The dead line for The First Time Homebuyer Credit is November 30, 2009, which is just around the corner. As we know, the Housing and Economic Act of 2008 allows a tax credit of $ 8,000 for qualified first time home buyers. This credit is available for the homes purchased from April 8, 2008 to December 1, 2009. Which means to take the advantage from this credit, taxpayer must close the purchase by November 30, 2009. The adoption of this plan was a part of economic- stimulus effort to encourage homebuyers and boost the sales of housing market to stimulate the economy.
Some things that taxpayers should also know about this credit are that, According to IRS since the time this measure was adopted, more than a million claims have been received by the IRS. Due to the increased number of credits applied so far, the IRS’s focus on these claims has also increased. IRS is concerned that there is a potential for fraud and the misuse of this new refundable tax credit. Now, the IRS is greatly focused on fraudulent claims and has also increased its investigation to prevent the misuse of this tax break. The Internal Revenue Service is examining more than 100,000 suspicious claims filed for the first-time home-buyer tax benefit.Some lawmakers, tax experts and even the IRS believe that there is evidence that a significant number of the claims might prove to be unjustified, or even fraudulent.
An IRS spokesman said the agency “will vigorously pursue those who filed fraudulent claims” for this credit.
As this program is coming to an end, more and more people would want to take an advantage of this credit and might not make an effort to find out about the other eligibility requirements that would qualify the taxpayer to claim this credit and could cause a potential trouble.
Please seek the help of a tax expert and a good realtor who could help you benefit from this tax break without causing any big trouble.
