45V construction cutoff and credit term start on different dates

Construction and production run on separate dates

Section 70511 of Public Law 119-21 sets the 45V construction cutoff at beginning construction before January 1, 2028. A separate rule covers qualified hydrogen produced during the 10 years beginning on a facility’s original placed-in-service date. The first date determines whether the statutory construction cutoff is met; the facility date starts the period in which qualifying output can earn the credit.

That split matters when a project finishes construction before it is ready to produce hydrogen. If the facility is placed in service first, the 10-year period can run before qualifying output begins, leaving fewer production years in the credit window. The placed-in-service date is fact-specific, so a commissioning target alone does not establish when the clock starts.

Electricity compliance has a separate milestone. Treasury’s final-rule summary requires hourly matching from 2030 when Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) are used to attribute electricity to hydrogen production. This date attaches to the applicable EAC power pathway, rather than serving as a general 45V deadline for every project.

Project teams therefore have to manage three different proof points: the applicable construction test before the cutoff, the facility’s placed-in-service date, and any EAC-based hourly matching from 2030. IRS Form 7210 describes the physical-work test and five-percent safe harbor for the construction claim. Together, the tests affect when a project enters the credit, when its earning period starts, and how its power supply must be matched.

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