Tax Credit and the "Energy Performance Ratings"

[Bud]

{I hope the IRS doesn't chase this one too vigorously!} Per Andersen [other window & door manufacturers may vary - check it out], the brochure for my new 400 Series French door says the Solar heat gain coefficient is: 0.20 & the U-Factor is 0.29. According to the test sheet on the door itself the numbers are: 0.14 and 0.31. According to the Andersen Certification Statement [for tax credit purposes] the numbers are: 0.16 & 0.30. The credit requires 0.30 or less for both ratings. I imagine there's quite a lot of figure-juggling going around and, hopefully, 'close counts'. My replacement windows are being installed soon but the brochure says: 0.31 & 0.31 and the Certification says: 0.29 & 0.30. What the windows themselves will advertise is TBD. But, for tax purposes, I'll stick with the Certificate values which make the cut. YMMV

[Skydawggy.]

Hope the IRS doesn't find out. The numbers they go by are what is on the NFRC testing which is reflected by sticker on the door, not Andersens brochure. Don't let the IRS know about this by doing something stupid like posting this on the internet.

[HomeSealed]

Sounds like some inconsistencies within Anderson. For your purposes, the certification statement and bill of sale is all you need to save for your records and is what I'd recommend. It is actually possible that they put the wrong sticker on. I actually had an order of 20+ Weathershield windows at one point that were "guaranteed" to qualify, but came with NFRC stickers that had incorrect values. I contacted Weathershield and they sent out the correct ones. (This was early last year when you still needed to save the stickers. You don't anymore as long as you have the cert statement.)