What Exterior Doors Qualify for the Tax Credit?

An exterior door qualifies for the federal energy efficient home improvement credit if it is ENERGY STAR certified for your climate zone, installed in an existing home you own and use as your principal residence in the United States, and placed in service on or before December 31, 2025. The credit is 30% of the door’s cost, capped at $250 per door and $500 total per year. Doors installed in 2026 or later do not qualify: Public Law 119-21, signed on July 4, 2025, terminated the credit for property placed in service after that date.¹

If you installed a qualifying door in 2025, you claim the credit on the return you file for that year. If you installed one in 2024 and did not claim it, you can still file an amended return.

The ENERGY STAR Standards a Door Must Meet

To qualify, a door must be ENERGY STAR certified for your climate zone at the time of installation.² Two ratings do the work: U-factor, which measures heat transfer through the door, and Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC), which measures how much solar heat passes through any glass. Lower numbers are better for both.

Under the ENERGY STAR Version 7 specification, the thresholds depend on how much glass the door has:³

Opaque doors with no glass need a U-factor of 0.17 or lower. No SHGC rating is required.
Doors that are half-lite or less need a U-factor of 0.23 or lower and an SHGC of 0.23 or lower in all climate zones.
Doors that are more than half-lite need a U-factor of 0.26 or lower. The SHGC must be 0.40 or lower in the Northern and North-Central zones, or 0.23 or lower in the South-Central and Southern zones.

The ratings appear on the NFRC label attached to the door. If you want to confirm a specific door before or after purchase, ENERGY STAR’s site lets you look up your climate zone, then match your door’s Certified Product Directory (CPD) number, printed on the NFRC label, against the NFRC Certified Product Directory. A checkmark in your zone’s column confirms eligibility.⁴

The Home Also Has to Qualify

The door must go into your principal residence, meaning the home where you live for most of the year. The home must be an existing structure you own, located in the United States.² New construction is out. So are second homes, vacation properties, and rentals.

Condominiums qualify. If your condo association paid for the door replacement, you can claim your proportionate share. The association’s governing body determines each owner’s share using any reasonable method, and should keep records showing how the allocation was made.⁵

The door must be placed in service during the tax year you claim, meaning installation was complete and the door was ready for use within that calendar year. Pay in December 2025 but finish installation in January 2026 and the door falls in 2026, when no credit is available.

What the Credit Pays and What It Excludes

The credit equals 30% of the cost of qualifying doors, subject to two caps: $250 per individual door, and $500 total for all exterior doors in a single tax year.⁶ A $1,200 front door produces a $250 credit, not $360, because the per-door cap kicks in. Replace three qualifying doors in the same year and the $500 aggregate cap holds regardless of what you spent.

Only the door itself counts. Labor and installation are excluded from the calculation for building envelope components like doors.² Ask the installer for a receipt that separates the door price from the install charge. A lump-sum invoice with no breakdown creates a problem if the IRS asks questions.

The credit is nonrefundable and has no carryforward. It can bring your tax to zero, but any leftover portion is gone. If your tax for the year is $150 and you qualify for a $250 credit, the extra $100 disappears, and with the credit terminated, there is no future year to use it in.⁷

Documentation and the Manufacturer ID

For doors placed in service in 2025, your return must include a qualified manufacturer identification number (QMID). This is a 4-character alphanumeric code the IRS assigns to the manufacturer, typically found on the Manufacturer Certification Statement or the manufacturer’s website.⁸ Missing it can delay or invalidate the claim.

Keep three things with your records:

A purchase receipt or invoice that itemizes the door cost separately from installation and any other materials.
The Manufacturer Certification Statement, a signed statement from the manufacturer confirming that your specific model meets the ENERGY STAR requirements for the tax credit. Most manufacturers post these online. Keep a copy, but don’t file it with your return.⁹
The QMID, which you enter on the form itself.

Hold all of it for at least three years from the date you file the return claiming the credit. Returns filed before the due date are treated as filed on the due date for this purpose.¹⁰

How to Claim the Credit

You calculate the credit on Form 5695, Residential Energy Credits, Part II. Enter the cost and QMID of your most expensive qualifying door on lines 19a and 19b. The next two most expensive go on line 19d with their QMIDs. Any additional doors go on line 19e, with an attached statement listing each door’s QMID and cost.⁸

After the $250-per-door and $500-aggregate caps are applied, the form computes your total energy efficient home improvement credit on line 32. That figure transfers to Schedule 3 (Form 1040), line 5b, which flows into your Form 1040.¹¹ Use the version of Form 5695 that matches the tax year your door was placed in service.

1
Internal Revenue Service. FAQs for Modification of Sections 25C, 25D, and Others Under Public Law 119-21
2
Internal Revenue Service. Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit
3
ENERGY STAR. Residential Windows, Doors, and Skylights Version 7 Final Specification
4
ENERGY STAR. Exterior Doors Tax Credit
5
Internal Revenue Service. Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit – Qualifying Residence
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 25C – Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit
7
Internal Revenue Service. Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit – Timing of Credits
8
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5695 (2025)
9
ENERGY STAR. Tax Credit Definitions
10
Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records
11
Internal Revenue Service. Form 5695 – Residential Energy Credits