T1356 Forms: 1  2   
Federal forms: 


British Columbia Clean Buildings Tax Credit T1356

Complete this form to calculate your British Columbia clean buildings tax credit.

You can claim this refundable tax credit if you paid or incurred expenditures for qualifying retrofits, as certified by the British Columbia Ministry of Finance, to improve the energy efficiency of eligible commercial and residential buildings in British Columbia that have 4 or more units.

The BC clean buildings tax credit is 5% of your qualifying expenditures (excluding assistance) for the qualifying retrofit.

You must be a resident of British Columbia or have income allocated to British Columbia at the end of the year that you are claiming the credit for.

If you are a member of a partnership, calculate your appropriate portion of the partnership's tax credit using the information provided to you by your partnership.

Claim the credit on your return for the year following the tax year that the retrofit is completed. Claim your credit no later than 18 months after the end of the tax year that follows the tax year that the retrofit was completed in.

The retrofit must be completed before April 1, 2026, and be certified by the British Columbia Ministry of Finance to qualify.

The application for certification must be filed before April 1, 2027.

The amounts shown on your certificate for the retrofit from the British Columbia Ministry of Finance are estimates only.

See page 3 for information about qualifying and non-qualifying expenditures.

For expenses that were not incurred by a partnership, complete part 1 and part 2. For credit amounts you may be entitled to as a member of a partnership, complete part 3 and part 4 if the partnership provided you with the total qualifying expenses incurred by the partnership. If the partnership provided you with your allocated credit amount, do not complete part 3 and part 4. Instead, enter your credit amount directly on the last line of Part 4.

Use a separate Form T1356 for each qualifying retrofit you are claiming for the year. Enter the total of these on your Form BC479, British Columbia Credits

If you are filing a paper return, attach this form to your return. Do not include your receipts but keep them in case you are asked to provide them later.


Qualifying retrofit information
 
Certificate number Address of the qualifying retrofit
 

Part 1 - Calculating your qualifying expenditures (non-partnership amount)
               
Date on Supplier or contractor Description Amount paid
sales slip or contract Name GST/HST No.
(if applicable)		   (including all
applicable taxes)
Total amount paid from all sales slips and contracts
included in the table above  		 Total eligible expenditures      1
 
2

Part 2 - Calculating your British-Columbia clean buildings tax credit (non-partnership amount)
             
Enter the amount from line 1  2
Amount of assistance received or receivable by any person or partnership for the qualifying expenditures -  3
Line 2 minus line 3 (if negative, enter "0") =  4
Applicable rate x  5
Line 4 multiplied by the percentage from line 5
Enter this amount on line 60545 of your Form BC479.		 =  6

Part 3 - Calculating your qualifying expenditures (partnership amount)
               
Total amount paid from all sales slips and contracts by the partnership Total eligible expenditures      7
 
Note: Include the full amount of the expenses incurred by the partnership, excluding any consideration for partnership interest.

Part 4 - Calculating your British Columbia clean buildings tax credit (partnership amount)
               
Enter the amount from line 7  8
Amount of assistance received or receivable by any person or partnership for the qualifying expenditures -  9
Line 8 minus line 9 (if negative, enter "0") =  10
Applicable rate x  11
Line 10 multiplied by the percentage from line 11 =  12
Enter the percentage of your partnership interest. x %  13
Line 12 multiplied by the percentage from line 13
Enter this amount on line 60546 of your Form BC479.		 =  14
 
3

Qualifying expenditures

Qualifying expenditures are expenditures that are directly attributable to a qualifying retrofit. You must make or incur the expenditure under the terms of an agreement entered into after February 22, 2022 and paid before April 1, 2025.

Qualifying expenditures must be reduced by any payments received or receivable by any person or partnership under a program designed to provide assistance with the cost of alteration or renovation of the building or the land it is on. You must also reduce your expenditures by forgivable loans if the loan, or a portion of it, has not been repaid.

Some examples of qualifying expenditures include:

  • heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems
  • fans
  • interior and exterior lighting devices
  • service water heating equipment
  • pumps
  • receptacle loads and miscellaneous equipment
  • elevators and escalators
  • building envelope, including improvement to the insulation
  • permits required for the qualifying retrofit
  • rental of equipment used in the course of the qualifying retrofit
  • hiring a qualified person to confirm the energy use intensity of the building

Non-qualifying expenditures

The following expenditures do not qualify:

  • expenditures that cannot reasonably be considered to have been made or incurred to reduce energy use intensity (EUI)
  • expenditures that you made or incurred if you were paid to make the expenditure (for example, a contractor performing the retrofit)
  • purchases or reacquisitions of items you previously leased or owned
  • property that can be used independent of the qualifying retrofit (for example, portable heaters)
  • household appliances
  • electronics (home-entertainment)
  • cost of annual, recurring or routine repair, maintenance or service
  • financing costs related to the retrofit
  • goods or services provided by a person not dealing at arm's length with you unless registered for the purposes of Part IX of the Excise Tax Act (Canada)
  • expenditures that another taxpayer included in the calculation of their British Columbia clean buildings tax credit