On July 2, 2010, President Obama signed the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010 (H.R. 5623). The bill permits first-time homebuyers to qualify for the $8,000 credit. It also allows homeowners who have lived for five years in their current residence to purchase a new home and receive a credit of $6,500. In both cases, the buyers must have signed a contract for purchase by April 30.

Following the signature by the President, the IRS published a letter with explanations on how to claim the credit (IR-2010-80). New homeowners will file Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit. With this form the new purchaser should submit a copy of the settlement statement, normally Form HUD 1, Settlement Statement. For mobile home purchasers, include a copy of the retail sales contract.

Those existing home buyers who buy a new residence should include Form 1098, Mortgage Interest Statement for the past five years to show their ownership. Further information on claiming the homebuyer credit is available on www.irs.gov.


IRS on YouTube

The IRS has announced (IR-2010-81) that a new job search video is now on YouTube. It will provide assistance for high school and college graduates who are seeking employment with the IRS. The new video has the title, "Working at the IRS."

The IRS currently has 82 videos on its YouTube channel with the title, "IRSVideos." The most popular videos cover various helpful tax tips. Other titles include "Receiving a Letter from the IRS," "Selecting a Tax Preparer" and "Extension to File a Return."

The IRS videos are available by logging onto www.youtube.com. The user may search for "IRSVideos" and a playlist with four pages of videos will appear. Choose the title that you prefer and click to start the video.

Most of the videos are two to four minutes. It is best if you have broadband Internet access in order to view the videos.