New Home Owner Tax Credit

If you follow the agent's tax advice, I also recommend having this agent do all your root canal work.

It's not even close. Does not qualify for the credit.

Merely to explain why you fail to qualify:

FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER- The term `first-time homebuyer' means any individual if such individual (and if married, such individual's spouse) had no present ownership interest in a principal residence during the 3-year period ending on the date of the purchase of the principal residence.

| FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER- The term `first-time homebuyer' means any | individual if such individual (and if married, such individual's | spouse) had no present ownership interest in a principal | residence during the 3-year period ending on the date of the | purchase of the principal residence.

So if she had bought the house immediately before she got married she would been eligible for the credit? (Awaiting comment on the advantages of living in sin. :)

Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com

I think you are asking whether a taxpayer who is single and meets the definition of a first time homebuyer in 2009, and who buys a home and then later marries an individual in 2009 who is not a first time homebuyer, can take the credit.

For sure, the taxpayer could amend 2008 and claim the credit on that return as the taxpayer would have been single in 2008. As to

2009, I don't know as the relevant section is ambiguous as to the timing of the clause "(and if, married, such individual's spouse)". Married at the time of purchase or married at the time of claiming the credit?

If I was a betting man, I would bet that the IRS would interpret that clause to mean married at the time of filing a claim would disqualify you i the spouse failed the test.

I have not seen any guidance.

It's a good thing Tempuser is not a betting man, because it looks like he would lose the bet. The situation he describes (which is not the OP's situation) is covered by the following scenario on the IRS web site.

===S1. If a single person (Taxpayer A) qualifies as a first-time homebuyer at the time he/she purchases a home with someone (Taxpayer B) that is not a first-time homebuyer and then later that year they marry each other, is the credit still allowed?

A. Eligibility for the first-time homebuyer credit is determined on the date of purchase. If Taxpayer A, a first-time homebuyer, buys a house and then later that year marries Taxpayer B, not a first-time homebuyer, the credit is allowable to Taxpayer A. Taxpayer A may take the maximum credit. === This is found at

6294,00.html. In Tempuser's scenario the unmarried first-time homebuyer buys the home on his own. In the IRS scenario two unmarried people, one of whom is a first-time homebuyer, buy the home together. But the essential point is the statement that "Eligibility for the first-time homebuyer credit is determined on the date of purchase." The first-time homebuyer gets to claim the credit, even though later in the same year he marries someone who is not a first-time homebuyer. To use Tempuser's terms, the IRS clearly interprets the rule as "married at the time of purchase," not "married at the time of filing."

I realize that the IRS web page is not authoritative, but in the absence of any other IRS guidance, it's all we have right now.

Bob Sandler