AAU joined ACE and 7 other associations in submitting comments to the Internal Revenue Service on a possible error in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that could prevent some public universities from benefiting from green energy tax credits included in the law.
As the letter noted, the IRA includes several green energy tax credits that could help state colleges and universities pursue climate change mitigation. Section 6417 of the IRA, for example, provides a new option to make a direct-pay election for claiming green energy tax credits. However, the letter noted, a “possible drafting error” in the IRA could prevent some public universities from making the election. The letter asked the Treasury Department to fix the error and “to implement the intent of Congress to ensure that tax-exempt and government organizations would be eligible for the green energy tax credits” and can “advance the ambitious climate change goals of the IRA.”