If you are searching for the 2026 federal HVAC tax credit, here is the answer nobody wants to give you: it does not exist any more.
The 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit, the one that paid up to $2,000 toward a qualifying heat pump and up to $600 toward other qualifying equipment, was terminated for anything placed in service after December 31, 2025. That happened in the budget legislation signed in July 2025. Equipment installed in 2026 does not qualify, and there is no version of the paperwork that changes that.
We would rather tell you now than have you find out at tax time.
Check your quote for this specific mistake
A lot of contractor sales material was written in 2023 and 2024 and has not been revisited. If you are holding a quote right now, look for a line that reduces your net cost by a federal tax credit, or a salesperson’s “after the $2,000 credit it’s really only…” That is a stale number, and it is the difference between the price you think you agreed to and the price you actually pay.
This is not usually anybody lying. It is old collateral. But it is your money, so check it.
What about the state rebates everyone mentions
Virginia has federal money allocated for the two big home energy rebate programs, HEAR and HOMES, which between them would cover a substantial share of a heat pump or a whole-home efficiency project for qualifying households.
They have not launched. Virginia Energy submitted the Commonwealth’s application materials, the federal Department of Energy revised its program documents in the spring of 2026, and Virginia is now waiting on approval of the updated submission before it can open anything.
So: real money, genuinely coming, no application to fill in today. If someone tells you they can get you a Virginia HEAR rebate right now, they cannot. Watch the Virginia Energy site rather than a contractor’s promise.
What is actually available today
Utility programs. These are the ones with an open door in 2026, and they are worth the twenty minutes.
Dominion Energy runs residential efficiency programs at domsavings.com. The ones that touch what we install include a rebate for a heat pump tune-up, rebates for heat pump water heaters that scale with tank size, smart thermostat incentives, and HVAC upgrade rebates that run through their home energy assessment rather than a fixed equipment list. Some of the larger incentives are income-qualified, with the biggest amounts for households under 80% of area median income and partial amounts up to 150%.
Washington Gas runs its own efficiency incentives for gas equipment.
We are deliberately not printing exact dollar figures for these, because utility program terms change more often than a blog post gets updated, and a stale rebate number is exactly the problem this article is about. Go to the utility’s own page, or ask us and we will tell you what we are seeing on current jobs.
Manufacturer and distributor promotions also move through the year, and in practice these are frequently larger than what the tax credit was worth. Worth asking about on any quote.
Does this change whether you should buy?
Mostly no, and here is why.
The credit was a discount on a decision, not the reason for it. If your system is fifteen years old and failing, it still needs replacing. If a heat pump was the efficient choice for your house in December, the physics did not change on January 1. They still work in a Virginia winter. The running-cost comparison is here, and it never depended on the credit.
What it does change is the timing argument. “Do it this year for the credit” is no longer a real reason, so if you were being rushed on that basis, you can stop being rushed. Buy when your equipment needs it, or when the operating savings justify it.
The one genuine timing note: if you are income-qualified and could wait, the Virginia HEAR program will eventually be worth substantially more than 25C ever was. That is a real consideration for a household with a working system and time to wait. It is not a consideration for a household with no heat in January.
What we do about it
When we quote a job, the number is the number. We do not build a federal credit into the math to make a price look smaller, and we will tell you about the utility programs that actually apply to what you are buying.
SwiftPro installs heating, cooling and water heating across Northern Virginia. Our instant estimator gives you real installed pricing with nothing subtracted that should not be, and if you are comparing a quote that has a tax credit in it, our free second opinion will tell you what it looks like without one. Call (703) 997-9757 or book online.
This is general information about how these programs work, not tax advice. For how any of it applies to your return, talk to your tax preparer.
