Can you qualify for the home buyer tax credit? Maybe. Here is what we know. With the recently passed legislation, “first time” buyers who purchase a home between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009 may qualify for a $8000 tax credit. What surprised me was reading that a first time home buyer is someone who has never owned a home before or hasn’t owned one during the three years preceding the 2009 closing date.
That surprise, according to Kenneth R. Harney (in the LA Times) means that “Carefully planning the timing of your closing could be worth thousands of dollars to you. Say you owned a house earlier in the decade, but sold in on March 25, 2006. If you close on a house in 2009 before March 25, you do not qualify for the $8,000 credit. Push settlement back to March 26 or later — any time before Dec 1, when the new credit program’s eligibility period expired — and you’re $8,000 to the better.”
There is also an eligibility requirement. Annual adjusted gross income may not be $75,000 or greater for an individual and $150,000 or greater for couples filing jointly.
