Think you missed the boat on the homebuyer tax credit?  Not if you are a member of the military or certain other federal positions serving outside the U.S.    These individuals have an extra year to buy a principal residence in the U.S.  and qualify for the tax credit.   To qualify, the buyer must enter into a binding contract to buy their home on or before April 30, 2011.

The federal positions that are included in this extension are members of the Foreign Service and employees of the intelligence community. These individuals (and their spouses) that serve on qualified official extended duty service outside of the United States for at least 90 days during the period beginning after Dec. 31, 2008, and ending before May 1, 2010.

More Specifically:

• Members of the military and certain other federal employees serving outside the U.S. have an extra year to buy a principal residence in the U.S. and qualify for the credit. Thus, an eligible taxpayer must buy, or enter into a binding contract to buy, a principal residence on or before April 30, 2011. If a binding contract is entered into by that date, the taxpayer has until June 30, 2011, to close on the purchase. Members of the uniformed services, members of the Foreign Service and employees of the intelligence community are eligible for this special rule. It applies to any individual (and, if married, the individual’s spouse) who serves on qualified official extended duty service outside of the United States for at least 90 days during the period beginning after Dec. 31, 2008, and ending before May 1, 2010.

• In many cases, the credit repayment (recapture) requirement is waived for members of the uniformed services, members of the Foreign Service and employees of the intelligence community. This relief applies where a home is sold or stops being the taxpayer’s principal residence after Dec. 31, 2008, in connection with government orders received by the individual (or the individual’s spouse) for qualified official extended duty service. The credit is still allowable even if this happens during the year of purchase. Qualified official extended duty is any period of extended duty while serving at a place of duty at least 50 miles away from the taxpayer’s principal residence (whether inside or outside the U.S.) or while residing under government orders in government quarters. Extended duty is defined as any period of duty pursuant to a call or order to such duty for a period in excess of 90 days or for an indefinite period.

References: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=215594,00.html

Thanks to Bank Of Hawaii and Liane Freitas, RA for sharing the news!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 2:29 am and is filed under Buying, Financing, KBR Agents, Liane Freitas, Real Estate News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.