A year after one of the biggest federal tax changes affecting HVAC, the industry's scorecard is becoming clearer.

For contractors, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act delivered several business-tax victories.

For customers buying high-efficiency HVAC equipment, the picture is considerably less positive.

An August 20 review by ACHR News shows how those competing effects are now playing out across the industry.

Contractors Got Major Business Tax Certainty

The law made permanent the 20% qualified business income deduction available to many owners of pass-through businesses.

That provision had been scheduled to expire.

The law also restored 100% bonus depreciation for qualifying business property and expanded Section 179 business expensing.

For HVAC businesses investing in:

  • Trucks
  • Machinery
  • Tools
  • Technology
  • Other qualifying assets

those provisions can materially affect investment decisions.

Commercial Customers Can Benefit Too

Enhanced expensing can also affect commercial HVAC sales.

Businesses purchasing qualifying equipment may be able to expense substantial investments more quickly instead of depreciating them over long periods.

ACCA has argued that the combination of bonus depreciation and Section 179 could create meaningful incentives for commercial equipment upgrades.

Homeowners Lost the $2,000 Heat-Pump Credit

The consumer side is very different.

The legislation terminated Section 25C for equipment placed in service after December 31, 2025.

That credit had offered homeowners 30% of qualifying costs up to $2,000 for eligible heat pumps, and up to $600 for certain qualifying air conditioners and furnaces.

The law also eliminated other incentives, including the Section 25D Residential Clean Energy Credit for technologies such as geothermal systems.

Heat Pumps Are Still Growing

Interestingly, the removal of the federal credit has not yet caused heat-pump shipments to collapse.

During the first six months of 2026, residential heat-pump shipments were 3.8% higher than during the same period of 2025.

Gas-furnace shipments were down 6.2%.

That suggests underlying market forces are still supporting heat pumps.

Workforce Training Got a Boost

The legislation also expanded Section 529 education savings plans to include eligible skilled-trade training and created Workforce Pell funding for certain short-term training programs.

HVAC programs can potentially benefit.

That could matter significantly in an industry still struggling to recruit enough technicians.

The HVAC Impact Is Split

For contractors as businesses, the law provides important tax stability.

For contractors selling high-efficiency residential systems, the disappearance of consumer incentives removes a valuable sales tool.

That leaves the industry with a strange outcome:

HVAC companies may be in a better tax position at exactly the same time their customers have fewer tax reasons to buy premium HVAC equipment.