News and Events
Archives
March 2010
Claiming and Documenting the First-Time Homebuyer Credit
From Journal of Accountancy.
Practitioners should be aware of increased documentation procedures for the first-time homebuyer credit and the new administrative powers available to the IRS if a client’s return is selected for review. In addition, required attachments necessitate filing a paper return for 2009 (see news release IR 2009-108).
This credit under IRC § 36 has been a popular incentive. Interim IRS statistics indicate more than 1.7 million returns claiming the 2008 and 2009 credits were filed through Nov. 21, 2009, with a total amount claimed of about $12 billion.
Its attractiveness also made it ripe for widespread abuse. Statistics from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division indicate erroneous or fraudulent claims were submitted in significant numbers.

Follow @BlackmanKallick on Twitter
Follow Blackman Kallick on LinkedIn