Act Now to Claim the §45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit
Act Now to Claim the §45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit on January 1, 2025
Many suppliers of low carbon renewable diesel and biodiesel in the U.S. currently benefit from the “biodiesel mixture excise tax credit,” which is a substantial tax incentive of $1.00 per gallon of pure biodiesel or renewable diesel. In order to qualify for this blender’s tax credit (BTC), producers of renewable diesel or biodiesel must produce a mixture that contains at least 0.1% of petroleum diesel. Blenders that produced, sold, or used the qualified mixture as a fuel in the trade or business are eligible for the tax credit. The BTC was first enacted in 2004 and Congress has extended and made this incentive available to renewable diesel and biodiesel players, until now.
Starting on January 1, 2025, the §45Z, Clean Fuel Production Credit, a production tax credit (PTC) authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, goes into effect, thus eliminating the BTC which has been in place for nearly 20 years. The replacement of a blender’s tax credit with a producer’s tax credit brings about fundamental changes for producers and blenders of renewable diesel and biodiesel.
First, the new §45Z production tax credit is now also available to other types of transportation fuels suitable for use in a highway vehicle or aircraft, such as low carbon gasoline blend stocks including low carbon ethanol and renewable naphtha and sustainable aviation fuel. Second, as §45Z is a production tax credit available to U.S.-based producers of low carbon fuels, it will not be available to foreign producers of low carbon transportation fuels who previously benefitted from the $1.00 per gallon BTC by conducting blending operations within the U.S. This change creates a substantial advantage for U.S.-based producers of low carbon transportation fuels. Third, the new §45Z is only available for low carbon transportation fuels that have a lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions factor of less than 50 kilograms of CO2e per million BTU, which translates to a fuel carbon intensity (CI) in more recognizable units of less than 47.2 gCO2e per MJ. Fourth, the value of the tax incentive is based on the CI of the fuel, the lower its CI the higher the incentive. The incentive peaks at a CI of 0 gCO2e per MJ, and approaches zero at a CI of 47.2 gCO2e per MJ. And fifth, there is a 75% higher incentive available for a sustainable aviation fuel versus other highway vehicle transportation fuels that qualify.
The U.S Department of the Treasury (Treasury) has prepared guidance documents and is in the process of developing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the new §45Z, Clean Fuel Production Credit. As is the case with new regulations and programs such as those being developed under the IRA, a lot can be learned by reviewing current guidance already developed by Treasury for its first IRA-related clean fuel tax credit – the §40B Sustainable Aviation Fuel Credit which is available until December 31, 2024.
As the first step, U.S.-based producers of low carbon transportation fuels who plan to claim the §45Z tax incentive starting on January 1, 2025 must follow Notice 2024-49 of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to apply for registration under the program immediately in order have a signed registration letter from the IRS dated on or before January 1, 2025. Taxpayers can only claim the §45Z tax credit upon receiving such a letter from the IRS.
TRICORD’s Energy Transition and Low Carbon Fuels team has the deep expertise to advise and assist low carbon fuel producers with technical and business analysis relative to the new tax incentives available under the IRA, particularly with respect to the §45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit.
Please contact Mr. Deepak Garg (deepak.garg@tricordconsulting.com) or Ms. Hannah Losey (hannah.losey@tricordconsulting.com) for more information.
