Tax Lawyer's Blog

Kay Bell reports that the extension of the homebuyer credit was passed last night in the Senate:

If you went to be last night freaking out that you wouldn’t be able to claim the first-time homebuyer credit, here’s some welcome wake-up news.

It’s official. You now have three more months to finalize your home purchase.

With the tax credit’s settlement deadline ticking down, the Senate late Wednesday approved by unanimous consent a measure identical to the one passed Tuesday by the House.

That means the extended-yet-again homebuyer tax credit bill is on its way to Obama so his signature can make it law.

But Kay points out that the extension doesn’t apply to new home purchase contracts (emphasis mine): 

Remember, this latest piece of legislation is only for folks who had a contract in place by April 30, but couldn’t finalize the purchase by the previous June 30 due date.

Now first-time buyers, who can claim a credit of up to $8,000, as well as eligible repeat buyers, whose credit maximum is $6,500, have until Sept. 30 to close on their residences.

Prediction: We recently reported that the Homebuyer credit has been rife with fraud. Expect more of it as taxpayers back date their real estate contracts to meet the April 30th contract-in-place requirement.

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