Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit (CEITC)

Program Description

Refundable 15% investment tax credit on eligible capital costs of clean electricity generation, storage, and inter-provincial transmission equipment, enacted March 26, 2026 via Bill C-15 with retroactive effect to April 16, 2024 (December 16, 2024 for the Canada Infrastructure Bank; November 4, 2025 for Canada Growth Fund Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries). Equipment must be situated in and used exclusively in Canada and must not have been previously used. Full 15% rate requires meeting prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements; non-compliant projects receive 5%.

Eligibility Requirements

• Taxable Canadian corporations
• Municipalities and their wholly-owned corporations (90%+ ownership by municipality or Aboriginal government)
• Aboriginal government-owned corporations (90%+ Aboriginal government ownership)
• Designated provincial and territorial Crown corporations — at least 90% of shares (except directors' qualifying shares) or capital owned by one or more provincial or territorial governments, or Northwest Territories Power Corporation, Qulliq Energy Corporation or Yukon Energy Corporation
• Qualifying pension corporations
• Canada Growth Fund and Canada Infrastructure Bank
• Qualifying trusts — a trust qualifies only if each of its beneficiaries is a corporation described in paragraph 149(1)(o.2) of the Income Tax Act, it is a limited partner of a partnership, and its sole undertaking is owning that partnership interest plus any ancillary activities. An unincorporated business cannot restructure into a qualifying trust.
• Qualifying corporations must hold a business number with a corporation income tax (RC) program account
• Property must be acquired and become available for use between April 16, 2024 and December 31, 2034 — the start date is December 16, 2024 for the Canada Infrastructure Bank and November 4, 2025 for Canada Growth Fund Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries
• Equipment must be situated in and intended for use exclusively in Canada
• Property must not have been previously used, or acquired for use or lease, for any purpose before acquisition
• Claims including qualified natural gas energy equipment require a qualified natural gas energy system evaluation issued by NRCan, plus ongoing emissions-intensity reporting
• Construction of the property must not have commenced before March 28, 2023
• Full 15% rate requires you to ELECT the prevailing wage and apprenticeship standards and ATTEST that you met them, for every installation tax year and designated work site; not electing reduces the rate to 5%, and electing then failing carries additions to tax, a top-up with interest, and penalties
• Tax-exempt qualifying corporations — designated provincial or territorial Crown corporations, municipally- or Aboriginal-government-owned corporations, pension corporations, the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and Canada Growth Fund Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries — must sign a written agreement to be subject to the Income Tax Act for this credit; without it they cannot claim.
• If the property is leased out, it must be leased to a qualifying entity (or a partnership all of whose members are qualifying entities) and leased in the ordinary course of a Canadian business whose principal business is selling or servicing that type of property, leasing, lending or financing.