Home Depot Refunding On Improperly Taxed Energy Saving Items

HARTFORD — Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced this week that The Home Depot has acknowledged it improperly collected sales tax on some seasonally exempt energy conservation products, and has agreed to provide refunds to consumers.

In a letter to Mr Blumenthal, Home Depot confirmed that a computer glitch caused improperly collected taxes on certain tax-exempt items. The company says it will refund the sales tax to customers who provide a valid receipt showing that taxes were paid on the temporarily tax-exempt home weatherization products.

Section 4 of Public Act 05-02, adopted last October, exempts from sales tax certain energy conservation products sold through April 1, 2006.

Last month, Mr Blumenthal urged The Home Depot to conduct a review to determine whether sales tax was inadvertently charged and, if so, to provide refunds. The attorney general’s office had learned through consumer reports and its own investigation that The Home Depot had been properly applying the temporary sales tax exemption to some eligible home weatherization products, but not others.

“I am pleased that Home Depot is putting its own house in order, providing legally required tax breaks and refunds to conservation-conscious consumers,” Mr Blumenthal said. “Energy-saving consumers deserve every dollar of discount under a tax exemption intended to provide real relief to homeowners struggling to pay skyrocketing gas and oil bills this winter.

“Inconsistent and incomplete compliance with this law undermines energy conservation,” he continued. “Our message to Home Depot was a familiar one: You can do it. We can help. My office was delighted to assist with this home repair.”

Products subject to the temporary tax exemption include programmable thermostats, window film, caulking, window and door weather strips, insulation, water heater blankets, water heaters that meet the federal Energy Star standard, and natural gas furnaces not less than 85 percent efficient.

The law also exempts propane furnaces and doors that meet federal Energy Star standards, ground-based heat pumps that meet minimum federal energy efficiency ratings and boilers that have an annual fuel utilization efficiency of 85 percent or greater.

Mr Blumenthal’s office is contacting other retailers across the state, urging them to conduct similar reviews to determine whether consumers were improperly charged taxes on energy conservation products.