I know you touched on the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit of $8000 (in your March '09 newsletter) for those of us buying homes in 2009, but my question is this - is there any possible way to put this on your 2008 taxes (without having already bought a home) & then use the $8000 as a downpayment on a home you're buying in 2009?

To me it doesn't look like it would be possible to do this, as you must list the date you purchased the home & the address of this home on Form 5405 that you will file with your taxes. However, I have seen at least 2 different people recommending that people do this & claiming that "their CPAs said it was okay".

I remain skeptical. Would love your thoughts on this.

Thank you so, so much for this forum. It rocks!!!

Great question.

It's my understanding of the rules from the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008 that you can report homes purchased in 2009 as being purchased on 12/31/08 for the purpose of this tax credit.

The IRS gives you some good info at:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=205416,00.html


My only concern is that the $7500 credit for homes purchased in 2008 needs to be repaid over the following 15 years, so it is actually an interest free loan from the government. The credit for 2009 has been increased to $8000, and does not need to be repaid. Once tax season ends, I need to figure out what happens to houses purchased in 2009 but claimed on a 2008 tax return.

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