Revenue Department Faces Courtroom Loss in Renewable Tax Credit Dispute

Excerpt from Carolina Journal’s Quick Takes

The N.C. Department of Revenue faced a legal setback last month in an ongoing fight over renewable energy tax credits. The state’s top administrative law judge rejected the department’s attempt to deny credits to a renewable energy investor.

The decision from Chief Administrative Law Judge Donald van der Vaart arrived Sept. 23 in a case pitting Integon National Insurance Company against the Revenue Department.

Integon had claimed a $1.8 million tax credit in 2016 for investments in renewable energy property. In 2020, after an audit, the Revenue Department disallowed the credit.

Integon is one of multiple renewable energy investors challenging similar rulings from Revenue staffers. Lawyers involved in a separate ongoing case from the N.C. Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company cited van der Vaart’s decision in their court filings.

“Unable to develop expensive renewable energy generation under North Carolina’s least-cost utility statutory structure, North Carolina’s legislature took several legislative actions to encourage private investment in renewable energy,” wrote van der Vaart, a former secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. Van der Vaart is also a former senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation, which oversees Carolina Journal.

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