Congress has extended the federal tax credit for builders to build energy efficient homes from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2013. As part of the legislation, Congress changed the basis of the tax credit from being based on the 2004 version of the International Conservation Code (IECC) to the 2006 version. This means that raters can no longer use their existing software to calculate compliance to the tax credit. To address this RESNET began work on a new tax credit software test to demonstrate the program accurately creates the 2006 IECC as soon as the legislation was signed into law by President Obama. The RESNET Board has adopted RESNET Publication 2013-001 that contains changes. On January 24, 2013, the U.S. Department of Energy notified RESNET to proceed with accrediting software upon RESNET Publication 2013-001. All accredited software programs have been provided the new publication and test and urged to submit their programs for approval. When approved they should send the new versions to their rater clients.
