At the beginning of the year, a new annual tax law came into force. The Federal Council already waved this law through on December 16, 2022. That provides for measures to promote the expansion of photovoltaic systems. This is one of the measures taken by Removal of bureaucratic hurdles, but also the reduction of the sales tax rate on the delivery and installation of a photovoltaic system. 
Since January 1, 2023, sales tax has no longer been payable on the purchase of a photovoltaic system for a residential building. Consequently, this does not apply to leasing or renting a PV system. In various online shops, so-called balcony power plants with a delivery date in January are already shown with 0 percent instead of 19 percent sales tax (colloquially: value added tax). The zero tax rate applies to photovoltaic systems that are delivered or installed after the start of the year. This does not necessarily mean that the systems will become cheaper, companies are not obliged to pass on the zero tax rate to customers. Of course, this is already required by traders and craftsmen. Due to the tax rate of 0 percent, no sales tax is shown on invoices and therefore there is no refund of sales tax from the tax office.
The waiver of sales tax applies to systems on or near residential buildings for systems with a peak output of 30 kWp. For larger apartment buildings, even 15 kWp per residential unit is possible.
In addition to the purchase, no sales tax will be charged in the future, nor will there be any more when electricity is fed into the grid. Provided that the operator does not waive the so-called small business regulation (§ 19 VAT Act). A tax registration at the tax office is still necessary. So it’s not just the new acquisitions that benefit. Unfortunately, so far only systems of 10 kWp have been exempted. In addition, the feed-in tariff for new plants increases – at least marginally.
While the purchase and installation of the components is no longer taxed, regular 19 percent sales tax is due for warranty and maintenance contracts and for repairs without the simultaneous delivery of spare parts.
Let’s see to what extent you can create incentives for a purchase again. For my part, I’m toying with the idea of a balcony power plant, which is now also (tax-) subsidized. In addition to the environmental aspect, a PV system is likely to pay off for many people anyway given the rise in electricity prices. Let’s wait and see whether further subsidies or increased feed-in tariffs are required. In any case, we are still a long way from the energy transition.
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