Technical guidance for CT property

For some CT property that is also described in Class 43.1 or 43.2, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has published a Technical Guide to Class 43.1 and 43.2 that applies conclusively with respect to engineering and scientific matters, for the purpose of determining whether a property is Class 43.1 or 43.2.

This includes:

• Active solar heating equipment described in Class 43.1 (see section 2.3 of the guide)
• Ground-source heat pump systems described in Class 43.1 (see section 2.3 of the guide)
• Photovoltaic electrical generation equipment described in Class 43.1 (see section 2.7 of the guide)
• Small-scale hydro-electric installations described in Class 43.1 (see section 2.4 of the guide)
• Water-current, tidal or wave energy equipment described in Class 43.1 (see section 2.15 of the guide)
• Wind energy conversion systems described in Class 43.1 (see section 2.6 of the guide)

Not all technologies described in Class 43.1 and 43.2 are also CT property. For example, some CT types of property described in Class 43.1 or 43.2 have  additional requirements to be eligible for the CT-ITC.

This includes:

• Electrical energy storage equipment described in Class 43.1 that does not use fossil fuel in operation (see section 2.19 of the guide noting the additional requirement)
• Geothermal energy equipment described in Class 43.1 that is used exclusively to generate electrical or heat energy (or a combination of both), other than equipment that is part of a system that extracts fossil fuel for sale, and other than equipment that uses any fossil fuel to generate electricity and/or heat energy (see section 2.8 of the guide noting the additional requirements)
• Electric vehicle charging equipment that is used primarily for non-road zero-emissions vehicles described in Class 56 (see section 2.18 of the guide noting the additional requirement)

• NRCan's Technical Guide to Class 43.1 and 43.2, 2019 Edition (PDF)

For other CT property, NRCan is developing technical guidance.

This includes:

• Air-source heat pump systems described in Class 43.1
• Pumped hydroelectric storage equipment described in Class 43.1 that does not use fossil fuel in operation
• Non-road zero-emission vehicles described in Class 56
• Hydrogen refuelling equipment described in Class 43.1 that is used primarily with non-road zero-emission vehicles described in Class 56
• Concentrated solar energy equipment
• Small modular nuclear reactors

Contacting NRCan for technical guidance on CT property

You may request a technical opinion from NRCan, as to whether equipment in a planned or complete project meets the engineering and scientific requirements of CT property. This is a voluntarily step and any technical opinion issued by NRCan to the taxpayer is not binding on the CRA, in determining eligibility and entitlements to the CT ITC, under 127.45 of the Income Tax Act.

Contact NRCan for technical guidance on CT property