Sustainable development tax credit: extension to 2012, opening to landlords and insulation, lower rates on some equipment

Article 109 of the finance act for 2009 amends the income tax credit for energy saving and sustainable development (Article 200 quater of the General Tax Code). The scheme is extended until 31 December 2012 and opened to landlords who undertake to let unfurnished for five years, within a limit of €8,000 of expenditure per dwelling and three dwellings per year. It is extended to the cost of installing insulation on opaque walls (25%, or 40% in a home completed before 1977 acquired less than two years earlier) and to non-mandatory energy performance diagnostics (50%). Low-temperature boilers are excluded, air-to-air heat pumps are no longer eligible, and the rate for heat pumps and wood-fired equipment is reduced from 50% to 40% in 2009 and then 25% from 2010.