US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

                                  TITLE  63
                             REVENUE AND TAXATION
                                  CHAPTER 36
                                  SALES TAX
    63-3622QQ.  EQUIPMENT USED IN ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF GENERATION OF
ELECTRICITY. [EFFECTIVE UNTIL JULY 1, 2011] (1) Purchasers of machinery and
equipment used directly in generating electricity using fuel cells, low impact
hydro, wind, geothermal resources, biomass, cogeneration, sun or landfill gas
as the principal source of power may qualify for a rebate of sales or use
taxes paid on such purchases but only if the purchaser develops with such
machinery, equipment, and tangible personal property a facility capable of
generating not less than twenty-five (25) kilowatts of electricity.
    (2)  For purposes of this section:
    (a)  "Landfill gas" means biomass fuel of the type qualified for federal
    tax credits under 26 U.S.C. section 29 collected from a landfill.
    "Landfill" means a landfill as defined in section 39-7403, Idaho Code;
    (b)  "Machinery and equipment" means industrial fixtures, devices, and
    support facilities that are integral and necessary to the generation of
    electricity using fuel cells, low impact hydro, wind, geothermal
    resources, biomass, cogeneration, sun, or landfill gas as the principal
    source of power;
    (c)  "Machinery and equipment" does not include:
         (i)   Hand-powered tools;
         (ii)  Property with a useful life of less than one (1) year;
         (iii) Repair parts required to restore machinery and equipment to
         normal working order;
         (iv)  Replacement parts that do not increase productivity, improve
         efficiency, or extend the useful life of machinery and equipment;
         (v)   Buildings; or
         (vi)  Building fixtures that are not integral and necessary to the
         generation of electricity that are permanently affixed to and become
         a physical part of a building;
    (d)  Machinery and equipment is "used directly" in generating electricity
    with fuel cells or by low impact hydro, wind energy, geothermal resources,
    biomass, cogeneration, solar energy or landfill gas power if it provides
    any part of the process that captures the energy of the fuel cells, low
    impact hydro, wind, geothermal resources, biomass, cogeneration, sun, or
    landfill gas, converts that energy to electricity, and stores, transforms
    or transmits that electricity for entry into or operation in parallel with
    electric transmission and distribution systems;
    (e)  "Fuel cell" means an electrochemical reaction that generates
    electricity by combining atoms of hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of a
    catalyst;
    (f)  "Low impact hydro" means an electric generating facility utilizing
    water for the generation of electricity, housed in existing canals or
    existing reservoirs and  having a power production capacity twenty-five
    (25) kilowatts or greater.
    (3)  To qualify for the rebate, the taxpayer and his contractors must pay
sales and use tax on their purchases of property.  Once  a public utility, a
cooperative, a municipality or the public utilities commission certifies the
project will generate at least twenty-five (25) kilowatts of electricity, the
taxpayer may file a refund request with the state tax commission.  The refund
request shall state that the taxpayer will construct or has constructed  a
project that will generate  sufficient kilowatts of electricity at the project
site to be eligible for the rebate and that the taxpayer is entitled to
receive a rebate of all sales and use taxes paid that qualifies for the rebate
created by this section.
    (4)  Upon filing of a written refund claim by the taxpayer entitled to the
rebate, and subject to such reasonable documentation and verification as the
state tax commission may require, the rebate shall be paid by the state tax
commission as a refund allowable under section 63-3626, Idaho Code. A claim
for rebate under this section must be filed on or before the last day of the
third calendar year following the year in which the taxes sought to be rebated
were paid or the right to the rebate is lost.
    (5)  Any rebate paid shall be subject to recapture by the state tax
commission. In the event the property is not used, stored or otherwise
consumed in the process of generating electricity for a period of sixty (60)
months, the state tax commission may recapture the tax paid in the same
proportion as an amount of credit required to be recaptured under section
63-3029B, Idaho Code.
    (6)  Any recapture amount due under this section shall be a deficiency in
tax for the period in which the disqualification first occurs for purposes of
section 63-3629, Idaho Code, and may be enforced and collected in the manner
provided by the Idaho sales tax act, provided however, that in lieu of the
provisions of section 63-3633, Idaho Code, the period of time within which the
commission may issue a notice under section 63-3629, Idaho Code, in regard to
an amount subject to recapture shall be the later of five (5) years after the
end of the taxable year, for income tax purposes, in which the project period
ends.