i bought my first house in feb 2009 than i went abroad for some business and stayed for a year… my family got their residence in 2010 november so i came back in 2011.. ans staying at the same house as my primary house.
but IRS recently sent me a letter asking the proof of my residency ..but i have no proof till 2011… will this effect my first time tax credit as i haev already taken it in 2009..
do i have to pay it back as of my situation or what explanation should i give to IRS..
please help..

Was wondering cause this will be the first time having to pay back the money and got laid off and had a new baby and was wondering if we could save 500.00$?

Please answer back .

And BTW…the credit was the carrot that dangled in front of me to buy a home when I did.

A lot of the problems in the housing market were caused by too many people buying in the first place. So trying to push demand up doesn’t make sense. It also creates slight pressure for prices to go up making homes more expensive in a market that is demanding cheaper homes.

What happens when the credit ends like it just did? Just take a look at sales in the next few months and you’ll see that all we did was push sales a few months earlier.

Interesting comment but while those 1 million or so people may have bought a house regardless of the credit it will however give them a boost after having to fork out a down payment and closing costs. It is designed to help stimulate poeple to want to buy but also keep poeple from struggling during their first few months of mortgage payments. Because way too many poeple “jump” into a mortgage when they are not prepared for it and end up in a really bad financial situation in the first few months. While those numbers seem impressive @ 32,000 per person, reality is that each of those people recieved the 8,000 not 32,000. Anyone can come up with an equation for something like that. lets say I have 10,000 friends and 5,000 of them are having a difficult time with their bills and i could give them 10,000 dollars each to aid them in resolving their debt. I wouldnt just blindly give them 10,000 each. I would setup guidelines where any of my 10,000 friends would be able to get my help as long as they met the guidelines. While only 5,000 of them are having troubles paying their bills, some or all of the others could qualify for the help as well. Though the other 5,000 friends would probably be paying their bills on time whether they took my help or not they are still able to get it. So, the 1,400,000 poeple each received 8,000 dollars. While only 350,000 poeple only bought a house because they where going to get the money after they closed doesnt negate the fact that the other 1,050,000 took the money as well. Having been a fellow tax payer myself for several years now, it feels nice to get a little chunk back. The government gets their(our) money back over time anyways by means of property taxes, income taxes and sales tax. My personal opinion on the matter is the US has way to many politicians being paid by our tax dollars just to create a job for them. I know there has to be hundreds of tax payer paid government employees that have some flaky job for determining what color pencil another government employee should use and could be trimmed out of the system with no effect on the stability of our government other than to free up tax dollars.

The Tax credit was designed to stimulate the housing market and that is just what it did. It worked as intended. We live in a reality with real math happening everyday so there is no room for equations that don’t actually happen:
(350,000 * 32,000=11,200,000,000) The Equation should read and does read (1,400,000*8,000=11,200,000,000) Thats what happened, nothing else… its crazy formulas like that, that get strung out and misinterpreted.
And thats my 2 cents,
Thomas G.

*For 2008 Home Purchases*
The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 established a tax credit for first-time homebuyers that can be worth up to $7,500. For homes purchased in 2008, the credit is similar to a no-interest loan and must be repaid in 15 equal, annual installments beginning with the 2010 income tax year.

*For 2009 Home Purchases*
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 expanded the first-time homebuyer credit by increasing the credit amount to $8,000 for purchases made in 2009 before Dec. 1. However, the new Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009 has extended the deadline. Now, taxpayers who have a binding contract to purchase a home before May 1, 2010, are eligible for the credit. Buyers must close on the home before July 1, 2010. [Added Nov. 12, 2009]

*For home purchased in 2009, the credit does not have to be paid back unless the home ceases to be the taxpayer’s main residence within a three-year period following the purchase.

*First-time homebuyers who purchase a home in 2009 can claim the credit on either a 2008 tax return, due April 15, 2009, or a 2009 tax return, due April 15, 2010. The credit may not be claimed before the closing date. News release 2009-27 has more information on these options.

*General Information*
Homebuyers who purchased a home in 2008, 2009 or 2010 may be able to take advantage of the first-time homebuyer credit. The credit:

*Applies only to homes used as a taxpayer’s principal residence.
*Reduces a taxpayer’s tax bill or increases his or her refund, dollar for dollar.
*Is fully refundable, meaning the credit will be paid out to eligible taxpayers, even if they owe no tax or the credit is more than the tax owed.

No, the 2008 $7,500 “loan” was for purchases made during 2008 and the 2009 $8,000 “free credit” was for purchases during 2009. They did however make an ammendment for non-first-time homeowners to receive upto a $6,500 credit during 2009 and I think it is being extended into 2010. I personally closed on my house as a first-time homebuyer during February of 2009 and ammended my 2008 taxes to recieve the $8,000 “free credit” because the other option was to wait until I filed my 2009 taxes to recieve the credit. So, I made an amendment to my 2008 taxes and recieved my check pretty quickly. I got on it almost as soon as they announced the availability of the 2009 $8,000 credit. if you go back in these posts you can see my earlier comments about the credit. somewhere around february thru may and then scattered through out up to now.

Yes you both should be able to claim the 2008 $7,500 “loan” as long as you were first-time homebuyers. the $7,500 “loan” for 2008 is to be paid back over the course of 15 years at $500 a year interest free. If you had purchased during 2009 you would have qualified for the $8,000 credit that does not have to be paid back as long as the house remains your primary residence for no less than 3 years.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/st.....id=7087955

If you want to skip it, here’s the interesting part (which they do not explain in detail):

1,400,000 homebuyers have taken advantage of the tax credit.

The story specifically states that NAR estimates that 350,000 of those wouldn’t have purchased without the tax credit, meaning 1,050,000 would still have purchased without the tax credit.

This means the total cost of the program breaks down like this:

1,400,000 x 8,000 = $11,200,000,000 (11.2 BILLION)

This means the total cost to give the 350,000 people who wouldn’t have purchased a home without the tax credit was the 11.2 Billion; which means:

11,200,000,000 / 350,000 = $32,000 per transaction

So:

It cost $32,000 for each individual who got the $8,000 tax credit, to motivate them to purchase a new home.

Wow.

no, the home must be your primary residence for the first three years of ownership or else you would be required to pay back the credit.

A “trailer” is still a home. It was your primary residence too I would assume. The answer to your question is no.

2008 Purchaser,

No, if you bought or built a home in 2008 and recieved the $7,500 interest free tax loan then no you cannot do an ammended return and also get the $8,000 credit. the $8,000 credit is for purchases made during the 2009 calendar year.

We closed on our home June 26th of this year. Surprisingly we got our $8000 check only 9 weeks later. Is there anymore tax credit, us as 1st time home buyers can take advantage of?

thanks,
Chris

THANKS,
JUDY JOHNS-MEEKS

The question seems rather straightforward (but I want to make sure I don’t violate any codes/laws): After purchasing a 2 bedroom home, can I have a room-mate that contributes half of my mortgage? OR, will I be violating the “non-rental” clause? Albeit, I will plan to live there as well, as my primary residence for three years.

Thanks much in advance!
Sach

I was just thinking, you may need to make sure that they have not mailed the check to your old address, even though you have purchased a home, your address is NOT automatically updated! You are supposed to fill the address change form out from the IRS which is separate and mail it in. I do know that if they did mail it to your old address they won’t call or let you know it was returned unless you call them and inquire (US postal service does NOT forward US Treasury checks. So, also remember to update your address with IRS. I called so much that they updated my address over the phone, because it would have taken forever to send the form in; im sure the check and my address change would have gotten criss-crossed in the mail.