If you've read that you can get $600 back from the IRS for new windows, that was true - through December 31, 2025. It is not true now.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed on July 4, 2025, terminated Section 25C years before its scheduled 2032 sunset. There is no federal window tax credit for windows installed in 2026. Most of the info out there regarding this question was written in 2023 or 2024 and hasn't been updated since, which is why the internet is still telling you otherwise with a lot of confidence.
In this article, we'll tell you:
- What expired
- What you can still claim if your timing was right.
- What Virginia and your utility company actually offer, including the parts where the answer is simply "nothing."
- What genuinely determines whether new windows pay for themselves in Fairfax and Loudoun
What exactly expired
The credit was Section 25C of the tax code, formerly the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit. It is terminated for property placed in service after December 31, 2025.
At its peak, it was worth 30% of your cost, subject to caps that most homeowners hit quickly:
- $600 per year for windows and skylights
- $250 per exterior door, capped at $500 for all doors combined
- $1,200 annual aggregate across every eligible improvement - windows, doors, insulation, and the rest - all sharing one ceiling
Here's the detail most articles got wrong, even while the credit was still active: eligibility went into effect on the date of service, not the date you signed a contract or paid a deposit. A contract signed in November 2025 for windows installed in February 2026 earns nothing. The install date is what counts.
If your windows went in during 2025, you still have money coming
If your installation was completed in 2025, the credit is claimable on your 2025 return. If you filed on an extension or haven't filed yet, it's still available to you. If you replaced windows in an earlier year and never claimed it, an amended return may be worth a conversation.
You'll want your manufacturer's certification statement for the products, and the credit is claimed on IRS Form 5695. The IRS has published guidance on the termination in FAQ FS-2025-05, as well as Form 5695 instructions.
Note: We are not tax professionals, and none of the above is tax advice - take your paperwork to your certified public accountant (CPA), who can tell you what applies to your return specifically.
What Virginia and Dominion actually offer
Dominion Energy Virginia runs a real residential rebate program. It covers:
- Heat pump water heaters (up to $400)
- Smart thermostats
- Heat pump tune-ups and upgrades
- Attic and crawl space insulation
- Air and duct sealing
- ECM fan motors
- LED bulbs
It does not, unfortunately, cover windows.
NOVEC, which serves much of Loudoun along with Fairfax, Prince William, Fauquier, Stafford, and Clarke, doesn't publish a residential rebate catalog at all. What they offer is energy-saving guidance and an online Energy Resource Center where you can run a virtual assessment of your home. No window rebate here, either.
The Virginia Home Energy Rebates (the IRA-funded programs you may have heard called HOMES and HEAR) have not launched. Virginia has been allocated roughly $188 million for them, but as of this writing, the Commonwealth is still updating its application documents to match Department of Energy program notices issued in May 2026 and is waiting on approval.
Virginia Energy has not given an estimated launch date, but you can check the status yourself at energy.virginia.gov.
When they do launch, here's what to expect for windows: The High Efficiency Appliance Rebate is income-qualified and technology-specific, and its envelope money is aimed at insulation, air sealing, and ventilation, capped at $1,600.
Windows aren't on that list. The Home Efficiency Rebate is whole-home and performance-based - up to $8,000 for a project that hits a modeled or measured savings threshold. Windows can count toward that threshold as part of a larger package, but there will never be a standalone window rebate.
So, stated plainly, there is no direct window rebate available in Northern Virginia right now, including federal, state, or utility. Anyone telling you otherwise is either working from stale information or (even worse) hoping you won't check.
What actually determines whether new windows pay off
What you're actually replacing
The single biggest variable is what's coming out, and it is not close.
Failed builder-grade double panes in a 1998 Ashburn colonial behave nothing like 1940s single-pane wood in Falls Church. The colonial's windows probably still look fine; what's failed is the insulated glass seal and the weatherstripping, and the comfort problem you're feeling is mostly air moving through the assembly rather than heat conducting through the glass. That's a different problem with a different fix - and a different payback - than replacing century-old sash that rattles in the frame.
If you're seeing fog or haze trapped between the panes, that's a sure sign of window seal failure.
Installation method is the variable nobody prices in
There are two broad ways to put a replacement window in an existing opening, and quotes rarely make clear which one you're buying.
An insert (or pocket) replacement sets the new unit inside the existing frame. It's faster, less invasive, and costs less - though it costs you glass area, because you're adding a frame inside a frame. A full-frame replacement takes everything back to the rough opening, which lets the installer see and correct the flashing, the sill pan, and the air sealing around the perimeter.
That perimeter is where the performance actually lives. A high-performance window installed poorly will underperform a mid-tier window installed correctly, every time, and no rating on the label will save it. It's the reason we hire and train our own installers instead of subcontracting the part of the job that determines whether the product works.
Reading U-factor and SHGC for our climate
Two numbers on the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) label do most of the work. U-factor measures how much heat escapes through the whole window - frame, glass, and spacer together. Lower is better insulated.
The Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) measures how much of the sun's heat comes through. Lower means less summer heat gain, but also less free winter warmth.
Northern Virginia sits in the ENERGY STAR North-Central climate zone, where the Version 7.0 criteria that took effect October 23, 2023 call for a U-factor of 0.25 or lower and an SHGC of 0.40 or lower for windows. Those thresholds are stricter than the version they replaced, so a window that qualified in 2020 may not qualify today. If you want to go deeper on ratings, certification tiers, and what "Most Efficient" actually means, we've covered ENERGY STAR windows and doors in detail.
Payback, honestly
We're not going to hand you a number, because anyone who gives you a precise payback year on a window project is making it up. It depends on several things, namely:
- What's coming out
- What's going in
- How your house is oriented
- What you keep the thermostat at
- Where energy prices go
What we can tell you from a century of doing this is that homeowners rarely end up describing the return in dollars. Instead, they talk about the room over the garage being usable in February. About not hearing the Dulles Toll Road anymore - the reason soundproofing comes up in more of our conversations than efficiency does. About windows that open with one hand after years of needing both. About the house showing better when they sell it.
What to do instead of chasing a credit that no longer exists
- Claim your 2025 work if you haven't. That's real money, and it's still sitting there.
- Ask about manufacturer promotions. Marvin, ProVia, and Jeld-Wen all run seasonal offers, and they routinely exceed what 25C ever paid on a whole-house project. These change throughout the year, so be sure to ask us what's running now.
- Compare financing against what the credit was actually worth. A better rate over the life of the loan will outrun $600 without much trouble.
- Phase it by elevation, worst first. If you're not doing the whole house at once, start with the side that's failing or taking the weather, not the side facing the street.
- Start approvals early. If you're in a historic district, architectural review is the long pole in the schedule, not manufacturing. Falls Church and Old Town properties in particular need products that satisfy the review board, which is a specialty of its own.
Claim a Clearer View with Hodges
The credit is gone. The reasons to replace failing windows weren't tax reasons, and they haven't changed. If you want someone to look at what you actually have and tell you plainly what's worth doing, our Ashburn and Falls Church showrooms are available, and consultations are free.
