2010 Homebuyer Tax Credits

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Coldwell Banker. All opinions are 100% mine.

Beth keeps talking about moving out, and now she's talking about buying a house, with her boyfriend Tim, which probably isn't the best idea in the world, but she wouldn't want to hear it.  You never know, maybe things will work out for them, and they'll get over the drama and live happily ever after.  If they are going to buy a house, now would be a good time.

The government extended the First-Time Homebuyer Credits into 2010.  Not only that, but they have added credits for Move-Up Homebuyers too.  That means first time buyers or buyers who have not owned a home in the last 3 years aren't the only ones who can benefit from the tax credits now.  Current homeowners who have lived in their primary residences for 5 consecutive years out of the last 8 qualify, too.

Some of the highlights of the 2010 Homebuyer Tax Credits are:

• Buyers must have a signed contract by April 30, 2010. (and close by June 30, 2010)
• Income limits are now $125,000 for singles, $225,000 for married couples.
• First-Time buyers can qualify for up to $8000 and current qualifying homeowners for up to $6500.
• The cost of the home purchased must be no more than $800,000.  (Seriously, anyone who can afford to buy a house that costs $800,000 or more doesn't really need a tax credit, does he?)
  

You can learn more about the 2010 Homebuyer Tax Credits by visiting the Coldwell Banker website and watching the video there.  I'm not always in complete agreement with all these tax credits the government keeps wanting to give out, but if what he said in the video about home sales adding jobs and putting money into the local economy is true, then this program has the potential of helping the economy more than some of the other ones seem to.

If you're thinking that now is a good time to buy a house, you can even start searching right on the site or contact an agent who will be happy to answer any questions. 

Why Dad Had to Look

Beth printed her taxes out so her dad could look them over. Remember the whole dependent thing? We discussed it. I told her she had to check the box that said someone else could claim her as a dependent. She checked the box, and it came out the same.

Well, the reason it came out the same was that it didn't register that she had checked that box. Jeffrey looked the taxes over and noticed that it wasn't checked. So, she went on and changed it, and now she's not very happy. I'm not sure what the bottom line is, but she's getting quite a bit less back now.

Now she wants to know how much we're going to get for claiming her. No, young lady, that money does not belong to you!

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• Tax Return Time
  

Tax Return Time

Beth got her W-2 from work yesterday, so she used the free form at TurboTax to see how much she'll get back. She wasn't sure it was right, though, because it says she'll get back more than she paid in taxes. So, not that I know much about taxes, I went over it with her.

She filled in all the info properly, except that she indicated that no one else was claiming her as a dependent on their tax return. You know the question - did your parents provide for more than half of your support? Since she pays for her own clothes, beauty supplies, and gas, she was sure that she had paid for more than half, and we shouldn't claim her as a dependent. I had to remind her that we pay for the roof over her head, her auto insurance (since she has maintained her B average), food, utilities, etc. She's nowhere close to paying more than half the cost of living her life.

It didn't make a difference, though. She should get all the taxes she paid in back, as well as an additional $300 because she missed out on the stimulus refund last year. At least, as far as we can tell. She was ready to go ahead and e-file her return - TurboTax not only lets you prepare your easy tax return, e-file is free too - but I told her I thought she should wait and have her dad go over it with her, just because he's the one who's been doing the taxes, and he might see something we missed. Now that she's seen the money she can claim, she's ready to do it as soon as possible. Can't really blame her...

No Tax Credit

Jeffrey started working on the taxes last night. We always get a refund, so you'd think he'd do them as soon as possible every year, but he doesn't. That's beside the point - the point is, he came upstairs and said he doesn't like the way things are looking this year. My first thought was that since I started making money blogging, and we have to pay taxes on those earnings, that that was the problem. Hopefully we aren't going to have to pay.

No, it wasn't that. Beth turned 17 in 2007. As soon as a child turns 17, you no longer get to claim the child credit - that's a $1000 credit. I can see how that would make a difference. The thing is, it doesn't matter when in the year your child turns 17, even if it's December 31. You still lose the credit. That probably means we won't get the $300 per child the government is going to give us for her, either. Seriously, teenagers are expensive!