Same WhatsApp thread, two messages: “online it says 40% state and 40% regional; I don’t see 60%”. Then: “it says there has to be something more than the panels. Windows, a heat pump, and so on.” That is not a confused customer. That is what happens when three different tax boxes get flattened into one sentence. This article is the reply we should be able to forward.
The three sentences, plainly:
- The state 40% and 60% are the same energy renovation deduction: 40% when what improves is your home (primary residence or rented out), only for works paid for by 31 December 2026 and with the after-works energy certificate issued before 1 January 2027; 60% when what improves is a residential building, until 31 December 2027. Neither of them requires new windows to be “unlocked”.
- The 40% in the Valencian Community is a different (regional) deduction, with a maximum base of €8,800 per home and year: on a primary residence, at most €3,520 of deduction. It does not replace the state deduction: it is added to it if the file is properly documented.
- You do not need a heat pump or new windows to enter the state 40% or 60%. What the rule asks for is the result on the energy performance certificate (CEE), before and after the works, not a shopping list.
As if you were eight: a deduction does not lower the price of the installation. The company still charges you the same. Next year the tax office lets you pay less tax… but only if you had tax to pay. If your tax piggy bank is empty, the deduction does not buy you a roof.
What you read online is not entirely false. It is a different box. The state 40% exists. So does the 60%. Mixing them up —and then mixing both with the Valencian 40%— is where the mess starts.
The state 40% and 60%: the same deduction, different scope
The state deduction for energy-efficiency works (additional provision 50 of Spain’s IRPF income-tax act) is not “40% or 60% depending on the salesperson”. It is two doors into the same rule, and what decides which one you go through is which certificate you file: your home’s or the building’s. And each door has its own calendar: the 40% only applies to works paid for by 31 December 2026 and with the after-works energy certificate issued before 1 January 2027; the 60%, until 31 December 2027.
| What the certificate (CEE) must show, before and after | How it is usually achieved | Base cap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40% | Lower non-renewable primary energy use in the home, primary residence or rented out (at least 30%), or moving up to class A or B | Rooftop PV on that home. Sometimes a heat pump. | Max. base €7,500 (max. deduction €3,000). Only in 2026. |
| 60% | The same, but for the building: energy renovation of a predominantly residential building | The same PV, if the certificate is the building’s. A residents’ association, or a detached house when the before and after certificates are the building’s. | Max. base €5,000 a year; the excess carries forward 4 years, up to €15,000 accumulated (max. €9,000 of deduction). Until 31 December 2027. |
The VAT you pay is part of the base: the deduction is calculated on what you actually pay, VAT included, minus any grants.
That is the windows mix-up. The energy certificate measures several things. A new window or good insulation lowers heating and cooling demand. A solar panel lowers non-renewable primary energy use, because you stop drawing grid electricity with a fossil mix. The 40% and the 60% look at the second indicator. Anyone who says “for 60% you need more than panels” is, almost always, applying the windows indicator to a box that does not ask for it. The Spanish tax agency does not ask for both at once for the same box.
Why the 60% is called energy renovation (and why that is not “gut the whole block”)
The 60% is not a prize for suffering building works. It is the rate for energy renovation of predominantly residential buildings, and it has been extended until 31 December 2027. The rule does not list “windows + heat pump + panels”. It lists a result: the building’s energy performance certificate, before and after, must show at least 30% less non-renewable primary energy use, or class A or B.
A detached house can be a building too. A block of flats is one. What changes is not “whether there is a residents’ association”, but what the certificate you file covers: a single-family house counts as a residential building if the before and after certificates are the building’s and show 30% less non-renewable primary energy use, or class A or B. The internet FAQ that reserves 60% “only for residents’ associations” falls short: it is right that 60% is not the box for a single flat with a flat certificate; it is wrong to turn “building” into “only if there are lots of you”.
In real cases:
- Roof of a detached house / solar pergola on your plot. If the before and after certificates are the building’s —the whole house— and show 30% less non-renewable primary energy use (or class A or B), the box is energy renovation of the building: 60%. What decides it is what the certificate covers, not “the salesperson saying it louder”.
- A flat in a block, panels only for your home, certificate of your home. Here the state 40% is what usually appears. Not because you lack a heat pump: because you are not renovating the building, you are improving a home. And watch the calendar: only if it is your primary residence or you rent it out, and if the works are paid for by 31/12/2026 and the after-works certificate is issued before 1/1/2027.
- Communal roof, block certificate. 60%. Each neighbour applies their share. We walk through it calmly in the article on the 60% in residents’ associations. Watch the date: this rate runs until 31 December 2027.
The 60% is not “unlocked” by buying more things. It is evidenced with the building’s energy performance certificate. If the certificate falls short, neither a showroom heat pump nor catalogue windows will save a badly built spreadsheet. If the certificate gets there with the panels, there is no need to invent a renovation.
The real question: do you need a heat pump, windows or “other works”?
No. Spain’s income-tax law does not say “PV plus a heat pump” or “PV plus windows” as a condition of the 40% or the 60%. It says what the certificate has to say.
Panels on their own usually suffice for the indicator that matters in those two boxes —non-renewable primary energy use— because you replace grid kWh with renewable kWh. That is certificate physics, not a sales trick.
So where does “there has to be something more” come from?
- From mixing two indicators of the certificate: heating and cooling demand (windows, insulation) with non-renewable primary energy use (panels), which is the one that counts for the 40% and the 60%.
- From mixing energy renovation for income-tax purposes (a certificate that improves) with renovation for VAT purposes (structure, façade and roof thresholds: a different regime, article 91; we unpack it in the article on VAT for solar panels).
- From mixing the deduction with Next Generation grants, whose checks sometimes ask for photos of heating equipment. It is not the same procedure. In fact, we stopped processing Next Generation precisely so as not to muddy your income-tax file.
When a heat pump or windows do make sense
If the starting certificate is a wreck and the panels cannot deliver the 30% —it happens, especially when almost all your primary energy is heating oil or gas and electricity weighs little—, then switching the boiler to a heat pump, or improving the envelope, may be what closes the certificate. That does not make a heat pump a legal toll. It makes it a tool, if the number does not come out. That is why the certificate is done before anyone sells you a bundle. Anyone who demands a heat pump “just because” for the 60% has either not read the box, or is selling you another job.
The Valencian Community 40%: a different deduction, €8,800 base cap
Here is the second half of the WhatsApp. The 40% you see on Generalitat pages is not the state 40%. It is the Valencian Community’s regional deduction for investment in self-consumption installations, and it has no planned end date.
- 40% of what you invest in your primary residence.
- 20% if it is a second home.
- Maximum base: €8,800 per home and year (if the home has several owners, it is shared between them). On a primary residence, 40% of 8,800 is €3,520: that is the maximum of the regional box per home and year. It is not “they give you 8,800 back”. And if the installation costs more than €8,800, the 40% is not applied to the total: the legal cap cuts there.
- It is added to the state deduction. They are two different deductions, each with its own rate and cap, and both can be applied if the file is clean.
The requirements people most often forget:
- The installation must be entered on the self-consumption register of the Valencian Community. Since 2023 no IVACE certificate is required: the IVACE stamp was for investments up to 2022.
- No cash. The payment has to leave a trail: bank transfer, card, nominative cheque or paying into an account.
- Grants are subtracted. If you have received a grant for the same installation, the base is what you paid minus that grant.
- It does not apply to installations made mandatory by the Building Technical Code (CTE). If the installation is the one the CTE requires for that building, the Valencian box does not apply.
What you saw online mixes two rules. The state one (40% or 60%, depending on the certificate) and the Valencian one (40% on a primary residence, on at most €8,800 per home and year) are different deductions, with different caps, on the same roof.
“So the installation costs me nothing?”
No. And it can be explained in three playground sentences:
- You pay for the installation now (to the company, with its VAT).
- The tax office does not send you a cheque. It lets you subtract a chunk of what you were going to pay on your income-tax return. That is a deduction: permission to empty your tax piggy bank, not Atodosol’s till.
- If you pay almost no income tax —unemployment, a small pension, losses, very low income— the piggy bank is almost empty. A big permission is worth nothing if there is almost nothing inside the piggy bank.
On top of that, each box has its cap. The rate is not applied without limit to everything the works cost: the state box has its maximum bases and the Valencian one stops, at most, at €8,800 of base per home and year. Be wary of any calculation that adds rates together as if they were a single number.
The example that takes apart “it’s all paid for”
Ana puts up panels in Alicante. On the salesperson’s spreadsheet, between the state box and the Valencian one, the deduction is quite a lot bigger than the income tax Ana pays in a year. But the tax office only lets her subtract what it was going to charge her. Ana does not receive the difference: she gets permission not to pay what she owed. The rest stays on paper (sometimes it can be used in later years, if the rule allows it and if there is tax then). That is why we say: only as long as the person has tax to deduct against. No tax, no magic. There is a paid invoice and a box at zero.
How it looks in practice, without a salesperson’s spreadsheet
| Your case | Usual state box | Regional box (Valencian Community) |
|---|---|---|
| Detached or single-family house, before and after certificates of the building, with ≥ 30% less non-renewable primary energy (or A/B) | 60% energy renovation of the building, until 31 December 2027 | 40% on max. €8,800 if primary residence; 20% if second home |
| Flat, panels only yours, certificate of the home | Usually state 40% (base €7,500), only primary residence or rented home, and only if the works are paid for in 2026 and the after-works certificate is issued before 1/1/2027. | Same: regional 40% / 20% with the €8,800 cap |
| Residents’ association, block certificate | 60%, each neighbour their share, until 31 December 2027 | Each owner, depending on whether it is their primary residence or their second home, with the installation on the self-consumption register |
What can actually kill the deduction (and it is not missing windows)
- Paying cash. The base has to go by bank transfer, card, nominative cheque or paying into an account.
- A dirty invoice —a VAT rate that does not apply, made-up descriptions, a tax ID (NIF) that does not match—. The tax office does not hand out the 60% or the 40% for a photo of the roof.
- Not having a certificate before and after the works: without both certificates, there is no state box.
- Being late for the 40%. If the works are paid for, or the after-works certificate is issued, on or after 1 January 2027, the 40% for the home no longer applies.
- Wanting two state deductions for the same installation. If you apply this energy renovation deduction, you cannot also apply the state self-consumption deduction for the same installation. It is one or the other.
- In the Valencian Community, not entering the installation on the self-consumption register.
- Collecting a grant (Next Generation or other) and not subtracting it from the base: the grant reduces what you can deduct; it is not “added” to the deduction.
- In the Valencian Community, the installation being one of those made mandatory by the CTE. That one gives no right to the regional box.
We prepare the certificate, the legalisation and the pack for your tax adviser. We are not tax advisers and this article does not compute your return: your gestoría has the last word on your filing. What we will not do is sell you a toll heat pump for a 60% that is evidenced by the certificate, or tell you the Valencian 40% is “up to €8,800 in your hand” when €8,800 is the base.
If you are comparing quotes this week
Ask for three things in writing, not by ear:
- Which state box they are proposing (40 or 60) and with which certificate —home or building— they intend to support it. If it is the 40%, ask them how they will get the works paid for in 2026 and the after-works certificate issued before 1 January 2027.
- The regional 40% broken down with the €8,800 base cap, not “40% of everything”.
- If they demand a heat pump or windows to “reach 60%”: they should show you the starting certificate. If there is no number, it is a commercial bundle, not a legal requirement.
If you want us to look at it with your electricity bill and your roof, we will study it and tell you whether the 30% comes out with the panels or whether, in your specific case, something more is needed. No theatre.
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Indicative framework: additional provision 50 of the IRPF Act, as currently worded (40% for works that improve the energy efficiency of a primary residence or rented home; 60% for energy renovation of predominantly residential buildings, until 31/12/2027; base €7,500 (40%, 2026 only); €5,000 a year and €15,000 accumulated (60%, until 31/12/2027); energy performance certificate before and after the works; base including the VAT paid, minus grants); Valencian Community regional deduction for investment in self-consumption installations (40% primary residence, 20% second home, max. base €8,800 per home and year; entry on the self-consumption register, no cash payment and grants subtracted from the base; does not apply to installations made mandatory by the CTE). General information updated on 3 November 2026. It does not replace your tax adviser’s view or an AEAT ruling on your case.