Insurance Journal – NC Farm Bureau Can Keep $24 Million in Green Energy Tax Credits, Court Says

By William Rabb 

An insurance company is entitled to generous tax credits even if the carrier did not invest directly in renewable energy projects, a North Carolina court has decided, striking down a $24 million tax assessment by the state’s Department of Revenue that had baffled many in the industry.

North Carolina Farm Bureau Insurance, ranked as the third-largest property-casualty insurer in the state, had invested millions of dollars in a multi-layered partnership program that sold tax credits. But the Department of Revenue objected, contending that Farm Bureau had taken advantage of state tax laws and had not actually risked any real capital on the solar projects.

An administrative law judge agreed, but a Superior Court, acting as an appeals court on business issues, overruled the ALJ in an opinion posted early this week.

“The transactions at issue were real, not fictitious, and they involved exactly the kind of economic activity that the General Assembly deemed socially desirable and sought to encourage with tax credits,” wrote Adam Conrad, special Superior Court judge for complex business cases. “Farm Bureau contributed millions of dollars to support renewable energy properties— properties that were, in fact, placed in service and that did, in fact, qualify to receive tax credits.”

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