics
Jul 30, 2025
Fed Remains on Pause AgainAt the conclusion of its July meeting, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee once again held the federal funds rate constant at a top rate of 4.5%. However, two members of the committee dissented from the decision (Fed Board Governors Waller and Bowman), the largest number of dissenting votes since 1993.