Written by Eva Rosenberg on June 23, 2010 in Tax  |   4 comments

The $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It was widely seen as a terrific opportunity for Americans who might never otherwise have the money for a down payment to get into their own homes.

Unfortunately, the first-time home buyer tax credit program quickly became a bureaucratic nightmare. The IRS was unprepared for the volume of paperwork flooding into their service centers.

Some 1.8 million home buyer refund tax returns were processed in one year, causing a tremendous delay in processing tax credits and issuing checks (or making direct deposits).

How long will you wait for your home buyer tax credit?

Assuming you have included all the required documents in your printed tax return and the IRS has no questions, here’s how long IRS spokesman Eric Smith says you’ll wait for your home buyer tax credit cash:

• Current 2009 Form 1040 (paper return only; the IRS will not allow anyone to use an efile return to collect a home buyer tax credit): Refunds will be delayed only if information is incomplete, requiring the IRS to correspond with you.
• Amended 2008 tax return (Form 1040X): Expect to wait twelve to sixteen weeks.
• Amended 2009 tax return (Form 1040X): Expect to wait twelve to sixteen weeks.

That doesn’t sound too bad. Unfortunately, it’s not the reality we are seeing in our office or hearing from our colleagues.

When you file your regular 2009 tax return containing a Form 5405 First-Time Homebuyer Credit, the IRS will send your regular refund immediately. Your home buyer tax credit refund will be held for several weeks until your paperwork is verified. With no questions from the IRS, the refund will appear in six weeks.

But IRS staff seem to be rejecting tax returns quickly, some for no logical reason. Many taxpayers have to then resubmit their tax returns. Taxpayers are frightened, thinking they are being investigated.

Here are seven ways to avoid the home buyer tax credit rejection trap:

1. Include ALL proofs of your home purchase. This will include a HUD-1 Form, which is the settlement statement from the closing. The title or escrow company should provide you with this form. You may also need to provide a copy of the executed purchase contract.
2. If you’re not buying a conventional home, explain why there is no HUD-1 Form. Motor homes, mobile homes, manufactured homes, boats, and co-ops may all use different purchase forms, not the traditional escrow form. Ask the title or escrow company to provide you with the necessary documents.
3. Include a copy of Form 8822 Change of Address. The IRS is sending rejections and correspondence to the former address, even when the new address is clearly on the amended return and the change of address box is checked. It’s unclear to me or my staff why this is happening, but just work around it.
4. Provide definitive proof that you are a qualified buyer. Include proof that you have moved into the new home, such as a copy of your new driver’s license, voter registration card, or bank statement. For those applying for the $6,500 long-term homeowner’s tax credit, include proof that you owned and lived in your home for at least five years out of the past eight. Examples of proof include property tax statements, insurance policies, and voter registration cards.
5. If any detail or document is vague, include a detailed explanation. Do not make the IRS examiner guess at what your information or documentation intends to show.
6. Follow up regularly. If you have heard nothing from the IRS, call 800-829-1040 four weeks after you file to make sure the IRS has not lost your tax return. Then follow up every two weeks until you get confirmation that your file is in processing.
7. Don’t take no for the final answer. If your return is rejected and the IRS is wrong in rejecting it, immediately resend your tax return with a cover letter that explains why you are eligible for a home buyer tax credit, all the correct documentation, and a request to be placed at the head of the queue, since the rejection was an IRS error.

Incidentally, do not call the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) for help if you are experiencing odd delays. Everyone else is in the same boat. The TAS cannot help you.

—-
Eva Rosenberg, EA is the publisher of TaxMama.com, where your tax questions are answered. Eva is the author of several books and ebooks, including Small Business Taxes Made Easy. Eva teaches a tax pro course at IRSExams.com.

1. Tina says:

   June 25, 2010 at 12:33 pm

   I would just like to say that I work for a non profit that provides affordable housing in a rural community. I assist our homebuyers with their 1040X and 5405. Back in May 2009 I prepared the appropriate documents for one particular homebuyer and she did in fact meet all the requirements for the first time homebuyer tax credit. I did everything the IRS required to file for this tax credit but the IRS kept delaying her refund. She kept calling about it and one IRS persons even said to her "I don't know how you could buy a home when your only income is Social Security Disability". Anyway after 13 months and after contacting the Taxpayer Advocate Service she is finally being processed. So I am just saying that the Taxpayer Advocate Service worked for her.

   Reply
2. Sandy says:

   June 29, 2010 at 11:29 am

   Hi
   Let me congratulate for maintaining such a wonderful site.
   We also have a very good community on debt where people can seek help on any debt or credit related issues and we provide free counseling. We have a forum section where people can share their debt related problems through discussion and we have our community base of 203,000 members. In the process we have helped a lot of people by providing proper debt counseling program and settlement, and people are very much satisfied with our services and our site is also very famous for many years. And we can assure you that we will be able to continue the quality services we are providing with help of your site. Any one can come and join our community and get educated about debt and also share their views.
   Please give an opportunity to contribute a quality unique education article on debt related to recent economy.

   And if we work together then we will be able to help more number of debt burden people in USA. I want to serve our people to get out of debt and lead a debt free life please helps me to do so.

   Hope you will also like our services and hence give us a chance to prove ourselves.
   An effort to educate people suffering from debt in this economy crisis period and to get out of it.

   Reply
3. Ilyce Glink says:

   June 30, 2010 at 7:09 pm

   @Tina:

   Thanks for sharing that story. The Taxpayer Advocate Service can be extremely helpful – especially if you're getting the runaround.

   Appreciate the comment.

   Reply
4. Ilyce Glink says:

   June 30, 2010 at 7:10 pm

   @Sandy –

   Thanks for letting us know.

   Reply

Commenting guidelines

We welcome your interest and participation on this forum, but be aware that comments will be published at Equifax's sole discretion. Please don't use this blog to submit questions or concerns about your Equifax credit report or raise customer service issues. Instead, you should contact Equifax directly for all such matters and any attempts to do so in this forum will be promptly re-directed.

Some other factors to consider when commenting:

1. Registration and privacy. While no registration is required to visit our forum, participants wishing to post a message must register by creating an account. All personal information provided by forum members incident to registration is governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
2. All comments are anonymous. We'll delete your name, e-mail address, and any other identifying information, including details about your investments.
3. We can't post or respond to every comment - As much as we'd like to, we can't post every comment, nor can we guarantee that we will respond to each individual message. All questions or comments about your Equifax credit report or similar customer service issues should be handled by contacting Equifax directly.
4. Don't offer specific legal, tax or financial advice. All of the materials on this Site are for information, education, and noncommercial purposes only and this forum is not intended as a means of expressing views or ideas regarding any specific legal, tax, or investment advice. While offering general rules of thumb is both permitted and encouraged, recommending specific ideas or strategies regarding investments, taxes, and related matters is prohibited.
5. Credit Repair. This blog is not intended as a venue for the discussion or exchange of ideas regarding credit repair or other strategies intended to assist visitors and community members improve or otherwise modify their credit histories, ratings or scores.
6. Stay on topic. Your comment should be concise and pertain to the specific post in question.
7. Be respectful of the community. The use of profanity, offensive language, spam, and personal attacks will not be tolerated and egregious or repeat offenders will be banned from future participation. We encourage disagreement and healthy debate, but please refrain from personal attacks on our WordPresss and contributors.
8. Finally: Participation in this forum may be terminated by Equifax immediately and without notice for failure to comply with any guidelines or Terms of Use. As such, you should familiarize yourself with all pertinent requirements prior to submitting any response through the blog or otherwise. All opinions expressed in this forum are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and don't necessarily represent the views of Equifax or its management.

• Credit RSS Feed
• Family Money RSS Feed
• Insurance RSS Feed
• Newsletter RSS Feed
• Real Estate RSS Feed
• Retirement RSS Feed
• Small Business RSS Feed
• Tax RSS Feed
• Video Contest RSS Feed