Elective pay allows applicable entities (as defined), including tax-exempt and governmental entities that would otherwise be unable to claim these credits because they do not owe federal income tax, to benefit from some clean energy tax credits by treating the amount of the credit as a payment of tax and refunding any resulting overpayment.

For example, as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, a local government that makes a clean energy investment that qualifies for the investment tax credit can file an annual tax return (via Form 990-T) with the IRS to claim elective pay for the full value of the investment tax credit, as long as it meets all of the requirements, including a pre-filing registration requirement. As the local government would not owe other federal income tax, the IRS would then make a refund payment in the amount of the credit to the local government. See Q15 on the Applicable credits for elective pay page for a list of applicable tax credits.