Before my husband and I met, I bought a house with an old boyfriend and wound up filing bankruptcy on it after a year or so later. When I married my husband in 2010, that's when I filed bankruptcy on the old house....Now that my husband bought a house in May of 2010 and its in his name, will he/we still be able to receive the $8,000 tax credit because of our marriage and the situation of mine before??? And will it be the full $8000???
=====ANSWER===== Hi Brandy,
You have a very unique situation here. I'm simply not in a position to give legal or tax advice. However, I took the liberty to research this for you at IRS.gov.
Hopefully this helps. You may need to talk with your tax preparer for more details on this.
Congratulations on your marriage and on becoming a first time home buyer.
The IRS has caused new laws that went into effect Nov. 6, 2009. Is was to extend the first time home buyer tax credit. It accomplished several things like;
1) The deadline for buying and closing on a home 2) Allowed a credit for any long-time homeowners who were buying a new principal residence 3) They raised the income limits
However, there are many questions remaining that you need to have answers to. Since I'm not a legal expert nor do I claim to know and understand all of the IRS tax code, i will try to give you a summary and then provide you the link to the IRS where you can read it for yourself.
SO what is this credit? Basically it is a tax credit for first time home buyers that are single or married couples. If you buy a home after April 8, 2008 and before May 1, 2010 there are a few different options for you to take advantage of.
Home purchased in 2008, well the credit has to be paid back so it was an interest free loan so to speak. There were a few exceptions to this rule.
Homes that were purchased in 2009 yet before November 7th, a maximum credit of $8,000 was allowed and does not have to be repaid. Again there were a few exceptions to this rule also. You cannot have owned a home in the previous 3 years.
There was an additional category formed which began November 7, 2009 for new homebuyers that have owned a home before. It was a smaller credit like $6,500 and did not have to be repaid. Once again there are a few exceptions.
Off course there is much more to this so I'm providing you a link the actaul page where you can read more on this at the IRS website. I hope you find this helpful.
I'm so glad you asked this question. Now I see what the IRS allows and will check into our own situation. We too bought a home in 2010 and was wondering how to benefit from the first time home buyer tax credit. This will help a lot!
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