New and improved 1st time homebuyer tax credit extension.
Within just the past couple of days the senate has reached an agreement on the 1st time homebuyer tax credit extension, so lets hope it will become public very soon. The homebuyer tax credit which is due to expire November 30th would be extended through April 30 of 2010. This would eleviate the stress for first-time buyers who are in the process of making a purchase and now would not need to worry about qualifying for the up to $8,000 credit if they close after the November 30 deadline.
The $8,000 maximum first-time homebuyer credit will continue but the income limit has been increased so a max of up to $225,000. Included are homeowners that would be move-up homeowners who have lived in their current residence for five years could also receive a credit.
According to the new agreement move-up buyers can claim this credit of up to $6500 if the home they are vacating is their primary residence for at least five years, but the money cannot be used to buy a vacation home. “It’s only for a primary residence."
Hopefully we will hear more details about this shortly. On the same note the program in recent weeks has come under fire because of abuse and legislation provisions has been added to the bill to address fraud. Like any good program to help the good folks along there are always those out there ready to cheat and defeat a good purpose.
It's been reported that "The Internal Revenue Service is given greater authority to oversee the process to root out fraud, and provisions are added in response to past abuses of false sales or underage buyers. An investigation by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration found that more than 580 children, some as young as four years old, had received $627,000 in first-time homebuyer credits. The IRS has identified 167 suspected criminal schemes and opened nearly 107,000 examinations of potential civil violations of the first-time homebuyer tax credit."