Get More Time to Claim the Home Buyer Credit

If you won't sign a contract on a new home until the end of April, you can ask the IRS for more time to file your 2009 return.

Time is running out to buy a home and still qualify for either of the home buyer tax credits. Time also is running out to file your tax return to claim the credit. To complicate matters, the tax-filing deadline precedes the deadline for signing a contract on a new home to qualify for the credit.

To qualify for the $8,000 first-time home buyer credit or $6,500 credit for longtime homeowners who buy a new home, you must sign a binding contract by April 30, 2010, and close on the property by June 30, 2010. As I’m sure you know, the tax-filing deadline is April 15.

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Cameron Huddleston
Former Online Editor, Kiplinger.com

Award-winning journalist, speaker, family finance expert, and author of Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk.

Cameron Huddleston wrote the daily "Kip Tips" column for Kiplinger.com. She joined Kiplinger in 2001 after graduating from American University with an MA in economic journalism.